People

Lab Directors

Steven Bednarski
Director

Director for the Environments of Change since 2019, Director for The Herstmonceux Project  (2012 – 2017) and the DRAGEN Lab since 2016.

stevenb@uwaterloo.ca

Shannon Blackmore
Assistant Director

MA Communications, Wilfrid Laurier University (2020); DRAGEN Lab Member since 2021; Project Manager for Environments of Change.

shannon.blackmore@uwaterloo.ca

David Porreca
Associate Director

Professor of Classical and Medieval Studies, St. Jeromes University.

dporreca@uwaterloo.ca


Andrew Moore
Associate Director

PhD History, University of Waterloo; MA History, University of Waterloo (2013); DRAGEN Lab Member since 2016. Research Facilitator for Environments of Change.

a5moore@uwaterloo.ca

Research Fellows

Senior Research Fellows

Richard Hoffmann

Professor Emeritus, York University; Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
PhD Medieval Studies, Yale University.

medfish@yorku.ca

Chris L. Nighman

Professor, History; Coordinator, Medieval and Medievalism Studies Program, Wilfrid Laurier University

cnighman@wlu.ca

Research Fellows

Tim Alamenciak

Postdoctoral Fellow, Bennett Lab, Carleton Universityl; Adjunct Associate Professor, Knowledge Integration, University of Waterloo; PhD Social and Ecological Sustainability, University of Waterloo, (2024); DRAGEN Lab Member since 2024.

tim.a@uwaterloo.ca

Nicholas Must

Sessional Lecturer, Wilfrid Laurier University; PhD History, McMaster University (2014), MA History, Wilfrid Laurier University (2007).

nmust@wlu.ca

Stephanie Hartmann

BEd, Wilfrid Laurier
University (2019); MA History, University of Waterloo (2017); DRAGEN Lab Member since 2016.

kentigurn@hotmail.com

Graduate Fellows

Erin Kurian

PhD Candidate, History, University of Waterloo; MA History, University of Waterloo (2021); DRAGEN Lab Member (Since 2017) & Communications Coordinator for Environments of Change.

erin.kurian@uwaterloo.ca

Gillian Wagenaar

PhD Candidate, History, University of Waterloo; MA History, University of Waterloo (2023). DRAGEN Lab Member (since 2021).

gawagenaar@uwaterloo.ca

Kian Drew

PhD Student, Environment; MSc Earth Science, University of Waterloo; BSc, University of Waterloo (2022); DRAGEN Lab Member (since 2021); Maker Space Manager.

kian.drew@uwaterloo.ca

Muràd Alizada-Hamidlinski

PhD Candidate, History, University of Waterloo; MA History, University of Waterloo (2023). DRAGEN Lab Member (since 2021) DRAGEN Lab Member (since 2021).

malizada@uwaterloo.ca

John Loudfoot

PhD Candidate, History, University of Waterloo; MA History, University of Waterloo (2023). DRAGEN Lab Member (since 2022).

jchloudfoot@uwaterloo.ca

Jordan Tardif

PhD Candidate, History, University of Waterloo; MLIS, Western University (2023), MA Classical Studies, University of Waterloo (2021); DRAGEN Lab Member (2016 - 2020, 2024).

jatardif@uwaterloo.ca

Étienne Chevalier

PhD Candidate, History, University of Waterloo; MA, History, Université de Sherbrooke (2024); DRAGEN Lab Member (since 2024).

Etienne.chevalier@waterloo.ca

Undergraduate Interns

Nina Ho

BA Honours History, University of Waterloo, DRAGEN Lab Member since 2024.

John Stapleton

BA Honours, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Member since 2021.

Melissa Gatti

BA, Arts and Business, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Member since 2023.

Past Members

Andrei Tudorancea
BA History & English, University of Waterloo (2018); DRAGEN Lab Member (2018).

Ann Marie Rasmussen
Co-Director DRAGEN Lab (2015-2023). Right Honourable John G. Diefenbaker Memorial Chair in German Literary Studies at the University of Waterloo since 2015, Director of the Medieval Badges and Community Formation.

Caley McCarthy
Contract Academic Staff, St. Jerome’s University; PhD, McGill University (2020); DRAGEN Lab Assistant Director (2016 - 2024)

Caleigh Davies-Kneiss
BA, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Member (2020 - 2023).

David Zelek
BA, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Member (2019 - 2021).

Daphne van Delst
B.Sc. (Env.), University of Waterloo (2019); DRAGEN Lab Member (2016 - 2018).

Ellen Siebel-Achenbach
BA, University of Waterloo (2023); DRAGEN Lab Member (2019-2023).

