Research in Motion: Schulich Research & PhD Day 2026
As a production company focused on education, we’re fortunate to often be brought into environments where ideas are actively taking shape. Schulich School of Business’s Research & PhD Day 2026 was one of those days, a gathering of faculty, doctoral students, and researchers, all focused on sharing work that is both rigorous and deeply connected to the world beyond the institution.
The purpose of the day was to showcase the breadth of research happening at Schulich and to celebrate the outstanding contributions of its PhD students. As several speakers noted, their work plays a vital role not only within the university but across industries, communities, and policy spaces.
What stood out across the presentations was a consistent balance/tension between traditional academic measures of success and real-world impact. Research can be widely cited, but that doesn’t always align with the work researchers feel most proud of. Increasingly, the emphasis is shifting toward research that changes behaviour, informs decision-making, and responds to tangible challenges.
Throughout the day, this idea of “impact” took many forms. For some, it meant grounding research in real-world partnerships, ensuring that questions are shaped by practitioners' and communities' needs. For others, it meant exploring emerging methodologies and tools, from synthetic participants in early-stage product testing to new ways of understanding productivity, health systems, and organizational behaviour.
There was also a clear recognition that research today exists within a rapidly changing environment. As Dean Zwick noted, the speed and uncertainty of the current moment place scholars in a unique position: not only to interpret change, but to help guide it.
Alongside these conversations, the event celebrated excellence within the Schulich community, with awards recognizing lifetime achievement, emerging leadership, and outstanding student research. These moments added an important layer to the day, acknowledging not just the ideas themselves, but the people driving them forward.
Research can sometimes feel abstract when described in isolation, but in a setting like this, it becomes visible and immediate. Our approach was to capture that sense of exchange: the conversations between faculty and students and the moments of recognition that anchored the day. Through both video and photography, the goal was to reflect not just what was said, but how the event felt: collaborative, forward-looking, and grounded in purpose.
It’s always a privilege to work alongside the team at the Schulich School of Business, an institution that places real importance on research, not only as an academic pursuit but as a tool for understanding and shaping the world.
