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Leila Khalilzadeh is a PhD student in Film and Media at Queen’s University. Leila's work examines memory, migration, gendered histories, and diasporic screen media through documentary, fiction, and animation. After earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Cinema in Iran and working as a filmmaker, researcher, writer, and lecturer, she immigrated to Canada in 2015, completed an MFA in Film Production at Concordia University, and developed a sustained research-creation practice. Her films have screened at international festivals including the Berlinale, Reykjavík International Film Festival, and Festival du nouveau cinéma, and she was selected for Berlinale Talents in 2021. She has also developed curatorial projects such as Spotlight on Iranian Art Films (Festival International du Film sur l'Art, 2020), a digital curation for MOMENTA Biennale (2020), and A Retrospective of Iranian Short Films (Concordia University, 2018). Bringing together moving-image production, curation, and archival research, her current interests focus on counter-archival approaches and the recovery of underrepresented histories in Iranian and diasporic media cultures.

Eric von Roenn is a PhD student in the Screen Cultures and Curatorial Studies program at Â鶹ÍøÕ¾. He is a graduate of the Film Production program at Confederation College and completed his BAH and MA in English at Lakehead University. Before starting at Queen's, Eric spent two years as a contract lecturer at both Lakehead and Confederation and has taught courses on Academic Writing, Film Studies, and Popular Culture. Eric's research-creation project is an interdisciplinary study combining historical research, literary and cultural theory, and creative production, in which he approaches cinema as a site for innovative historical discourse.

Suwen Cai (she/her) completed her bachelor's and master's degree within the Film and Media department at Queen’s University. Her research interests include Asian queer films, feminist theory, and diasporic narrative. 

As manager of Hub 5, Karen Burkett serves in a leadership capacity within the departments of Art History, Art Conservation and Fine Art (Visual Art), Cultural Studies, DAN School of Drama and Music at Â鶹ÍøÕ¾ and Film & Media, where she supports strategic operations, administration, and the advancement of programs that foster excellence in the creative, cultural and performing arts areas. Her work focuses on building strong systems, supporting staff, faculty and students, and helping create an inclusive and thriving community. Karen brings a collaborative leadership style and a strong commitment to community, innovation, and student success.

Prior to joining Hub 5, Karen served as Director of the Queen's School of English, where she led international education initiatives, non-credit programming, and English language education for students from around the world. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Education at Â鶹ÍøÕ¾. Her research explores the lived experiences of leaders of embedded English for Academic Purposes programs at Canadian universities, with interests in leadership, internationalization, language education, and organizational change in higher education.

Bethany Pawliuk serves as the Associate Manager of Hub 5, providing strategic leadership and operational support across multiple disciplines including Art History, Art Conservation, Fine Art (Visual Art), Cultural Studies, the DAN School of Drama and Music, and Film & Media. In this role, she drives the advancement of innovative programs that cultivate excellence in the creative, cultural, heritage, and performing arts. Bethany’s expertise lies in developing efficient systems, fostering collaboration, and supporting faculty, staff, students, and community engagement initiatives.

Before joining Hub 5, Bethany was the Department Manager for Art History, Art Conservation, and Fine Art (Visual Art), where she enhanced administrative operations and program delivery. Her management experience also includes overseeing the Department of Oncology. Prior to her tenure at Queen’s University, Bethany managed daily operations at Gift Funds Canada, a national public foundation, where she specialized in team leadership and systems development while partnering with premier wealth management firms to support philanthropic initiatives.

Bethany brings a wealth of experience in interdisciplinary program management, operational excellence, and community building, contributing to thriving academic and cultural environments.

Sheikh Mahmuda Sultana is a PhD candidate in Film and Media at Queen’s University, Canada, and a faculty member in the Department of Television, Film and Photography at the University of Dhaka, currently on study leave. A Bangladeshi researcher, filmmaker, and curator, she reads cinema as a living archive of subaltern life, fractured space, and gendered survival in South Asia. Her interdisciplinary practice moves across cultural studies, Global South feminism, historiography, and curation, tracing how counter-histories and embodied ways of being take form and travel through image, cross-cultural dialogue and creative pedagogy .