Tanja Tajmel

Dr. Tanja Tajmel earned her Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) in Didactics of Physics from Humboldt-Universität Berlin, Germany, and holds a BSc in Meteorology and Geophysics and a MSc in Physics and Philosophy from Karl-Franzens University of Graz, Austria. Dr. Tajmel was a Professor at the University of Education Upper Austria (until 2018) and Visiting Professor at the University of São Paulo, Brasil (2019). She has been leading several inter- and transdisciplinary initiatives, including a think tank exploring STEM education as a human right. Since 2021, she has been Co-PI in the pan-Canadian NSERC CREATE program SE4AI. From 2020 to 2025 she held a Concordia Unversity Research Chair (CURC) in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in STEM. Since 2024, she serves as Scientific Director, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, for Volt-Age, Concordia’s research program funded by a CA$123-million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund. 

ENCS 691-AI Social Aspects of AI (Winter 2027)
ENCS 691 Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in STEM (Fall 2026)
INDI 898 Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in STEM (summer institute 2019)
ENGR 392 Impact of Technology on Society 
ENGR 201 Professional Practice and Responsibility 

Dr. Tajmel is an interdisciplinary scholar with a broad research and teaching portfolio. In her current research she is studying the impact of new technologies such as AI on society, in particular on gender equality and human rights. 

Volt-Age CFREF (Canada First Research Excellence Fund): Impact Project "Electrified Transportation, Emergency Power,and Microgrid Design for Indigenous, Remote, and Local Communities" (Co-PI; PI: Dr. Pragasan Pillay); Sub-Project 3: "Gender and SDG5 in Electrification" 2025-2029
($3,218,000)

IVADO: Cluster 5: Ethics, EDI, and Indigenous Peoples: "Affecting Machines: Representation of Women in AI Laboratories" (PI together with Dr. Fenwick McKelvey and Dr. Lindsay Rodgers) 2024-2026
($71,200) 

Government of Schleswig- Holstein, Germany: "Reduction and reproduction of educational disadvantages through AI-based generative NLP technology in the multilingual migration society" (Co-PI; PI: Dr. Marion Döll) 2024-2025
(€25,000 equ. $37,652)

SSHRC Insight Development Grant: "Assessing the socio-economic (in)equity of AI in Canada" (PI; Co-PIs: Dr. Gita Ghiasi, Dr. Vincent Larivière) 2022-2025
($64,841)

NSERC CREATE: "A Training Program on the Development, Deployment and Servicing of Artificial Intelligence-based Software Systems (CREATE SE4AI)" (Co-PI; PI: Dr. Emad Shihab) 2021-2026 ($1,554,000)

Concordia University: Concordia University Research Chair (Tier 2): "Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics" 2020-2025
($100,000)

Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture (FRQSC): "L'Autre dans les manuels scolaires de science" 2020-2023 ($44,530)
Principal Investigator: Dr. Tanja Tajmel

Tri-Agency New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) - Exploration: "Decolonizing Light - Tracing and Countering Colonialism in Contemporary Physics" 2019-2022 ($178,818)
Principal Investigator: Dr. Tanja Tajmel
Co-Investigators: Dr. Louellyn White, Dr. Ingo Salzmann
website

Canadian Federation of Business School Deans: "Equity, Diversity and Inclusion at the Intersection of STEM and Business Management in Canadian Higher Education" 2019 ($11,500)
Principal Investigators: Dr. Stefanie Ruel, Dr. Tanja Tajmel

Ministère de l'Éducation et de l'Enseignement supérieur: "Try Concordia - Mentorship program for female CÉGEP students" 2018-2019 
website

European Commission (66%) and Germany’s Employers’ Association in the Metal and Electrical Engineering Industries (33%): "PROMISE - Promotion of Migrants in Science Education". Partners: Humboldt-University Berlin (Dept. of Physics), European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (Graz, Austria), University of Vienna (Dept. of Physics), University of Sarajevo (Dept. of Physics), Yildiz Technical University Istanbul (Dep. of Education). 2005-2007 (€453,500 ($666,000))

Dr. Tajmel is publishing in English and German. Apart from scientific papers and editions she published textbooks for secondary school STEM education and for teacher trainings.

Graduate students

Current:
Behnoosh Matinrad (PhD student)
Phiona N. Bukulu (PhD student)
Mert Ozyonum (PhD student)
Sharon Chi Yin Ho (PhD student)

Graduated:
Tatiana Gladcheff Zanon Spina (PhD 2025)
Ezgi Ozyonum (PhD 2025)
Sharon Ho (MASc 2025)
Carlos Mometti (PhD 2024, University of Sao Paulo)
Anick Jasmin (MSc 2024)
Amanda Kolopanis (MASc 2024)
Riya Dutta (MASc 2023)

Postdoctoral Scholars and Research Associates

Ezgi Ozyonum (Postdoctoral Fellow 2025)
Mirjam Fines-Neuschild, Ph.D. (Horizon Postdoctoral Fellow 2021-2023)
Gita Ghiasi, Ph.D. (Research Associate 2021-2022)
Yan Liu, MSc (Research Associate, 2020-2021)

Research Assistants

Rachna Raj
Wassim Nijaoui 
Danika Zachary 
Élise Ross-Nadié 
Anick Jasmin 
Melissa Mendes