Concordia's Faculty of Arts and Science announces the winners of the 2025 Graduate Research Photo Contest

Five winning images offer a visual window into graduate research at Concordia, from environmental change to neuroscience and social history

January 8, 2026

By Émilie Hervieux

Hundreds of blue and green “rocks". Though they look like natural stones, most are fragments of tile, concrete, slag, and industrial coatings, materials.

First Place: The Blue of Distance, by Rachel Rozanski, PhD candidate Humanities (Arts & Science).

The Faculty of Arts and Science is proud to announce the winners of the 2025 Graduate Research Photo Contest, celebrating the creativity and impact of graduate research across disciplines. The annual contest invites master’s and doctoral students to capture the essence of their research in a single photograph accompanied by a clear, accessible description.

By translating complex ideas into powerful visual stories, the initiative highlights the curiosity, rigour, and real-world impact of graduate research happening at the Faculty, while offering the broader community a window into the diverse work shaping knowledge at Concordia today.

A total of five entries were recognized by the jury, this year, with awards and honorable mentions.

2025 Photo Contest Winners

First Place

The Blue of Distance, by Rachel Rozanski
PhD candidate Humanities (Arts & Science)
Supervisor: Arseli Dokumaci (Communication Studies)

"This image assembles hundreds of blue and green “rocks” collected along the shoreline of Toronto’s Leslie Street Spit, a place I once swam almost daily. Though they look like natural stones, most are fragments of tile, concrete, slag, and industrial coatings, materials I have sampled and chemically analyzed in my research. The blue pieces, which are especially striking to the eye, consistently tested as the most toxic. Arranged here as a single colour field, the image highlights how pollution is reshaped by water into something that appears harmless, even beautiful.

This photograph forms part of a larger project examining how rewilded urban landscapes produce the illusion of environmental recovery. By isolating these fragments, the work asks viewers to consider how toxicity can be disguised as aesthetic pleasure and how the materials we discard return to us through the very places where we seek recreation and refuge." (picture above)

A single neuron, lit in orange, on a black background. It seems to be glowing like a tiny sun at the center of the mind

Second Place: Neuronal Sunburst, by Mahgol Darvishmolla, PhD candidate Health and Exercise Science.

Second Place

Neuronal Sunburst, by Mahgol Darvishmolla

PhD candidate Health and Exercise Science
Supervisor: Richard Courtemanche, Health, Kinesiology and Applied Physiology

"This image captures a single neuron, the fundamental cell of the brain that receives, processes, and sends information, glowing like a tiny sun at the center of the mind. Its bright core and branching filaments resemble solar flares, radiating outward to form the pathways that shape our thoughts, movements, and motivations. Each delicate branch is a route for communication, where the brain weaves experience into action.

In my research, I study how alcohol exposure and behavioral patterns influence the structure and function of these neurons in the striatum, an area crucial for reward and decision-making. By visualizing individual cells in such detail, I can examine how their connections strengthen, weaken, or reorganize in response to changes in experience.

This photograph reveals both the beauty and fragility of the brain’s wiring. It reminds us that inside each of us, millions of these glowing networks quietly shape who we are, one branching connection at a time."

A dozen of white and beige collar shirts, hung to dry on clothes lines. In the background, we can see blue plastic bags that seem to be filled with pieces of clothing.

Third Place: who does the laundry ?, by Philippine D'Halleine, MA in History.

Third Place

who does the laundry ?, by Philippine D'Halleine

MA student in History
Supervisor: Steven High (History)

"This image recalls the care taken in washing the clothes of men returning from the mines in northern France, covered in coal and dust.

My research focuses on those forgotten by the history of deindustrialization: women. Responsible for education, meals, and housework, they are the first to be laid off, bearing the greatest mental burden of the household. My thesis examines the resurgence of domestic violence during the economic restructuring of the second half of the 20th century."

Honorable Mentions

My mother: My First Place, by Vanessa Teran Collantes

PhD candidate in Humanities (Arts & Science)
Supervisor: David Howes (Sociology & Anthropology)

The bottom half of a girl's body, under water. The girl is wearing a pink and purple swimsuit. The sun is shining through the water. The bottom of the pool is blue.

Honorable Mention: My mother: My First Place, by Vanessa Teran Collantes, PhD candidate in Humanities (Arts & Science)

The Carbon in the Cigarette, by Methembe Moyo

MSc in Physics
Supervisor: George Bepete (Physics, Chemical and Materials Engineering)

Three images side-by-side: the first one represents a bunch of cigarette butts; the second one shows the same amount of cigarettes, but only the filters; the third one shows a small pile of white powder or foam. The full image seems to be representing hundreads of cigarettes deteroiorating.

Honorable Mention: The Carbon in the Cigarette, by Methembe Moyo, MSc in Physics

See complete list of photo submissions and descriptions in the Fall 2025 Grad Photo Competition Flickr album.

Learn more about graduate research at Concordia's Faculty of Arts and Science.