Our Team
Lab Directors
Steven Bednarski, Director
Director for the Environments of Change since 2019, Director for The Herstmonceux Project (2012 – 2017) and the DRAGEN Lab since 2016.
Ann Marie Rasmussen, Co-Director
Right Honourable John G. Diefenbaker Memorial Chair in German Literary Studies at the University of Waterloo since 2015, Right Honourable John G. Diefenbaker Memorial Chair in German Literary Studies at the University of Waterloo since 2015, Director of the Medieval Badges and Community FormationDirector of the Medieval Badges and Community Formation.
Jolanta N. Komornicka, Associate Director
Assistant Professor of Medieval History at St. Jerome’s University since 2017.
Zack MacDonald, Associate Director
Librarian at SJU since 2015, Digital Librarian for the Herstmonceux Project, Environments of Change and DRAGEN Lab.
David Porreca, Associate Director
Professor of Classical and Medieval Studies.
Caley McCarthy, Assistant Director & Lab Manager
PhD History , McGill University (2020); MA – History, University of Waterloo (2011); DRAGEN Lab Member since 2016; Project Manager of the Environments of Change.
Andrew Moore, Research Facilitator
ABD PhD History Candidate, University of Waterloo; MA – History, University of Waterloo (2013); DRAGEN Lab Member since 2016. Project Manager of Environments of Change.
Senior Research Scholars
Richard Hoffmann
Professor Emeritus, York University. PhD, Yale.
Expertise: Medieval and early modern Europe an environmental, economic, and social history; natural resource use; peasants and rural life; East-Central Europe; frontiers and inter-cultural contacts.
Research Fellows
Nicholas Must
PhD McMaster University (2014), MA in European History Wilfrid Laurier University (2007)
Expertise: Late medieval and early modern sermons.
Stephanie Hartmann
Bachelor of Education Wilfred Laurier; MA – History, University of Waterloo (2017); DRAGEN Lab Member since 2016.
Doctoral Fellow
Graduate Fellows
Hayley Ellis
MA History candidate, University of Waterloo; BA University of Waterloo (2018); DRAGEN Lab member since 2018.
Owais Hamid
MASc System Design Engineering candidate, University of Waterloo; MS King Fahd University/Okinawa Institute of Science & Technology (2019); BS King Fahd University Systems Engineering (2017); DRAGEN Lab member since 2019.
Mackenzie Pritchard
MA Classical Studies Candidate University of Waterloo, BA History & Medieval Studies University of Waterloo (2019); DRAGEN Lab member since 2016.
Michelle Serrano-Sandoval
MA History Candidate Univerisity of Waterloo, BA St. Jerome’s University and University of Waterloo (2019); DRAGEN Lab member since 2016.
Zack Kachuk
MA History Candidate University of Waterloo, BA Mount Royal University (2019); DRAGEN Lab member since 2020.
Zohra Faqiri
MA History Candidate, University of Waterloo; BSc University of Toronto (2017), DRAGEN lab member since 2018.
Patrick Hayes
PhD Candidate at the Department of History, Trinity College; M.Phil in Early Modern History, Trinity College Dublin (2015); BA Trinity College (2014), DRAGEN Lab member since 2020.
Moira Scully
MA Classical Studies Candidate, BA History & Medieval Studies St. Jerome’s University and University of Waterloo (2019); DRAGEN Lab member since 2017.
Jordan Tardif
MA Classical Candidate Univerisity of Waterloo, BA St. Jerome’s University and University of Waterloo (2019); DRAGEN Lab member since 2016
Jacqueline Gergal
MA History Candidate, University of Waterloo; BA Honours English-Rhetoric, Media, Professional Communication and History Co-op, University of Waterloo (2019).
Peter del Rosso
MA Medieval Candidate University of Waterloo, BA in Honours Medieval History, University of Waterloo (2020); DRAGEN Lab Intern since 2017.
Erin Fortier
MA Medieval Candidate University of Waterloo, BA Honours History University of Waterloo (2018); DRAGEN Lab Intern since 2017.
Undergraduate Interns
Melanie Brunet
Undergraduate Honours Science University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Intern since 2019.
Jason Lee
Undergraduate in Honours History, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Intern since 2019.
Rebecca Nickerson
Undergraduate at University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Intern since 2020.
Ellen Siebel-Achenbach
Undergraduate at University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Intern since 2019.
Caileigh Davies-Kneiss
Undergraduate at University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Intern since 2020.
Megan Lucas
Undergraduate at University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Intern since 2019.
Juan Paguaga
Undergraduate at University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Intern since 2019.
Jessica Verschoor
Undergraduate in Honours Earth Science University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Intern since 2019.
Max Wong
Undergraduate in Honours Earth Science University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Intern since 2019.
Dawid Zelek
Undergraduate in Honours Earth Science University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Intern since 2019.
Online Management
Jacqueline Gergal, Social Media Coordinator
MA History Candidate, University of Waterloo; BA Honours English-Rhetoric, Media, Professional Communication and History Co-op, University of Waterloo (2019).
Past Members
Sarah Johnston
MA Laurier (2020), BA University of Waterloo; Lab member (2018-2020).
Shannon Phaneuf
BA History St Jerome’s University and University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Intern (2017 – 2019).
Daphne van Delst
BA Honours Medieval Studies University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Intern (2016 – 2018).
Ziad Wadi
BA Honours Medieval Studies, University of St. Jerome’s and Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Intern (2016 – 2018).
Monika Novtova
MA History, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Intern (2016 – 2017).
Sonya Pihura
PhD History Candidate McGill University; BA & MA University of Waterloo.
Rebecca MacAlpine
MT, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (2018); MA History, University of Waterloo (2016); DRAGEN Lab Member (2017 – 2019).
Steven Casta
MA History, University of Waterloo(2018); DRAGEN Lab Intern (2016 – 2017).
Jack Zhou
BA Honours Medieval Studies and Mathematics (Co-Op), University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Intern (2016 – 2017).
Jack McCart
BA University of Guelph (2018); Associate DRAGEN Lab Intern (2018).
Andrei Tudorancea
BA Honours History and English, University of Waterloo; DRAGEN Lab Intern (2018).