Four King's Students Recognized in The 2026 Global Undergraduate Awards
Four King's University College students and recent graduates have earned international recognition at the 2026 Global Undergraduate Awards, with two named Regional Winners and two receiving Highly Commended honours for their undergraduate research.
The Global Undergraduate Awards recognize outstanding undergraduate research from universities around the world, celebrating academic excellence across a wide range of disciplines.
Kate Pedisic ’26 and Aaliyah St. Denis ’26 were named Regional Winners for the Americas, with each submitting the highest-ranked paper in their respective academic categories. Pedisic studied job satisfaction among highly educated immigrants in the United States, while St. Denis examined neurodiversity and substance use in adulthood.
Benjamin Hallahan and David Layman each received Highly Commended recognition. Hallahan’s paper on grassroots organizing in Vancouver and Layman’s paper on the nature of the self placed in the top 10 per cent worldwide in their respective categories. Both students will attend the Global Undergraduate Summit in Dublin, Ireland, taking place November 8–11, 2026.
Kate Pedisic ‘26 – Regional Winner, Business & Economics
Kate Pedisic wanted to understand how the education and skills immigrants bring with them relate to the quality of the jobs they find. Her paper, Credential Portability, Job Bundles, and Job Satisfaction Among Highly Educated Immigrants, examines job satisfaction in the United States, with particular attention to where immigrants earned their credentials.
Dr. Jason Dean and Dr. Lori Murray supervised Pedisic’s senior thesis in the fourth year of her Honours Specialization in Economics. She is now in her first year of Western’s Master of Financial Economics program.
“I find that differences in job satisfaction are associated not only with wages and occupational placement, but also with non-wage aspects of work such as job security, independence, and other job amenities.”
Aaliyah St. Denis ‘26 – Regional Winner, Psychology
Aaliyah St. Denis was in the fourth year of her Honours Specialization in Psychology when she submitted Neurodiversity and Substance Use in Adulthood. She has since graduated and begun her master’s in psychology at Western.
St. Denis completed the paper for her honours thesis course. She credits both her course instructor, Dr. Wendy Ellis, and her thesis supervisor, Dr. Ryan Stevenson, for their support.
“The award was earned by the people around me just as much as myself. They’ve believed in me even when I doubted myself, and I’m so grateful to have made them proud. It’s encouraging to know that researchers around the world see the importance of my work too, and that’s more than I ever could’ve hoped for.”
Benjamin Hallahan – Highly Commended, Politics & International Relations
Benjamin Hallahan studied how people who used drugs in Vancouver in the 2000s organized to secure federal support for a supervised injection site. His research traced how people from a marginalized group brought their case to the federal government.
Hallahan wrote Coming in From The Alleys: How Intravenous Drug Users in Vancouver Organized to Create The First Legal Injection Site for Power in the City with course instructor Katharine McCoy.
“This paper is quite special to me, as my research process exposed me to how important local politics and grassroots organizing is. It is a large factor in my ongoing interest in local politics, both personally, and as a future social worker and academic.”
David Layman – Highly Commended, Philosophy
David Layman, a fourth-year Philosophy student, wrote A Clearing in the Forest for Comparative Philosophy II, taught by Dr. Russell Duvernoy. His paper asks how a person’s sense of self can endure through change.
Drawing on several philosophers, Layman argues that what we remember and what we anticipate shape who we are. He compares the self to a river or a flame, each recognizable even as it changes. For Layman, who transferred from Western to King’s last year, the recognition also reflects the support he has found in the classroom.
“Receiving this achievement shows me that I can succeed, and I'd like to thank my accommodating and engaging professors, and King's as a whole. When you feel heard and appreciated, good things follow, and this is nice proof of that.”