MIVE Lab

Throwback to a fantastic time in Amsterdam! Back in March, Dr. Behrang Keshavarz and his PhD students Narmada Umatheva and Polina Andrievskaia attended the Symposium on Visually Induced Motion Sensations (VIMS)! Big thank you to the organizers for providing such an engaging and fruitful event. 🎮

Our group had a great time sharing their latest research:

🎶 Narmada Umatheva presented her work investigating the effectiveness of music-based relaxation techniques on virtual reality ( ) sickness training.

🌀 Polina Andrievskaia shared insights from a recent publication compiling data from four independent studies, exploring how field dependence, age, and s*x may influence the experience of vection.

We are grateful for the wonderful insights and great connections we made, and for our research to be shared on a global stage!

The MIVE Lab recently attended the 2026 Canadian Society for Brain, Behaviour and Cognitive Science ( ) Conference at York University!

We're proud to share some highlights from our team:

🏆 Harley Glassman earned Runner-Up for Best Poster for his research on the role of musical absorption and arousal in reducing visually induced (VIMS).

🎮 Carina Baldassarra presented her work examining how influences motion sickness in virtual reality.

🧠 Polina Andrievskaia and Faith Resendes presented exploring the neural and postural mechanisms underlying visually induced motion sickness (VIMS).

🧘‍♀️ Narmada Umatheva shared her work on the effectiveness of training interventions for reducing virtual reality sickness.

👥 Sara Missaghi presented research investigating the frequency and intensity of self-motion experiences in the general population.

🦻 Lianna Montanari presented her work on the impact of loss on spatial and gait in older adults.

🚘 Lauren Hong presented research on how while affects listening and in older adults.

🚶 Jordan Fairlie presented his work examining age-related differences in walking and navigation while multitasking in younger and .

Congratulations to all of our presenters on their outstanding contributions and a special congratulations to Harley on his award! We are excited to see the continued impact of their research.

Proud to have two of our members win awards at the recent inaugural SOAR (Showcasing Outstanding Achievements in Research) conference at The KITE Research Institute!🎖️

Congratulations to Lianna Montanari for winning the KITE Trainee Leadership & Community Impact Award, and to Jordan Fairlie for best poster. Well deserved!

KITE trainees win awards for excellence The trainees earned awards for knowledge mobilization, contributions to KITE, and best posters and presentations at the SOAR conference.

We are thrilled to celebrate some exciting news from the MIVE Lab! 🏆

Lianna Montanari, PhD student supervised by Dr. Jennifer Campos, and Nora Pourhashemi, incoming PhD student supervised by Dr. Jennifer Campos, have both been awarded a Canada Graduate Research Scholarship — Doctoral (CGRS D) by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada ( ).

Sonia Vovan, PhD student co-supervised by Dr. Jennifer Campos, has been awarded a Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Doctoral (CGRS-D) by Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Lauren Hong, PhD student supervised by Dr. Jennifer Campos, and Lewa Babalola, MA student supervised by Dr. Behrang Keshavarz, have both been awarded a Canada Graduate Research Scholarship — Master's (CGRS M) by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada ( ).

Jordan Fairlie, undergraduate student supervised by Dr. Jennifer Campos, has been awarded an Undergraduate Student Research Award ( ) by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada ( ).

These awards support the next generation of outstanding innovators, knowledge generators, creative thinkers and researchers. We are incredibly proud of these accomplishments and excited to see the continued impact of their work within and beyond the lab!

The KITE Research Institute
University Health Network
Research at UHN
University of Toronto

🎊 Huge congratulations to Ramsha Mahmood and Lauren Hong who were named Volunteer of the Year at UHN STEM Pathways for their leadership and contributions in youth ! They regularly helps with lab tours, showing students around the expansive Challenging Environment Assessment Laboratory at The KITE Research Institute.

💙 Lauren Hong was also named March Volunteer of the Month! In addition to tours, she is an active classroom volunteer who goes out into the community to teach students about various topics in STEM.

Their service exemplifies the impact scientists can have beyond the lab. 🧪🧬

https://uhnstempathways.ca/volunteer-spotlight
https://uhnstempathways.ca/annual-spotlight

Another fantastic year at the Conference in Niagara, Canada! 🇨🇦 Huge thanks to the organizers for an engaging and insightful event. ❤️

Some MIVE Lab highlights:

Lauren Hong shared findings on how age-related impacts dual-task performance during a listening-while-driving paradigm.👂🚗

🥈 Best Poster Award Runner-Up: Lianna Montanari presented Jordan Fairlie’s work examining effects on spatial and gait🚶‍♀️ — congrats on placing second!

Ramsha Mahmood presented research on the impact of hearing loss in on mobility and gait. 👂🧠

Carina Baldassarra presented a study that explored whether modulation affects symptoms in . 🎮

Grateful for the opportunity to share our work and connect with such an amazing research community. Until next year!

What an incredible experience at the inaugural Ontario Network for Emerging Auditory Research (ON-EAR) conference at Toronto Metropolitan University! 👂🦻🧠

👉 Dr. Jennifer Campos presented work led by Katherine Bak on the effects of and on dual-task listening while .

👉 Lianna Montanari also showcased her research examining the influence of hearing loss on spatial and gait.

A great day of connection, community, and inspiring —looking forward to many more!