Suraiya (she/her) is a researcher who is passionate about advancing equity by targeting both structural inequalities and individual behaviours. She received her BSc and MA from the University of Toronto and is currently completing her PhD in social psychology, researching stereotyping and prejudice and their relation to structural inequalities. Suraiya’s academic research focuses on how stereotypes are formed and maintained over time, as well as on how and when we categorize other people into groups (such as those based on race or gender). She uses a variety of methods in her research, including studies of behaviour, surveys, neuroimaging, and eye-tracking technologies. She is trained in various aspects of the research process including research design, data collection and analytics, dissemination of results, and project management.
Suraiya strives to bring an anti-racist lens to her work and is passionate about bridging academic research with its applications across various industries. She believes a combination of structural changes and interventions to target individual bias can result in more diverse, inclusive, and equitable workforces, and that a strong research foundation is integral to these efforts.
