New People at IERG

Dr. Stefan Popenici, Post-Doctoral Fellow

Stefan is active in:

• coordinating IERG’s participation in international projects (ex. “Imaginative Education for school inclusion of students with special needs: focus on ADHD” (2006-2009-Romania)

• coordinating IRNIE (International Research Network in Imaginative Education)
  
• research on intrinsic motivation in education and students' role models
• a book on imaginative education for ADHD students.
• other research connected with imaginative education.

From 1996 to 2006, Dr. Stefan Popenici

was a senior researcher in the Institute of Educational Sciences, Romania at the Educational Management Department.
As a former Advisor to the Minister in Romania’s Ministry of Education and Research, Stefan was responsible for educational reform policies in Romania and educational research and  coordinator of a national educational project against discrimination, racism and anti-Semitism.

Stefan holds a Ph.D. in Educational Sciences (with a dissertation on Education and Imagery. A study of fairy tales). He has professional experience as an international expert or participant in various professional programs in Romania, Belgrade, Oxford, Washington D.C, Barcelona, Budapest, Salzburg, Jerusalem and Manila. He was associate professor between 1997-2000 in Bucharest University and Iasi University and Associate Professor in de La Salle University – Manila, Philippines in 2005. Stefan has published a book on imagery, education and imagination and various studies and articles in education for diversity, moral education and comparative education.

Dr. Thomas Nielsen, Visiting Scholar

Danish borne Dr. Thomas Nielsen is a visiting professor from the University of Canberra, Australia, where he teaches educational theory and classroom management. In his spare time, he is a long-time martial arts practitioner and enjoys outdoor activities and music.

Thomas’ research interests revolve around imaginative education, values education and promoting positive learning environments through holistic discipline and behaviour management. He is currently working with the Australian government on a nation-wide research project on values education.

While a visiting scholar at IERG, Thomas will be helping out with teaching the Masters of Education course in imaginative and inclusive education, and he will also be a research collaborator in the Learning for Understanding though Culturally inclusive Imaginative Development (LUCID) project. He hopes to document the imaginative lives of teachers and children in order to improve attempts to increase imaginative education in schools.

Dr. Dalene Swanson, Post-Doctoral Fellow

Dalene’s research interests span mathematics, imaginative, and teacher education fields; sociology of education; curriculum theory; critical theory; arts-based research, teaching and learning; interdisciplinarity; global citizenship, and social justice.

Dalene has been drawn to Imaginative Education for its visionary approach to an inclusive education, its resistance to hegemonic progressivist tenets, and for what it offers in terms of the rights of the child to learn with joy, curiosity, fascination and a vivid imagination.  

Dr. Dalene Swanson is a post-doctoral scholar at SFU and a lecturer at UBC. She was born in South Africa and attended the National School of the Arts in Johannesburg.

Dalene holds a B.Sc. (Mathematics), Higher Diploma in Education, B.Ed. and M.Ed. from the University of Cape Town, and a Ph.D. in Curriculum Studies and Mathematics Education from UBC. She also completed a Teacher’s Licentiate Diploma in Speech and Drama from Trinity College, London, and an Advanced Certificate in Ballet from the Royal Academy of Dance. She has published locally and internationally and received four prestigious national and international awards.

Dalene has taught high school mathematics, dance and drama in South Africa and Canada for more than 19 years. At UBC she teaches math methods to student teachers, including the “Diversity” and “Teaching from the Heart” cohorts. Recently, she taught graduate courses in Qualitative Research Methods and “Mathematics Education in Critical Perspective.” At SFU, she teaches “Current Issues in Curriculum and Pedagogy” in the Imaginative Education Master’s cohort.

Warm best wishes and sad farewells to Sonja Ruebsaat

Sonja Ruebsaat has worked at IERG as our Web and video specialist but has recently made the decision to pursue some new and challenging projects.  She was trained at Vancouver Film School in Multimedia Production. She has worked on a range of projects, including a variety of web sites, interactive television, educational video games and documentary videos. We are very sorry to say goodbye to her and wish her all the best as she works to fulfill her dreams. She will be missed.

To read more about the people working in the Imaginative Education Research Group, and those associated with us, just go to the People pages, or click here.