People

Nexus Director

Dr. Jennifer Selby (she/her), Director

Nexus Research Assistant

Reyna Ericka Padua (she/her) is a second-year student in the thesis-route of the MA in Political Science at Memorial University of Newfoundland & Labrador, Graduate Assistant at Nexus Research Centre, and the current Vice President for Public Relations of Political Science Graduate Students’ Society at MUNL . Ericka earned her Bachelor of Arts in Communication, cum laude, from Angeles University Foundation in the Philippines. After graduation, she worked as a news correspondent, multimedia director, and radio host before moving to South Korea in November 2015 to work for Overseas Business Division for an automotive company. Ericka was provided the opportunity to travel to different countries to meet and transact with the company’s customers and suppliers which after some time found that she was rediscovering an interest in foreign policy, migration, and international relations.

Ericka saw firsthand how practices and procedures of each nation were different from one other as well as from the Philippines and identified the potential to adapt best practices within each to improve their citizens’ lives. It has been in part, this newly developed knowledge that has motivated Ericka to further her education.

Caighlan Smith (she/her) is a doctoral candidate and Vanier Scholar with the English Department of Memorial University of Newfoundland. Caighlan holds a B.A. (Hons.) in English from Memorial University and an MLitt (with Distinction) in Fantasy from the University of Glasgow. She has a background in creative writing and speculative fiction as an international award-winning novelist. Caighlan is currently studying the intersections of feminism, gender theory, neoliberalism, and the hero archetype in video games. Her other research interests include popular culture, the digital humanities, and ideology critique.

Past Nexus Directors

Dr. Sonja Boon (she/her), Gender Studies, 2021 - 22

Dr. John Sandlos, History, 2017 - 20

Past Nexus Graduate Assistants

Sheridan Thompson-Graham (she/her/they), Interdisciplinary, 2020 - 23

Ericka Padua-Sanchez (she/her), Political Science, 2022

Shannon Christine Fraser, Interdisciplinary, 2020 - 21

Elahe Nezhadhossein, Sociology, 2018 - 20

Meghann Livingston, Archaeology, 2018 - 19

Michelle Irving, Political Science, 2018 - 19