Student leadership

PCJ Society presidents share upcoming programming on a large screen

Connect with the PCJ community

The PCJ program offers several student leadership opportunities through which you can enrich your learning experience and connect with the PCJ community. Join the PCJ Society, help organize or attend the annual PCJ conference.

PCJ Society

The PCJ Society is a student leadership group representing all students enrolled in the Peace, Conflict and Justice Studies Program. Your 2024-2025 Executive members are:

Picture of Liam Chun
 

Liam Chun

Co-President

Picture of Noah Rudder
 

Noah Rudder

Co-President

Picture of Jana Ghandour
 

Jana Ghandour

Vice President

Picture of Peter Matthew Anders Davidson
 

Matthew Davidson

Treasurer

Picture of Amelia Collet
 

Amelia Collet

Academic Director

Picture of Emilia Patalita
 

Emilia Patalita

Academic Director

Picture of Alyssa Young
 

Alyssa Young

Rapoport Editor-In-Chief

Picture of Irene Wu
 

Irene Wu

Conference Co-Director

Picture of Candace Ciju
 

Candace Ciju

Conference Co-Director

Picture of Esther Yoon
 

Esther Yoon

Socials Director

Picture of Nathan Feltmate
 

Nathan Feltmate

Socials Director

Picture of Anna Sofia Alemany Gilleland
 

Anna Sofia Alemany Gilleland

Communications Director

Picture of Emily Hospedales
 

Emily Hospedales

Communications Director

Picture of Naiera Sharma
 

Naiera Sharma

Wellness Director

PCJ Conference

The theme of this year's PCJ Conference is "The Oppression of Identity: Minorities and the Right to Self-Determination". This conference brings together students, scholars, human rights activists, and survivors from across the globe with the aim of providing a balance between theory, practice, and personal experiences. Self-determination is the objective that all oppressed groups wish to eventually obtain, and has increasingly become a priority for both those affected directly and their advocates. The fight for self-determination is an old conflict, and one that can be traced throughout history and back to the present, where we can pinpoint several modern examples. The PCJ Conference will provide a platform for these discussions through forums that delve into cases of self-advocacy and appropriately look at both pending and resolved instances of this struggle.

  • Forums included this year are:

Legal oppression
The first forum will investigate oppression through a legal lens by exploring the identity of Indigenous peoples in Canada
Political oppression
The second forum considers political oppression in North America, and specifically how it affects the BIPOC population
Religious oppression
This third forum seeks to understand religious oppression in relation to self-determination
Lateral oppression
The fourth forum contemplates lateral oppression as a byproduct of various global conflicts

Celebrating our student leaders

Every year, U of T awards the University of Toronto Student Leadership Awards (UTSLA), formerly known as the Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award. The award continues U of T’s long-standing tradition of recognizing outstanding student leadership, service and commitment to the university.

Over 25 years, the award has celebrated the exemplary contributions of over 4,000 students whose commitment and service have had a lasting impact on their peers and the university.

This year, we celebrate seven graduating students from the Trudeau Centre for Peace, Conflict and Justice (PCJ) who have been awarded the 2022 UTSLA awardThrough their ongoing leadership and commitment, these students have made invaluable contributions to student life at PCJ and the broader U of T community.

Meet some of this year’s winners!

Areas of focus - Victor Dementiev/Unsplash

CONNECT WITH THE PCJ SOCIETY