Dr Rebecca Caines is an interdisciplinary artist and scholar, whose research crosses between creative technologies (including sound art, new media, and augmentation), and socially engaged art, with a special focus on improvisatory practices. She holds a PhD in Performance Studies from the University of New South Wales, in Sydney, Australia; and completed two postdoctoral research fellowships at the University of Guelph, before moving to University of Regina to help build a new cross faculty program in Creative Technologies.
Caines has completed large-scale community-based art and research projects in Australia, Northern Ireland, Canada, China, and the Netherlands. Her publications appear in journals such as Performance Research, Contemporary Music Review, The Canadian Journal of Action Research, Critical Studies in Improvisation, and M/C: Journal of Media and Culture. She also has chapters in several anthologies on performance, community-engagement, and improvisation, published by Duke, Routledge, and Bloomsbury. She is editor (with Ajay Heble) of Spontaneous Acts: The Improvisation Studies Reader (Routledge, 2015). Caines’ work investigates the role of art and technology in social justice, contemporary understandings of community, and the fragile promise of ethical connection offered through dialogic approaches. She is currently the Program Coordinator at the brand-new Creative Technologies program at York University’s Markham Campus.
Gunnar Blohm is a Professor of Computational Neuroscience at Queen’s University, where he studies how the brain enables us to interact with our three-dimensional world. His research combines computational modelling with behavioural experiments, neuroimaging, and brain stimulation techniques to understand sensory-motor control and spatial cognition.
Blohm’s path to neuroscience began with undergraduate training in physics and engineering, followed by a PhD at the intersection of engineering and neuroscience. This interdisciplinary foundation shapes his approach to understanding brain function through quantitative and computational methods. He has published over 90 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters to date and has secured continuous research funding from major Canadian and international agencies. Currently, he serves as Vice-Director of the Connected Minds project, a seven-year, $320 million Canada First Research Excellence Fund initiative exploring responsible innovation in neurotechnology and artificial intelligence.
Beyond his laboratory research, Blohm has become a leading innovator in computational neuroscience education. In 2020, he co-founded Neuromatch Academy, a global online educational platform that has trained thousands of students worldwide. He also co-organizes Neuro4Pros, a leadership training summer school for young professors in systems and computational neuroscience. His work has been recognized with multiple awards for teaching excellence and equity in education.
Kai is an engineer, artist, and educator at York University. Drawing on a diverse background in systems engineering, computational biology, leadership development, and various creative and body-mind practices, Kai aspires to help his students think better, care more, and do meaningful good in the world.
Nora Rosenthal is a writer and filmmaker whose work has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the NFB, and the Ontario Council for the Arts. Recent residencies include the 2025 Early Career Banff Artist in Residence program and the Research and Development Lab at UnionDocs Centre for Documentary Arts in Queens NY. Formerly the Arts and Culture Editor at Cult MTL, her writing has appeared internationally in Momus, MUBI’s Notebook, The Editorial Magazine and Documentary Magazine. Her short film Nine Easy Dances has played in 12 countries, including at Visions du Réel, Dokufest Kosovo, DOK Leipzig, and the RIDM, screening at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and receiving two Best Director awards, among others. The film was nominated for Best Short Documentary by the International Documentary Association in 2024. She obtained her MFA in film production at York University, where she continues to work as researcher.
Natalie King is a queer Anishinaabe (Algonquin) artist, facilitator, and member of Timiskaming First Nation. Her interdisciplinary practice spans painting, sculpture, video, installation, and community-engaged projects grounded in care, kinship, and cultural continuity. King’s work explores queer Anishinaabeg embodiment, memory, and survivance through vivid visual languages that bridge land and body, tradition and futurity. Drawing from Anishinaabe teachings and Two-Spirit presence, her paintings act as sites of protection, sensual memory, and transformation.
Recent exhibitions include POWER (ONSITE Gallery, 2024), World-builders, Shape-shifters (The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2024), Come and Get Your Love (Arsenal Contemporary, 2022), and PAGEANT (Centre[3], 2021). Her work is held in the permanent collections of McMaster University and the Doris McCarthy Gallery.