Our Team
Director
Shaylene Nancekivell (she/her)
Dr. Shaylene Nancekivell is an Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba who directs the Young Minds Research Lab. She was previously an Assistant Professor at UNCG. Broadly, she is interested in understanding the nature of conceptual representations, specifically those (potentially) structured as intuitive theories. Her primary interests center around how children and adults reason about digital contexts and possessions. But, she has additional interests in people’s beliefs about learning. Her work can be found in a wide range of developmental, cognitive science, and educational journals. She is currently funded by both NSERC and SSHRC grants.
Learn more about recent papers here, or by sending her an email at shaylene.nancekivell@umanitoba.ca.
Graduate Students
Allyson Paton (she/her)
Allyson is in her first year of the School Psychology Masters program. She is interested in research that supports wellbeing and development in children. Allyson’s Masters research focuses on promoting wellbeing in digital spaces by learning how children think and feel about technology. Her thesis is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. When not in front of her laptop, you can find Allyson outside gardening or cozying up with her cat and a good book.
Marko Dobrovolskyi
Bio coming soon!
Lab Managers
Kazuki Nishikiori (she/her)
Kazuki is our current lab manager. She is in her final year of her B.Sc. in Psychology and is completing her co-op placement through the Faculty of Science. She assists the lab with data collection and helps develop new research projects alongside Dr. Nancekivell. She also manages the communication and scheduling of the lab.
Sarah Petriw (she/her)
Sarah is our current database coordinator/ lab manager. She is a recent graduate of the Bachelor of Arts Psychology Honours program at the University of Manitoba. She will be managing the Healthy Human Development Group Database, assisting with recruitment, and managing research projects alongside Dr. Nancekivell.
Undergraduate Students
Breanna Amoyaw (she/her)
Breanna is a fourth year undergraduate student in the B.Sc. Psychology Honours program. She joined the lab to learn more about child development. She will be conducting her thesis project next year on how children think about sharing information with online games.
Sav Kizilos
Sav is an undergraduate student in their final year of the B.A. Psychology program. Their primary interests are developmental psychology, learning through play, and how children process the world around them.
Braxton Anderson
Braxton is a fourth year undergraduate student in the B.A. program. He is intensely interested in Ludology and how "play" affects learning and development in people. He joined the lab to learn more about how people understand their learning.
Addison Barkman (she/her)
Addison is in her final year of the B.A. Psychology Honours program. She is interested in children’s cognitive development. She will be conducting her thesis project on how children and adults learn through museum exhibits.
Madelaine Baigrie (she/her)
Madelaine is a fourth year undergraduate student in the B.Sc. Psychology program. She is excited to learn more about child development through her participation in the Young Minds Research Lab.
Sienna Carritt (she/her)
Sienna Carritt is a fourth year undergraduate student in the B.A. Psychology Honours program. Her main interests are developmental psychology and how children understand their world, which she is excited to learn more about in the Young Minds Reseach Lab.
Samantha MacDonald
Samantha is a third year undergraduate student in the B.A. program, majoring in psychology with an interest in business psychology. She is also interested in child development psychology and has joined the Young Minds Research Lab to gain research experience in this area.
Kyla Sarmiento
Kyla is a third year undergraduate student in the B.A. Psychology Honours Program. She is interested in the many aspects of child development and is excited to be part of the Young Minds Research Lab.
Caroline Coughlan
Caroline is a fourth year undergraduate student in the B.Sc. Psychology Honours program. She joined the lab to gain research experience and has discovered that she is most interested in understanding learning in a museum setting.
Priyanka Shankar
Priyanka is a third year student pursuing her BA Advanced degree in Psychology with a minor in Business Management. She is interested in how children learn and interact with various forms of technology and digital interfaces. She is excited to be a part of the Young Minds Research Lab and hopes to learn more about child development through the research taking place at lab.
Gurpahul Kaur (she/her)
Gurpahul is a second year undergraduate student in the Faculty of Arts, majoring in Psychology with a minor in Political Science. She is always open to try out new ventures that help her finally decide her career path and that is what drove her to the Young Minds Research Lab. She is here to explore the practical world of Development Psychology and to get an in-depth account of how a child development lab works.
Camryn Kangas (she/her)
Camryn is a third year BA Honours Psychology student at the University of Manitoba. She is currently hoping to pursue clinical psychology and is extremely interested in child development and behavior modification. She is very excited to be a part of the lab, and looks forward to exploring how children learn through museum exhibits.
This could be you!
We are currently looking for graduate and undergraduate student researchers to join our lab.