Five Niagara University students presented their research at the Comparative Borders Conference at Brock University, on Saturday, March 28, 2026. The conference, which expanded its reach beyond the Canada-U.S. relationship this year, focuses on borders and borderlands issues in a variety of academic fields and is open to undergraduate and graduate students.
Dr. Shannon Risk, professor of History, brought a panel of three undergraduate students from her course, HIS 359—Canada-U.S. Relations. Collin Blech, Lauren Ervolina, and Frankie Pollino, who discussed the colonial building blocks of modern-day Canada. Niagara Ph.D. students in Leadership and Policy, Shaira Brereton and Mitchell Keene, also shared their research.
Students and moderators from Bridgewater State University, Brock University, Canadian University of Bangladesh, Canisius University, Daemen University, Kings University College-University of Western Ontario, Wilfrid Laurier University, Western Washington University, and the University of Maine offered their latest research as well.
The keynote speaker was associate professor in the department of Political Science at Brock University, Dr. Liam Midzain-Gobin, a specialist in the “ongoing remaking of settler colonial sovereignty and indigenous responses to it.” Hosting duties for the conference are shared jointly by Brock University and Niagara University. The conference returns to Niagara University on Saturday, March 13, 2027.
