She/her, 🏳️🌈
MSW RSW
Aspiring Social Work Researcher | Community Engaged Research & Service Design | Social Justice and (Im)migrant Rights Advocacy
📌 Toronto, Canada
2021 - 2023, Master of Social Work, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto
2017 - 2021, Bachelor of Arts, Joints Honors in Psychology and Sexuality, Marriage, and Family Studies, University of Waterloo
I am currently a Quality Improvement Specialist at Friends of Ruby, a non-profit organization serving LGBTQ+ youth in Toronto, Canada. My work focuses on enhancing organizational processes, promoting staff and participant wellness, and engaging service users in decision-making to ensure inclusive and impactful programming.
My research interests lie at the intersection of (im)migration justice, community-based participatory research, and epistemic (in)justice. I am particularly interested in explores transnational experiences of discrimination among Chinese international students and its implications for their mental health, sense of belonging, and integration outcomes in host countries.
I graduated from the **Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto,** with a Master of Social Work degree. My master's thesis examined how international students’ voices are excluded from dominant narratives in social action, affecting the support they receive. Building on this work, I acted as the Principal Investigator of the SafeHarbor Project, a youth-led initiative funded by the Laidlaw Foundation, where we collaborated with high school international students to explore homestay sector challenges and foster a sense of belonging in their new communities.
Beyond my professional and academic work, I co-founded Project Anchor, an advocacy and peer-support organization for K-12 international students in the Greater Toronto Area, and AUCE, an online peer-support service for international students in North America. These initiatives aim to amplify the voices of marginalized communities and create spaces for meaningful dialogue and action.
If you are interested in collaboration or want to learn more about my work, please feel free to email me at [email protected]
<aside> <img src="/icons/judicial-scales_blue.svg" alt="/icons/judicial-scales_blue.svg" width="40px" /> **Pop Up Grants Laidlaw Foundation** (Oct 2023 - Sept 2024)
Funded Project:
SafeHarbor Project: Promoting security in homestay accommodations for international students
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<aside> <img src="/icons/judicial-scales_blue.svg" alt="/icons/judicial-scales_blue.svg" width="40px" /> **Clara Mayo Grants The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI)** (Jan 2023 - Jun 2023)
Funded Project:
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Anti-Asian Racism on Campus and Chinese International Students’ Resistance in Canada: Social Media Discourse, Advocacy, and Coping Strategies.
Quan, Y.; Supervisor: Sakamoto, I
Attentional capture with emotional cues remains intact in amblyopia
Chow, A., Quan Y., Chui, C., Itier, R. & Thompson, B
Journal of Vision
Volume 20, Issue 11
Oct, 2020
Orienting of covert attention by neutral and emotional gaze cues appears to be unaffected by mild to moderate amblyopia
Chow, A., Quan Y., Chui, C., Itier, R. & Thompson, B
Journal of Vision
Volume 21, Issue 11
Oct, 2021