As we welcome new people to the FEELed Lab, we want to make space for longer introductions to project team members and research affiliates joining us this year. This profile is on Tareq Yousef, who is joining us as a research affiliate on our new project “Untapping Watershed Relations: Water in Woodhaven”.
- Can you tell us about your work/research?
I think it is absolutely fascinating that with every living moment, organisms take stimulus information in. For example, even while we are asleep, humans can still detect and respond to auditory or tactile stimulation. The neural processing that underlies all of this makes use of a system that has evolved to turn experiences and thoughts (like those that arise listening to a lecture or doing the butterfly stroke) into consolidated learning. In some ways every moment of our lives is an opportunity to learn. Our lab is interested in effective learning, associated features of cognition, and the relationship university students have with technology and their immediate environments.
2. Why did you want to work with the FEELed Lab?
The FEEled Lab is exemplary in making research applied, accessible, and situated in place, especially through prioritising syilx partnership. For all these reasons and more, it is a privilege to learn from members of the FEELed Lab as I aim to grow my interdisciplinarity and engagement with our broader community.
3. Why are expansive engagements with environmental issues important?
I arrive at this from a neuropsychological perspective. Our relationship with the environment goes beyond what we may initially presume. The consequences of temperature increases due to climate change are vast and include psychological and neurological effects outside of what we would normally associate with global warming (i.e., heat-stroke, respiratory illness…). Approaching environmental issues with a broad and multi-disciplinary lens allows for a more wholistic understanding.
4. What are you most excited about regarding our water in woodhaven project?
Even though we have good evidence for the neuropsychological health outcomes of climate change, they are not part of the mainstream conversation and as such, there is little public education about them. Making this knowledge more accessible is a part of the cycle of transformative action that may support people engaging in climate initiatives.
