Dr. Reena Shadaan

Dr. Reena Shadaan is staff research scholar in science and technology studies (STS) and sustainability at the University of Toronto’s Acceleration Consortium. She is a former recipient of the Mustard post-doctoral fellow at the Institute for Work and Health, the Canada Graduate Scholarship to Honour Nelson Mandela and the New Voices in Labour Studies prize at the 2021 conference of the Canadian Association of Work and Labour Studies.

Shadaan’s research intersect environmental, reproductive, and occupational health and justice. In her doctoral work, she used feminist and worker-centered visual methods to map the occupational health of nail technicians who contend with a lack of ergonomic workplace conditions and are routinely exposed to harmful toxicants, verbal abuses and labour exploitation. Shadaan’s work further traces common toxicants in the nail salon to their roots in petroleum extraction and petrochemical production, underscoring connections across sites of violence and harm. In her post-doctoral research, Shadaan continues to work with nail technicians and other racialized newcomer and immigrant-settler workers on issues of occupational health and justice in precarious workplace settings. 

Shadaan has a PhD in environmental studies at York University and an MA in gender studies and feminist research at McMaster University.