Adishi Gupta (She/Her) is a researcher, educator and emerging artist. She completed her graduate studies at the University of British Columbia in 2024, where she critically examined how dominant Social Emotional Learning narratives can encourage compliance and reinforce social inequities. She is now exploring arts-based pedagogy as a creative and critical tool for engaging with sociality and emotionality in educational spaces. To chat with Adishi or learn more about her work, you can email her at adishi@student.ubc.ca.

Emma McMain (She/Her), PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Counseling, Leadership, and Research Methods at the University of Arkansas. Her research expertise is in qualitative methodologies, which involve examining the stories and sensory experiences that shape people’s identities, relationships, and realities. As a co-host and researcher in this podcast project, Emma bridges her interest in public-facing qualitative inquiry with her curiosities and concerns about social and emotional learning (SEL). To chat with Emma or learn more about her work, you can email her at emcmain@uark.edu.

Jinan El Sabbagh is a Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor at Oklahoma State University. She works primarily with Secondary English education students and previously taught high school English and reading at various grade levels. Her dissertation work focused on a community-responsive elementary SEL program, engaging with community members (families, students) and school personnel (teachers, administrators, support staff) to better understand and support (transformative) SEL efforts. She and her colleague are currently interviewing alternatively certified teachers about their experiences in Oklahoma. She is also interested in fostering and exploring how preservice teachers engage in equity-centered educational advocacy. To chat with Jinan or learn more about her work, you can email her at jelsabb@okstate.edu.

Melvin Chan (He/They) is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at York University. His current research explores rabbit welfare, affects, and advocacy and how rabbit-human relationships are shaped by coloniality and affective dynamics in a variety of animal care settings. He is also interested in and critical of how social and emotional learning is becoming mainstream in the animal welfare community. To chat with Melvin or learn more about their work, you can email them at melvinch@yorku.ca.

Tonje Molyneux (She/Her), PhD, is a Research Fellow and Preventive Pedagogy Specialist at Wellstream: The Canadian Centre for Innovation in Child and Youth Mental Health and Substance Use. Her background includes experience as an educator (PreK-12, post-secondary, educator professional development), program developer, and researcher. Tonje has over 16 years of experience in school-based prevention research translation, program development, evaluation, and implementation. She is committed to producing and mobilizing knowledge to promote the mental health and well-being of children and youth. Her research interests include child and adolescent mental health and well-being, social and emotional learning, school belonging, school-based prevention programming, risk and protective factors, social determinants of health, implementation science, and educator retention and well-being. To chat with Tonje or learn more about her work, you can email her at tonje.molyneux@ubc.ca