We’re pleased to introduce the Executive Committee, who began their terms following the June 2026 CAREC AGM. Alex Berry is an Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary’s Werklund School of Education. Her research with early childhood educators and young children engages with the arts and research-creation toward anti-colonial early childhood pedagogies. Nancy van Groll is a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia and an Instructor in Education and Childhood Studies at Capilano University. Working across early childhood education and the environmental humanities, she engages feminist, artistic, and speculative research to affirm early learning as collective world-making amid planetary precarity. Lisa Johnston (she/her) is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton and a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Education at York University. Her research engages deeply with Hannah Arendt's writing on thinking and time to conceptually explore the intellectual and temporal lives of Early Childhood Educators at the intersections of philosophy, policy, and pedagogy. ​Emily Ashton is an Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of New Brunswick, which occupies unsurrendered and unceded Wolastoqey lands. She situates her work within the interdisciplinary field of childhood studies, drawing on speculative fiction, Black studies, environmental humanities, and critical feminist theory to explore children, childhoods, and futurities. Nicole Land is an Associate Professor in the School of Early Childhood Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University. Working with educator co-researchers, Nicole’s research studies how we get to know fats, muscles, and movement in early childhood education. Nicole Co-Directs the Canadian Pedagogist Network, working with researchers and pedagogists to co-invent pedagogies that respond to complex childhoods and worlds. Laurel Donison is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Child and Youth Studies at Brock University and an instructor in the Childhood and Youth Studies Department at Kings Western University. Her research interests include outdoor learning and play, exploring children’s perspectives and experiences on various topics and arts-based methods. Tatiana Zakharova-Goodman, PhD, is an emerging scholar whose research and teaching is leading innovative intersections of pedagogy, curriculum, arts, and research in early childhood education. Apart from her artistic practice, she is an instructor and atelierista at Capilano U, where her research focuses on artistic studio practice and on curricular and pedagogical possibilities of interdisciplinary collaborations. Karen D’Souza is a passionate education professional pursuing a Ph.D at Human, Development, Learning and Culture at the University of British Columbia while working as a program design consultant with nonprofits. With over 16 years of experience, she has focused on improving outcomes for children and youth from low-income and indigenous environments. Karen’s expertise spans program development, curriculum design, and teacher training across various nonprofit organizations. Her research interests include the impact of play, family and community relationships, and social-emotional learning (SEL) in early childhood education. Malvika Agarwal (born 1994, India) is an interdisciplinary artist and emerging early childhood scholar. She attends to practices of relation through participatory methodologies and is drawn to the textures of urban life. Her work takes the form of durational and participatory installations in educational sites. Aayesha Ahmed is a Registered Psychotherapist and an Early Childhood Educator. She runs a private practice called Raabta Therapy. Alongside her practice she is an active member of the community and is always finding ways to connect with the community. Her research interests include play based learning, early childhood development and various topics related to the mental health field and child development. Adrienne Argent is a PhD student at the University of British Columbia and instructor and faculty pedagogist at Capilano University, where she works across two lab school sites. Her research in early childhood teacher education explores relational pedagogies, educator subjectivity, pedagogical documentation, and world-making through feminist and experimental approaches to inquiry. Karla Green: With over three decades in ECE, Karla A. Green (Mi’kmaq) brings leadership in curriculum, community partnerships, and Indigenous‑informed scholarship. Her scholarship engages Indigenous pedagogies, relational ethics, and land‑based early learning. She explores decolonizing early childhood through Etuaptmumk and contributes to ethical, equity‑focused research across Canadian early childhood networks. Negar Khodarahmi is currently pursuing a PhD in Human Development, Learning & Culture at UBC. Negar is an ECE researcher and educator with a strong commitment to supporting young children, families, and the educators who work alongside them. Her work focuses on trauma-informed practice, equity, inclusion, and children’s health and well-being in early learning settings. She has taught and developed curriculum for ECE courses at UBC, facilitated professional learning workshops, and contributed to curriculum and assessment initiatives within the ECE sector. Her doctoral research examines how trauma-informed practice is understood and enacted in ECE settings, with a focus on creating responsive, relationship-based, and equitable environments. Dr. Della Porta is an interdisciplinary scholar, whose aim is to evaluate existing knowledge and generate solutions regarding social, material, and structural elements that impact young children’s well-being. Building on years of practical experience working with children in various educational settings, she studies teaching and learning in unstructured contexts (e.g., play, conflict, routine exchanges), as well as power relations and dynamics as it exists in pedagogical contexts, including the family, early childhood education and care settings, and community domains.