USSU Undergraduate Sociology Research Symposium

Join us for an inspiring evening of student-led research at the Undergraduate Sociology Research Symposium!

This event celebrates Sociology students' incredible work and allows them to present their original research projects. Come learn from their experiences, support fellow students, and see firsthand what undergraduate research can look like! This event provides undergraduate students with the opportunity to present their research to peers while highlighting the breadth and quality of undergraduate research within the discipline of sociology. For more information, please contact: officialussu@gmail.com

• Date: Wednesday, March 11, 2026
• Time: 5:00–7:00pm
• Location: Department of Sociology - Room 17020, 17^th Floor - 700 University Avenue 

Register Here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfP00cLHzWM1QlvWjwphvBakevKSj1Ks6Le3yNrmXCe92KWAA/viewform

We are proud to announce this year's Presenters: 

• Amy Meleqi: How low-income backgrounds shape immigrant students’ academic performance, study environments, and mental health in post-secondary education.
• Maia Cassie: How young women experience social media scrolling and how peer conversations can transform shame and mindlessness into empowerment and intentional use.
• Sophia Robina Bannon: How non-normative queer identities experience exclusion within queer spaces and the ways belonging is policed and negotiated.
• Sydney Pacheco: Whether women-only gym hours foster lasting comfort, confidence, and belonging among women-identifying students.

Full presentation abstracts are included below.

Expect insightful discussions, networking opportunities, and refreshments!

We look forward to seeing you there!

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Amy Meleqi: This research paper explores how low-income backgrounds influence the academic performance of immigrant students in post-secondary education. Using semi-structured interviews with four female immigrant life science majors at the University of Toronto, the study identifies three major themes: (1) financial struggles and the perception of being a burdensome dependent; (2) the lack of adequate study spaces and their adverse effects on concentration; and (3) mental health challenges due to financial pressures. A notable methodological challenge emerged when one interviewee, Cen, despite being recruited as a low-income participant, demonstrated a relatively stable financial situation. Instead of excluding her responses, this study uses her experience as a contrasting counterpoint, thereby deepening the analysis. The paper concludes with implications for institutional policy, suggestions for enhancing on-campus support, and recommendations for future research.

Maia Cassie: Social media scrolling has long been recognized as a powerful, but often harmful, force in young women’s lives. Yet little research has focused on how women themselves experience social media scrolling and reckon with its impacts, which has limited the development of effective interventions. This study draws on six focus groups with young female-identified social media users to explore how they understand scrolling, and how intentionality and peer dialogue can reshape this. Findings indicate that young women are troubled by a variety of aspects of scrolling: shame surrounding the content they consume, difficulty engaging critically due to mindlessness, and confusion and isolation as they navigate this process alone. However, discussing these experiences with peers transformed negative emotions into pride and awareness, and built a sense of community and mutual support. This suggests that peer-based, dialogical approaches to scrolling are both effective and highly desired. Connection and conversation can aid young women in creating personalized scrolling strategies, making sense of complex feelings, and collectively redefining and reclaiming their social media use. Accordingly, this article offers a replicable model for fostering wellbeing in relation to scrolling that moves beyond restriction to centre young women’s lived experiences and needs.

Sophia Robina Bannon: This qualitative study examines whether non-normative queer identities experience exclusion within queer spaces and investigates the mechanisms through which such exclusion occurs. Non-normative queer identities are defined as those that do not conform to dominant representations of queerness—typically white, cisgender, gay, and lesbian identities. Focusing on femme bisexual and queer cisgender women, the study draws on a one-hour ethnographic observation conducted in a gay club in Toronto’s Gay Village and two semi-structured interviews with white, femme-presenting, cisgender queer and bisexual women. Data were analyzed using thematic coding informed by both prior literature and emergent patterns from the fieldwork. Findings indicate that exclusion operates through membership policing, identity delegitimization, and the hierarchical construction of queer legitimacy. The presence of straight-presenting individuals intensified policing over who “belongs,” leading participants to be perceived as not queer. Patriarchal and heteronormative assumptions framed bisexuality as performative or illegitimate contributed to dual erasure across both heterosexual and queer contexts. Participants described engaging in identity negotiation strategies. These findings suggest that exclusion within queer spaces is shaped by underlying patriarchal ideologies that contradict the community’s commitment to inclusivity and highlight the need to reconceptualize belonging within marginalized communities.

Sydney Pacheco: This study examines the sense of belonging and comfortability women-identifying students experience when using campus gyms. This study is guided by the following research question: Does the gender-based segregation created by women-only gym hours make women-identifying students feel more comfortable using their campus gyms, and can that comfortability extend to subsequent comfortability of using the gym during regular hours? A qualitative research approach was taken, including an ethnographic study conducted at a university in southern Ontario, and semi-structured interviews with current university students who identified as women. The research revealed three interrelated themes: the gym’s spatial layout and its impact on social interactions, women-only hours are a time for exploration, and a sense of belonging is essential to increasing comfortability in the gym. Through a discussion of these key themes, the study provides insight into the factors that contribute to a sense of community women can feel when attending the gym and how comfortability differs between women-only and regular hours.