Research
My research examines how social order is accomplished in interaction, particularly when participants encounter uncertainty, asymmetry, and the unexpected.
I received my Ph.D. in Social Sciences from the University of Helsinki in 2025. My dissertation, Respecifying Social Inclusion in Practical Action, examines inclusion as an interactional accomplishment, showing how participants coordinate talk, embodied action, and material environments to sustain participation in hybrid social settings.
Grounded in ethnomethodology and multimodal conversation analysis, my developing research program extends this work to improvisation as a form of social action, asking how participants respond to the unexpected and reorganize unfolding courses of action in real time.
In 2027, I am co-organizing with Lorenza Mondada the panel “When the Unexpected Becomes the Plan: How Practices of Improvisation Build on Interactional Organisation” for the International Institute for Ethnomethodology & Conversation Analysis (IIEMCA27) Conference in Johannesburg. The panel brings together ethnomethodological and conversation-analytic research on improvisation as an organized feature of interaction.
As a Mitacs Postdoctoral Fellow (supported by the Musagetes Foundation), I lead the project Improvising with Dementia: Exploring Everyday Spontaneity to Support Caring Relationships, hosted by the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Guelph. The project examines improvisation, participation, and care in interactions with dementia and provides one empirical setting for my broader research program. I am also a Research Associate with the Trent Centre for Aging and Society at Trent University.
Projects:
Principal investigator:
Improvising with Dementia:
exploring everyday spontaneity to support caring relationships
Kosurko, A. (Principal Investigator), Horgan, M. (Supervisor) (2025-2027). Mitacs, Musagetes Foundation Elevate Postdoctoral Fellowship Grant
This arts-based project brings together artists, researchers, and people in caring relationships who live with dementia. We seek deeper understanding of our moment-to-moment interactions in the arts and with assistive technologies and how we adapt to change with each other socially. Our work is supported by the Musagetes Foundation and hosted by the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Guelph.
Project Partners
Co-investigator:
Scaling up and evaluating Sharing Dance Older Adults with people living with dementia in historically excluded communities
Bar, R., Kontos, P. (Co-Principal Applicants), Aleong, R., Changfoot, N., Grigorovich, A., Herron, R., Kosurko, A., Norris, M., Sethi, B., Skinner, M. (Co-Applicants), & Egi, C. (Knowledge User). (2024-2027). CIHR Implementation Science Team Grants: Evaluation of Programs, Services and Innovative Models of Care for People Impacted by Dementia.
Project Partners
Past Projects:
Ph.D. Project (Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland):
Respecifying social inclusion in practical action: Mediating dance instructions in hybrid, online-face-to-face settings for people who live with dementia
I was honoured to receive funding from the University of Helsinki to complete this dissertation that was an international extension of a project I worked on as a research associate (see below).
Project Partners
Research Assistant/Associate:
Improving social inclusion for Canadians with dementia and their carers through Sharing Dance
I was mentored by a brilliant team of researchers in this my early training: in data collection, field notes, and research communications (as I developed the content that was migrated to Canada's National Ballet School (NBS) website.
Skinner, M. W., Herron, R. V., Bar, R. J., Kontos, P., & Menec, V. (2018). Improving social inclusion for people with dementia and carers through sharing dance: A qualitative sequential continuum of care pilot study protocol. BMJ open, 8(11), e026912.
1.6.2017 - 31.8.2022 Funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR); Alzheimer Society Canada; Canada Research Chair (Rural Aging) Program; with support from the Centre for Aging and Society, Trent University, Canada.
Project Partners
Master's Thesis, (Sustainability Studies, Trent University):
The Mount Documentary Project
A documentary celebrating what can happen when people dare to get involved.
A story about placemakers: a group of volunteers who together faced an impossible task and dared to help improve the lives of people in their community.
For my M.A. in Sustainability Studies, I worked with a daring team to pull together a collaborative documentary, click the “case study” link below to learn more.
Project Partners
Honours Thesis, (Advanced Technology of Theatre, UBC):
Re:Union Documentary
More information and a video link coming soon! Please reach out if you just can’t wait.