The Autism Scholars Awards recognize outstanding researchers working to establish novel treatment options and services for children with autism. This year’s recipient of the $20,000 Doctoral Award is Carly Albaum, a PhD student in York University’s Clinical Developmental Psychology program. Focused on better understanding the conditions that lead to positive results in psychotherapy, Albaum’s research describes the parameters that allow mental health interventions to be successful for children on the autism spectrum.

Adding to Ontario’s scope of diagnosis and assessment, along with the quality of its treatment system, the Autism Scholars Awards Program supports innovative ideas with the potential to positively impact the lives of families across Canada. The program is funded by the Council of Ontario Universities to ensure that the province continues to promote cutting-edge scholarship in autism, a condition that, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada, affects one in 66 children.

Albaum’s research investigates the impact of different components of psychotherapy in the achievement of successful treatment outcomes for children with autism. Centred on improving our understanding of why certain children benefit from psychological treatment while others do not, her work outlines the standards that allow mental health interventions to be effective for all youth with autism.

Concerned with process elements common to treatments across different types of therapy, Albaum’s research hopes to elucidate exactly who benefits from psychotherapy and why. Interested in the care of those with social and communication difficulties, she examines factors such as the role of parents in supporting youth involvement in therapy sessions, and the relationship between client and therapist to enhance the mental health of children on the autism spectrum who are often unable to fully engage in psychological interventions.

Providing new insight into how processual components are related to specific treatment results, Albaum’s work translates theoretical knowledge into more effective practices and services. Helping to inform mental health-care providers of the most compelling therapeutic methods, she aims to ensure that all youth with autism, along with their families, can benefit from psychotherapy.

Albaum received both her bachelor of arts with specialized honours and her master of arts from York. Her undergraduate thesis focused on expressed emotion in parents of children with autism, while her master’s project examined therapeutic alliance in cognitive behaviour therapy for children on the autism spectrum. Her interest in positive psychology aided the completion of her clinical training at the Toronto District School Board and at Mackenzie Health’s Shaw Clinic, Child and Family Services. She continues to be actively involved in advancing the mental health of her community as well as the standards of scholarly excellence in the field of autism research.

Two York University PhD students dedicated to the advancement of trailblazing research have been awarded 2021 Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships. Valued at $50,000 per year for up to three years, this prestigious scholarship is presented by the Government of Canada to support doctoral students who are conducting world-class research. The scholarship recipients embody all of the rigorous selection criteria: academic excellence, research potential and leadership.

This year’s Vanier Scholars, Debbie Ebanks Schlums and Maureen Owino, are advancing knowledge in areas that can stimulate positive change on a global scale. Both of their research areas have a diverse reach, from addressing the issues around the underrepresentation of small diasporic communities in formal archives to tackling injustices of pandemic responses that often overlook vulnerable populations.

“York University and its community are proud to support these incredible scholars in the advancement of their groundbreaking research and empower them for long-term success,” says Thomas Loebel, dean and associate vice-president of York’s Faculty of Graduate Studies.

Debbie Ebanks Schlums, cinema and media studies/film

Ebanks Schlums acknowledges the important role small diasporic communities play in the constitution of the Canadian nation in her proposed dissertation titled “Community-Engaged Memory Preservation: Co-Creating an Audio-Visual Archive of the Jamaican Diaspora in the Greater Toronto Area.”

“Small diasporic communities significantly impact the national fabric of Canada, yet their contributions are marginalized within official archival collections and, therefore, within the idea of the nation,” says Ebanks Schlums of her project.

This cutting-edge study challenges the work done by official archives through creating an alternative presentation of artifacts that does justice to preserving the cultural heritage of the Jamaican diaspora in the Greater Toronto Area. Ebanks Schlums underscores that there are portable and non-material forms of archiving that carry history on and through bodies of communities that have a migratory nature. This project will embody a creative and collective imagining of a diasporic archive by creating a variety of unique artifacts from musical compositions to cellphone portraits of people and places. This innovative type of archive will be shared in mainstream spaces to provide as much accessibility to these cultural artifacts as possible.

Through this research, new methods dedicated to the study of diasporas and under-examined archives will emerge through the creation of novel forms of artifact presentation. The project aims to support the Jamaican community in exploring their own identity and sense of belonging through creating connections to community members, their homeland and the society in which they reside.

In addition to the cutting-edge academic work that Ebanks Schlums performs, she is also an active leader in her community. She was a founding member of the Out of a War Zone and To Lemon Hill collectives, both addressing the Syrian refugee crisis.

Maureen Owino, environmental studies

Owino’s research, titled “When HIV and COVID-19 Pandemics Collide in Black Communities in Canada,” confronts issues relating to pandemic responses that impact already vulnerable communities.

Through institutional ethnography, the research will examine the cumulative impacts of existing and emerging social and public health policies on Black people’s health and well-being in Canada. “It will do so by: 1. Tracking the rapidly changing health and public policy landscape in Canada; 2. Using critical feminist and race theories to analyze, compare and contrast COVID-19 and HIV containment and mitigation strategies; and 3. Examining how these policies address, reify, challenge, and uphold existing health inequities from the perspective of Black people living with and at risk of pandemics in Canada,” says Owino of her research.

This research is vital, as it exposes how pandemics reveal inequities in health outcomes for vulnerable communities who also face racism, sexism, homophobia and poverty, which create acute conditions for these vulnerable populations. The findings will be accessible to a diverse audience base through a collaboration with Black organizations, community members, researchers, activists and scholars.

“Whereas most Canadians are reeling from the impact of COVID-19, Black people also remain in an HIV pandemic zone and must deal with the impact of both pandemics simultaneously,” says Owino. “This structural inequities creates conditions of vulnerability that are increased by barriers to effective and timely health care, and increases the Black communities’ risks to future pandemics.”

In addition to being a dedicated scholar who promotes these vital social causes, Owino also shows exemplary leadership skills. She is the director of the Committee for Accessible AIDS Treatment and a member of the Ontario Advisory Committee on HIV/AIDS.

“Both Debbie Ebanks Schlums and Maureen Owino are outstanding examples of Vanier Scholars through their innovative research and dedication to the community,” says Loebel.