Welcome to the Social Policy Lab!
This Social Policy Teaching and Learning Hub is a project of the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba.
The Lab is designed as teaching and learning resource for instructors and students in the Faculty, especially in those courses that focus on aspects of social policy. The Lab is a open educational resource that can be accessed freely by anyone online. It is our hope that the Lab will also be of interest and use to community members, social policy advocates and activists, and students and instructors at other academic institutions.
In constructing the Hub our Project Team has endeavored to follow these principles:
1. The centrality of Indigenous and non-Western models of policy analysis and development, including those using Indigeneity-Grounded Analysis
2. Social policy development that moves us toward equity, diversity, and inclusion. We must strive for social policy that challenges economic marginalization, colonialism, racism and white privilege, patriarchy, heteronormativity, ableism, and anthropocentrism
3. Best practices for the inclusion of the voices of oppressed communities and service users in social policy development
4. Content and sources that address Canadian social policy questions and needs, while at the same time situating Canadian social policy in the broader global context
5. Forecasting of probable and possible future environments, with a focus on Futurist Social Work and macro-level policy interventions that can help achieve equitable and sustainable future outcomes
6. Best practices for engaged learning using digital resources in a lab environment
The Project Team:
Project Team Members, Social Policy Teaching and Learning Hub (March 2025)
Faculty Members
Areas of professional and policy expertise are indicated. Individuals are from the University of Manitoba and are in the Faculty of Social Work unless otherwise indicated.
Monica Batac, PhD (ABD), MPA, MT, BA (Hons.)
- Immigration and labour migration
- Community practice
- Program design and evaluation; non-profit management
- Critical Filipino/a/x studies
Mary Anne Clarke, BA, BSW, MA, PhD, RSW
- Child protection and family support in First Nations communities
- preventing and/or lessening the impact of colonial systems in First Nations communities
Mohammad N. Khan, PhD, MSW, MBA
- Economic security and anti-poverty policies
- Immigration and labour-market policies
- Migration and Decolonization
Bridget Kozyra BSW, MSW, RSW
- Public policy development for custodial therapeutic communities
- Public policy development for custodial parenting and peer assistance caregiving
- Public policy development for innovative practices for community release from custodial settings
- Public policy revisions for custodial centres
Lindsay Larios, PhD, MSW
- reproduction and family policy and politics
- immigration and citizenship policy and politics
- critical policy analysis
- community-based policy advocacy
Karine Levasseur, PhD (Dept. of Political Studies, Faculty of Arts)
- public policy formulation (i.e. issue definition, agenda-setting, formulating public policy responses)
- practical skill development (i.e. drafting authority-seeking documents for public policy decision-makers).
Christine Mayor, PhD, BCT/RDT, RP
- intersection of education and anti-racism policies
- intersection of education and mental health & trauma policies
- Anti-carceral policy approaches to community safety
James Mulvale (project lead), BA, MSW, MA, PhD, RSW
- Income security / basic income
- Theories of social welfare policy
- Digital pedagogical resources for policy studies
Lynette Phyfe, B.Ed, M.Ed, PhD (ABD)
- Development of Practice Based Skills in Virtual Classroom Environments
- Methodologies to Increase Student Engagement in Virtual Classroom Environments
- Adaptations of Traditional Assessments in the Age of Generative Text AI
- Strategic Plans for Online and Blended Learning
Student Members
Leona Huntinghawk, PhD student, Dept. of Indigenous Studies, Faculty of Arts (Former Instructor in the Inner City Program of the Faculty of Social Work)
Melanie Paterson, BSW student
Chetna Sareen, BSW student
Olivia Thomas, BSW student
The Project Team gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the University of Manitoba fund for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and the Office of the Dean of Social Work. We also are grateful for the advice and assistance of UM Libraries and Campus Manitoba (PressbooksEDU Network).