Dr. Sonia Kang holds the Canada Research Chair in Identity, Diversity, and Inclusion, and is an Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management at the University of Toronto, where she is also a Faculty Research Fellow at the Rotman School of Management's Institute for Gender and the Economy (GATE) and Chief Scientist, Organizations in the Behavioural Economics in Action Research Centre at Rotman (BEAR). Sonia earned a PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Toronto and completed a SSHRC Post-Doctoral Fellowship at Northwestern University.
PhD in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
Grusha Agarwal is a sixth-year PhD candidate in the Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management (OBHRM) department at the University of Toronto.
Grusha studies how people navigate identity-related decisions in organizational settings—such as applying for jobs, reporting mistreatment, or responding to institutional requests. One line of my research examines how individuals manage self-presentation when faced with ambiguous or sensitive organizational contexts, such as diversity statements, complaints, or demographic forms. A second line investigates how lay beliefs—when incorrectly held—about institutional response influence decisions to report, apply, or disclose personal information. Across both streams, I show how institutional signals and individual expectations interact to influence if and how people choose to act.
Before pursuing graduate studies, Grusha served as a Research Associate at Columbia Business School. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, with a B.S. in Psychology.
She is on the 2025-2026 job market.
Caren Colaco
PhD in Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management
Caren Colaco is a third-year PhD student in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. She holds an MA in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from the University of Guelph and a BSc in Psychology from York University. Her research is supported by several awards, including the SSHRC CGS.
Caren’s research examines how formal and informal expectations placed on employees—such as professionalism, Canadian work experience requirements, and gender role norms—reinforce systemic barriers for marginalized groups. One project critically reviews men’s experiences in female-dominated care professions. A second project investigates how the construct of “professionalism” is racialized and gendered, drawing on the Stereotype Content Model to unpack its underlying dimensions. A third project explores the use of “Canadian Work Experience” (CWE) as a gatekeeping criterion, evaluating the potential impact of Ontario’s Bill 149, which prohibits employers from requiring CWE in job postings. Across these studies, Caren’s work challenges dominant assumptions in personnel selection and contributes to the development of more inclusive employment practices in Canada.
Alice Choe
Ph.D. Student
Alice Choe's research combines quantitative and qualitative methods (e.g., surveys, NLP, behavioral experiments) to understand how the places we work and the people we work with influence employee well-being, engagement, and performance—and translate that knowledge to shape consequential business decisions. Much of her recent work explores two key questions: how to reduce the hidden barriers that limit authenticity at work, and how to improve access and inclusion for first-generation talent.
Kuan Su
PhD in Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources Management (OBHRM)
Kuan Su is a PhD student in the Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources Management (OBHRM) Department at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto. Her research explores how linguistic nuances in organizations’ diversity language – used in job advertisements and diversity statements – may inadvertently perpetuate the underrepresentation of historically marginalized groups in the workplace.
Kuan’s current line of work investigates how underrepresented group members, such as racial minorities and women, are portrayed in organizations’ diversity communication channels (e.g., DEI landing pages), and the varying psychological effects these representations have on both dominant and non-dominant group members. She adopts an interdisciplinary approach, integrating archival, experimental, and qualitative methods in her research. Prior to pursuing her PhD at U of T, Kuan earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the Rotman School of Management and a Master of Science in Sustainability Management degree from the University of Toronto Mississauga.
Joyce He
Assistant Professor of Management and Organizations
Joyce He joined the UCLA Anderson School of Management faculty in 2021 as an assistant professor. Her research adopts a social perception lens to investigate mechanisms that perpetuate gender inequality and transform those insights to behaviorally informed systemic interventions to alleviate inequality.
He's initial research experience with the psychology of snap judgments inspired her to examine the real-world consequences of snap judgment, particularly in the workplace. "The common thread in my work is social perception — the accuracy and inaccuracy of how we see others, how others see us and how we manage those perceptions," He explains. "My program of research is fundamentally driven by two key questions that apply this social perception lens to the phenomenon of gender inequality: How do gender inequalities in labor markets and organizations persist and perpetuate? More important, how can we shift the status quo and disrupt these biases to change behavior?"
He is originally from Vancouver and joined the Anderson faculty eager to return to the West Coast. A fellow at the University of Toronto Rotman School of Management's Institute for Gender and the Economy, He is GATE's first Ph.D. fellow to graduate. Her peer-reviewed research has garnered media attention from Scientific American, Psychology Today and many international news outlets.
