OCAD U faculty members recognized for research excellence

Left to right: Dr. Haru Ji and Dr. Andrew Gayed.

Each year, OCAD University recognizes faculty members for their innovative contributions to research with the presentation of awards that celebrate distinguished and early-stage research activities.  OCAD U congratulates all faculty members who were nominated and who collectively continue to grow the depth and diversity of quality research at the University.

The recipient of the 2023-24 OCAD University Award for Distinguished Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity is Associate Professor Dr. Haru Ji from the Faculty of Art. This award recognizes faculty members for their outstanding portfolio of research, scholarship and creative activity and the impact that activity has had across a broad spectrum of art and design research and practice internationally. The award also recognizes contributions toward undergraduate and graduate research and training.

The recipient of the 2023-24 OCAD University Award for Excellence in Early-Stage Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity is Assistant Professor Dr. Andrew Gayed from the Faculty of Arts & Science. This award recognizes recently appointed faculty members for their outstanding promise to be distinguished researchers, scholars, artists and designers within a university context.

OCAD University Award for Distinguished Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity

Dr. Haru Ji received the award in recognition of her exceptional research-creation practice, which has garnered international recognition in the field of transdisciplinary computational arts. Her engagement with new research-creation practices has led to an internationally recognized body of work that invites us to experience complex adaptive systems and to reconsider our relationship with nature. She has been an active faculty member at OCAD U since 2017, including being awarded a year sabbatical in 2022–23.

Dr. Ji has supervised twelve graduate students, five as primary advisor, in the Interdisciplinary Art, Media and Design (IAMD) and Digital Futures (DF) graduate programs. Two of her primary advisees were awarded OCAD U Medal of the year: Sara Mozafari-Lorestani, MFA in IAMD (2021) and Kylie Caraway, MFA in DF (2019). Her work has been widely cited and built upon by scholars on national and international stages, and her exhibitions and presentations have spanned more than nine countries and 40 venues over the past 10 years. Dr. Ji’s research projects have been supported by significant research grants from SSHRC, the Ontario Ministry of Education eCampus Ontario, Korea Ministry of Education, Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture and more.

OCAD University Award for Excellence in Early-Stage Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity

Dr. Andrew Gayed received the award in recognition of his significant contributions to the fields of diasporic art, queer visual culture, and Middle Eastern art histories, which demonstrate his outstanding promise and impact on academic and cultural landscapes. Dr. Gayed's academic journey includes achievements that emphasize his originality and impact within his field, key criteria for the Early Research Award.

He completed his PhD in Art History and Visual Culture at York University, where his dissertation, "Queer Modernities and Diasporic Art of the Middle East," was awarded the Provost Fellowship as one of the top six graduating PhDs in 2020. Dr. Gayed's research, particularly his recent monograph Queer World Making: Contemporary Middle Eastern Diasporic Art (University of Washington Press, 2024), is a groundbreaking work that explores the intersectionality of queerness, race and diasporic identities.