Karine Coen Sanchez is currently pursuing her Doctoral studies in Sociology at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Social Sciences. Karine possesses a strong research interest in various fields such as Experiential Education, Youth Engagement and Activism, and Place-based Learning Civics Education. She is an enthusiastic activist, organizer, and scholar who has dedicated her efforts to initiate systemic change among Black and racialized graduate students in Canada. She actively leads several anti-racism initiatives at her home campus and on a national level, including stakeholder mobilization, institutional diversity and inclusivity statements development, and community-building events hosting.
She is also a prominent figure in webinars and panel discussions regarding race and racism in Canadian higher education and is recognized as a key leader in the fight against institutional racism. Karine's article titled "The Canadian women's movement primarily serves white women and must evolve" received the Department of Communication at the Faculty of Arts' 2023 Knowledge Mobilization prize.
Karine has established an Anti-Racist Committee for students at the University of Ottawa and was appointed co-chair for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council's (SSHRC) Addressing Anti-Black Racism Committee at the national level. In her recent Final Report and Recommendations, she emphasized the need for fair access to research support, equitable participation in research systems, research design and practice, and the production of new knowledge. Karine is a powerful voice both on the ground and in print.