Odilia Yim
Assistant Professor (Teaching Stream), St. George Department of Psychology
Dr. Odilia Yim is currently Assistant Professor (Teaching Stream) at the St. George Department of Psychology. She completed her undergraduate studies in Psychology and Linguistics at the University of Toronto and Master’s in Psychology at York University. She received her PhD in Social Psychology from the University of Ottawa, where she examined social correlates of bilingualism, specifically how language switching relates to attitudes, cultural identity, and social evaluations. Her post-doctoral research at the University of Toronto Mississauga focused on self-labelling preferences and Anglo name adoption among immigrants and visible minorities. Overall, her research interests centre around the role of language in driving social psychological behaviours among minority and marginalized populations, with the goal to better understand the unique experiences of ethnic minorities and create identity-safe spaces within society.
Will Hall
Assistant Professor of Psychology, Brock University
Dr. Will Hall is an Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department at Brock University. His work empirically documents the interpersonal and organizational factors that block stigmatized individuals’ achievement and generates interventions to ameliorate group-based inequality. He employs qualitative and quantitative methods to offer a unique window into the lived experiences of people with stigmatized identities.
In an ongoing program of research, he examines how interpersonal interactions and broader organizational norms can make people feel devalued in a situation because of a given social identity (e.g., age, gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, political affiliation, mental health status, etc.). His research is guided by two overarching questions: (1) What are the interpersonal experiences that signal that a given social identity is devalued? (2) What organizational norms and practices create “identity safe” settings for marginalized individuals? He primarily addresses these questions by investigating the devaluation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields.
Camellia Bryan
Assistant Professor, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources, UBC Sauder School of Business
Dr. Camellia Bryan is an Assistant Professor in the Organizational Behaviour and Human Resources Division at the UBC Sauder School of Business. Prior to UBC, she was a post-doctoral fellow at the Rotman School of Management (University of Toronto) and the Institute for Gender and the Economy (GATE) in Toronto, Canada.
Her research focuses on uncovering the drivers of resistance and backlash against diversity in organizations. She examines the cognitive, emotional, and social processes that underlie individuals’ rejection of diversity initiatives, using these insights to inform effective interventions that foster inclusion.
A pivotal stream of her work explores interventions that leverage remarkable events and interactions to facilitate transformative openness. Because such events capture attention and prompt reflection, they can challenge entrenched beliefs and attitudes. By harnessing their impact, Dr. Bryan aims to create strategies that motivate individuals to actively embrace diversity and contribute to more inclusive environments.
Angie Min Ah Park
Manager, Leadership & Learning, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan; Founder, AMP Communication Inc.
Dr. Angie Min Ah Park (she/her) is a learning and leadership expert who brings a “pracademic” lens to building measurable, high‑impact inclusion and communications training. She serves as Manager, Leadership & Learning at the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and is the Founder of AMP Communication Inc.
An experienced EDI consultant, program designer, and facilitator, Dr. Park has worked across financial, transportation, government, and non-profit sectors, supporting executives through to early‑career talent. Her work focuses on translating evidence‑based facilitation and adult‑learning methods into scalable programs that produce behavior change—linking inclusive leadership to business outcomes and accountability.
Shahmir Khan
Research Assistant
Shahmir is a research assistant in Professor Sonia Kang’s lab at the University of Toronto, supporting research on workplace equity, social identity, and professionalism. He contributes to study design, Qualtrics survey programming, participant recruitment, literature review, and quantitative/qualitative data analysis in Python and R. He also helps maintain research assets and the lab website. Shahmir holds a BA in Psychology and will begin an MSc in Business Analytics at Trinity College Dublin, where he plans to deepen his skills in people analytics and causal methods. His interests include evidence-based HR, fairness in hiring, and the use of data science to improve work outcomes.
Sara Jasem
Research Assistant
Sara Jasem is a research assistant and team lead on a project in Professor Kang’s lab at the University of Toronto, where she supports research focused on equity, diversity and inclusion. She holds an MBA from the University of Wollongong in Dubai. Sara recently completed a Psychology Specialist degree at UofT. Prior to joining the lab, she worked in human resources in Dubai, where she helped global talent transition and grow their careers. As an immigrant to Canada, she brings a unique cross-cultural perspective to the team and is especially interested in how diverse life experiences shape personal and professional development. Her work in the lab integrates her background in organizational settings with research on inclusion and social identity.”
Tarini Kapoor
Research Assistant
Tarini Kapoor is a fourth-year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto, specializing in Psychology. She is currently a research assistant working with PhD student Caren Colaco under the supervision of Professor Sonia Kang. Tarini is involved in several projects, including research on men in pink-collar occupations, the Canadian Work Experience Project, and professionalism in supply chain management. Her responsibilities span survey development, participant interviews, data organization, and literature review. Tarini’s research interests lie at the intersection of organizational behaviour, workplace equity, and consumer psychology. She is particularly interested in how social identity and structural factors influence professional experiences and decision-making in both work and market settings.
