UCalgary student wins national competition with video on Muslim youth identity

Sarah Abouali, an undergraduate student at the University of Calgary, has been named one of the five winners of the 2025 SSHRC Storytellers Challenge for her compelling video submission highlighting the experiences of Canadian Muslim youth. 

The national competition had more than 160 submissions and is designed to highlight the powerful stories—told by students—emerging from research in Canadian social sciences and humanities disciplines.

Project leans into research on Canadian Muslim youth

Abouali’s submission is rooted in her work as a Research Assistant on Dr. Aamir Jamal’s national project on Canadian Muslim Youth. As a Muslim youth who grew up in Canada, she felt a personal connection to the project’s mission of exploring identity formation in the face of Islamophobia.

“Muslim youth have grown up in a world where Islam and Muslims have been terribly misrepresented for years; in the media, in policy, in education,” she says. “Their identities are being attacked from all different corners. 

"That’s why it’s important to involve them in this work and to give them the opportunity to represent themselves the way that they would like to.”

 As part of the competition, Abouali submitted a three-minute video explaining the importance and impact of the research, and then as a finalist was invited to present her work to a live audience of more than 100 people at the Science Writers Conference in New Brunswick.  

Presenting to a large audience was daunting, “because the contents of my presentation were very personal and I felt very vulnerable sharing my own story but knowing that I had lots of support from the SSHRC representatives, my fellow finalists and my family members, made it easier.”

UCalgary supports competition entrants with workshops

Now in its 12th year, the SSHRC Storytellers competition has seen several UCalgary students named as finalists in recent years. Each year, UCalgary students are supported with a workshop and individual feedback sessions offered by the Knowledge to Impact team in the university’s Research Services Office, the My GradSkills team in the Faculty of Graduate Studies, and Libraries and Cultural Resources.  

The annual competition challenges postsecondary students across the country to inspire audiences with a research story — in up to 300 words or three minutes of audio or video — of how SSHRC-funded research is making a difference in the lives of Canadians. 

Each winner receives $3,000 and then has a chance to win an additional $1,000 as a top 5 finalist, as well as national recognition and a platform to amplify their work. 

Abouali was in her final year of the two year Bachelor of Education After Degree program in the Werklund School of Education when she made her submission to the competition. She graduated in June and will continue to work on the research project.  

She also hopes to secure a teaching position soon which will help her work towards making a difference: “as an educator, I am taking what I learned from this research and applying it in my own practice, hoping that I can support not only Muslim youth, but all the youth that I teach.”