Dr. Lisa Starr

In the NEXTschool project, Lisa's passion for the study of education focuses on relational leadership/pedagogy and innovative approaches to K-Graduation education in Canada. She is dedicated to improving education by facilitating and/or generating deep understanding around the complex issues present in today’s schools. She studies the complex barriers that impede educational change and how those barriers impact student engagement and educational change.

Vanessa Gold

 is a doctoral student in the Department of Integrated Studies of Education at McGill University studying pedagogical change processes in secondary and post-secondary schools. The research areas informing her work include student voice, educational leadership, design thinking, and action research. She seeks opportunities for collaboration, innovation, and creativity whenever possible.

Frédérick Farmer

is a doctoral student in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill University studying the aims and meaning of State-Sponsored Education system in the North-American context.

Anna Villalta

is a doctoral student in the Department of Integrated Studies at McGill University, studying educational leadership and school change. Anna has extensive experience as an educator and school leader.  Her research interests include:  sustainable and innovative leadership practices, looking at the characteristics of leaders who successfully navigate transformations in schools, as well as embracing the contributions that STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) education can make to school reform, as well as promoting and cultivating a growth mindset, necessary for 21st century learning. 

Dr. Joseph Levitan

Joe Levitan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill University. His research interests include leadership, teaching, and policy for social justice in education, collaborative education development with marginalized and Indigenous communities, curriculum and pedagogy, responsive educational policy development and leadership, culturally grounded education, and intersectional analysis of culture, identity, and learning. In the NEXTSchool project, Joe focuses on how relational dynamics and communication patterns influence change processes.​

Noel Burke

​With over 40 years in education, Noel has become a recognized champion of Lifelong Learning, a successful agent of change, and a sought-after consultant and speaker on educational and institutional innovation. He is recently retired and working on a book on collaborative learning based on thinking styles. He is currently a sessional lecturer for the Graduate Certificate in Educational Leadership at McGill University. As the founder and principal partner of nEDworks Consulting, Noel continues to provide consultation services to educational stakeholders, Leadership Coaching to educational administrators as well as Career Coaching to transitioning youth and adults.

Ellen MacCannell

is a doctoral student in the Department of Integrated Studies of Education at McGill university. She studies educational change processes in secondary and post-secondary schools. Her research interests include: school change initiatives, educational leadership, student voice and stakeholder involvement in change processes. Collaboration is an integral part of her doctoral work.

Dr. Lynn Butler-Kisber

is a Professor of Education in the Department of Integrated Studies at McGill University. Her teaching and research focus on qualitative research methodologies; leadership, multiliteracies; and professional development. She is particularly interested in arts-based methodologies, more specifically in visual inquiry (collage, photo/film and visual narratives) and in poetic inquiry on which she has written and presented extensively. She focuses on issues of marginalization, equity and social justice. She is founding (2007) and current Editor of the LEARNing Landscapes, an online, open access, peer-reviewed journal that integrates theory and practice, encourages multi-modal submissions and the inclusion of a variety of voices. 

Dr. Bronwen Low

has been leading and participating in research, knowledge dissemination, and program and curriculum development projects with a primary focus on how to best support socially marginalized young people underserved by traditional schooling models and practices. Her research interests include the implications and challenges of popular youth culture, “urban arts,” and Hip-Hop culture for curriculum theory, literacy studies, pedagogy, and school transformation; community and digital media projects and pedagogies; translanguaging and the multilingual Montreal hip-hop scene; life stories and human rights education; connected learning and informal education; and, community-school-university partnerships.  ​

Aron Rosenberg

is completing his graduate studies at McGill, focusing on how to support teachers and students as they develop critical approaches to their digital lives. He has been involved with research related to the NEXTschool initiative since 2017. Aron has also worked in high schools, teaching English, Drama, Social Justice, and Creative Writing.