Hayley Ellis
MA History, University of Waterloo (2020); BA, University of Waterloo (2018); DRAGEN Lab Member (2018 - 2020).

Jack McCart
PhD Candidate, University of Toronto; MA Medieval Studies, University of Guelph (2020); BA, University of Guelph (2018); DRAGEN Lab Member (2018).

Jack Zhou
BMath, BA Medieval Studies, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Member (2016-2017).

Jacqueline Gergal
MA History, University of Waterloo (2021); BA, University of Waterloo (2019); DRAGEN Lab Member & Social Media Coordinator (2019 - 2021).

Jamie Zettle
PhD Candidate, History, University of Waterloo; MA History, University of Windsor (1994); DRAGEN Lab Member (2019 -2024).

Jason Lee
Harvard Law School (2022-2024), BA Honours History, University of Waterloo (2022); DRAGEN Lab Member (2019 - 2022).

Juan Paguaga
BA, Undergraduate at University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Member (2019 - 2024).

Jessica Verschoor

MS Geological and Earth Sciences, University of Toronto (2023); BSc Honours Earth Science, University of Waterloo (2021); DRAGEN Lab Member (2019 - 2021).

Jolanta Komornicka
Assistant Director of Medieval History, St. Jeromes University (2017 - 2019); DRAGEN Lab Associate Director (2017 - 2020).

Kendall Diemer
MA Medieval Studies Candidate, University College London; BA Medieval Studies, University of Waterloo (2023); BSc Biological Sciences, University of Windsor; DRAGEN Lab Member (2021-2023).

Mackenzie Pritchard
MA Classical Studies, University of Waterloo (2021); BA, University of Waterloo (2019); DRAGEN Lab Member (2016 - 2020).

Mathew Huang
MA History Candidate, University of Waterloo; BA, University of Toronto (2024), DRAGEN Lab Member (2024 - 2025).

Max Wang
BA History, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Member (2019 - 2021).

Megan Lucas
BA Classical Studies and Medieval Studies, University of Waterloo (2021); DRAGEN Lab Member (2019-2021).

Melanie Brunet
MSc Candidate, University of Waterloo; BSc Honours, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Member (2019 - 2021).

Michelle Serrano-Sandoval
BA History, University of Waterloo (2019); DRAGEN Lab Member (2016 - 2020).

Moira Scully
MA Classical Studies, University of Waterloo (2021); BA, University of Waterloo (2019); DRAGEN Lab Member (2017 - 2020).

Monika Novta
MA, TESOL Candidate. University of Birmingham; TESL Certificate, Conestoga College; MA History, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Member (2016-2017).

Nicole Vankooten
MA History Candidate, University of Waterloo; BAS, University of Guelph (2023), DRAGEN Lab Member (2023 - 2025).

Patrick Shagaghi
PhD Candidate, Systems Design Engineering, University of Waterloo; MASc Engineering, Ryerson University (2019).

Peter del Rosso
MA Medieval, University of Waterloo (2022); BA, University of Waterloo (2020); DRAGEN Lab Member (2017 - 2021).

Rebecca MacAlpine
PhD History Candidate, University of Waterloo; MT, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (2018); MA History, University of Waterloo (2016), DRAGEN Lab Member (2017-2019).

Rebecca Nickerson
MA History, University of Waterloo (2021); BA Geography and History, Brock University (2019)

Sara Fontes
MI, MMsT, University of Toronto (2021); BA, University of Waterloo (2019); DRAGEN Lab Member & Web Developer (2019 - 2021).

Sarah Johnston
MLIS, Western University (2021); MA History, University of Waterloo (2019); BA, University of Waterloo (2018); DRAGEN Lab Member (2018 - 2020).

Shannon Phaneuf
BA History, University of Waterloo (2019); DRAGEN Lab Member (2017-2019).

Sonya Pihura
PhD History, McGill University (2021); MA, University of Waterloo (2017); BSc, University of Waterloo (2016); DRAGEN Lab Member (2017).

Steven Casta
MA History, University of Waterloo (2017); DRAGEN Lab Member (2016 - 2017).

Zack Kachuk
MA History, University of Waterloo; BA, Mount Royal University (2019), DRAGEN Lab Member (2020 - 2021).

Owais Hamid
MASc System Design Engineering​, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab member (2019 - 2022).

Ziad Wadi
BA Medieval Studies, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Member (2016-2018).

Zohra Faqiri
MA History, University of Waterloo (2020); BSc, University of Toronto (2017); DRAGEN Lab Member (2018 - 2020).

Zack MacDonald
Map Librarian, Archives and Special Collections at Western University, Digital Librarian for Environments of Change.