Meet the Team
Dr. Diana C. Parry
(she/her)
Co-Director
Diana C. Parry is a Professor in the Faculty of Health at the University of Waterloo and an internationally recognized scholar whose work sits at the intersection of leisure, gender, health, and technology. Her research examines how power, identity, and well-being are shaped through everyday leisure practices, with particular attention to digital spaces, trauma-informed approaches, and equity. Dr. Parry has led multiple SSHRC-funded research programs, published widely in top-tier journals, and served in senior academic leadership roles. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Leisure Sciences and is known for translating research into meaningful social and organizational change. Through her scholarship, teaching, and consulting work, Dr. Parry is committed to advancing more inclusive, ethical, and human-centred approaches to leisure, technology, and well-being.
Dr. Corey W. Johnson
(he/him)
Co-Director
Dr. Corey W. Johnson (he/him/his) is the Karla A. Henderson Distinguished Professor at North Carolina State University and a qualitative methodologist whose work examines power, identity, and inequity across leisure, digital cultures, and educational settings. He has hundreds of publications and his books include Thriving on Campus: Promoting the Inclusion, Academic Development, and Wellbeing of Diverse 2SLGBTQ+ University and College Students (2024), Fostering Social Justice through Qualitative Inquiry (2nd ed., 2022), Leisure in the Time of COVID-19 (2022), and Digital Dilemmas (2018). He also produces public accessible funded scholarship—digital shorts on geosocial networking apps, gender/sexuality, and digital intimacy—and he also co-produced two award-winning documentaries amplifying LGBTQ and transgender youth collective memories in U.S. high schools (2009; 2010). As a steward of the discipline’s knowledge creation, Dr. Johnson served as the editor for Leisure Sciences (2016-2022) significantly raising the profile and impact. His own leisure includes meditation, yoga, spellcasting, hiking, camping, and spending time with his husband and pups.
Dr. Stefanie Duguay
(she/her)
is an Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Director of the Digital Intimacy, Gender and Sexuality (DIGS) Lab at Concordia University in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, Canada. Her research focuses on the intersection of digital technologies and media with representations and practices pertaining to intimate life, relationships, gender, and sexuality. This has involved studies of LGBTQ+ people’s social media participation, dating apps, platform appropriation and governance, discourses of automation and algorithmic neutrality, and the role of platforms and mobile media in queer social landscapes.
Dr. Bronwen Valtchanov
(she/her)
is a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer in the faculty of Health at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Her research is grounded in a feminist, social justice approach to broadly examine the individual and collective experiences of individuals in marginalized communities. In particular, she focuses on the sociocultural challenges and possibilities of navigating the interrelated contexts of major life transitions and digital interactions. Her research on digital contexts has highlighted the dynamics of online communities, the consumption of sexually explicit materials online, and most recently, digital harms on dating apps. Through engaging feminist theories, narrative methodologies, and Creative Analytic Practice—centering care and plurality—Bronwen’s research seeks to illuminate complexities and compel more equitable social change.
Dr. Christopher Dietzel
(he/him)
Dr. Christopher Dietzel, Ph.D. (he/him) is a postdoctoral fellow whose work explores the intersections of gender, sexuality, health, safety, and technology. His research broadly explores the impacts and implications of people’s everyday interactions with digital platforms, like social media and dating apps. Dr. Dietzel leads the DATE.AI Project (Dating and Tech Experiences with AI), which explores artificial intelligence in online dating. He is co-investigator of Digitally Informed Youth (DIY): Digital Safety and also works with the Digital Intimacy, Gender, and Sexualities (DIGS) Lab, the Sexual Health and Gender (SHaG) Lab, the iMPACTS Project, and the Collaboratory on Digital Equity Research (CODER).
Silvo Hernesniemi
(he/him)
Silvo Hernesniemi is a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS) and PhD student in the Recreation and Leisure Studies Department at the University of Waterloo. Prior to starting his doctoral studies, Silvo worked as a therapeutic recreation specialist with older adults and individuals with dementia at the Residence at Littledale in St. John’s, Newfoundland. As an emerging scholar, his research interests revolve around therapeutic recreation, critical theories (e.g., feminisms, critical disability studies), post-structuralism, social justice, and qualitative/post-qualitative inquiry.
Dr. Amy Matharu
(she/her)
Amy Matharu is a recent PhD graduate in aging, health, and well-being from the University of Waterloo, where her dissertation research explored the athlete-retirement experience through a feminist lens. Amy also holds an M.Sc. in gerontology from King’s College London (U.K.) and a B.Sc. in health studies with a minor in gerontology and specialization in health research from the University of Waterloo. She is passionate about making research accessible to all and promoting curiosity at all ages and stages of life. Amy’s research interests include aging, gerontology, gender, sport, technology, digital harms, and well-being. She has published in academic journals such as Leisure Studies and Women’s Studies in Communication and has presented her work at numerous national and international conferences.
R Babb
(they/them)
With a background in interdisciplinary biology and informal science education, R is a recent addition to CODER and the Online Dating Safety Map. After graduating from NC State University, their personal and professional interest in creating more inclusive and accessible spaces for marginalized identities in STEM led them to the realm of qualitative inquiry. Since 2024, they have worked as a research assistant for Dr. Corey W. Johnson and collaborated with his graduate students (both past and present) on various scholarly projects. R is also a visual artist: their digital comics and illustrations were featured in local and national exhibitions as well as published academic articles. They are based in Raleigh, NC and enjoy cooking, gaming, spending time in nature, and playing with their pets.