Erica Gavel-Pinos is a Paralympic athlete, researcher, and sport leader dedicated to advancing health and performance in athletes with disabilities. She has represented Team Canada on the world stage, including the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and multiple world and regional championships. Beyond sport, Erica has served in key leadership roles with the Canadian Paralympic Committee, International Paralympic Committee, and International Wheelchair Basketball Federation where she has contributed to athlete advocacy, safe sport initiatives, and the development of strategic frameworks that shape the future of Paralympic sport.

Academically, Erica earned her PhD in exercise physiology and rehabilitative sciences and is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Alberta. Her research explores pregnancy in Paralympic athletes, hydration, thermoregulation, and bladder health, areas critical to performance and wellbeing yet often overlooked. Recognized internationally for bridging science and practice, Erica is passionate about mentorship and fostering the next generation of sport leaders.

Dr. Lauren McNamara has spent her career reimagining one of the most overlooked spaces in education—the schoolyard. An education researcher, consultant, writer, and Ashoka Fellow, she is widely recognized for showing how recess and play are not just breaks from learning, but vital foundations for children’s well-being, belonging, and school engagement.

With a background in Educational Psychology and the Learning Sciences, Lauren’s research and advocacy have helped shape national and international policy—including Canada’s National Position Paper on Recess. Her work bridges disciplines to show how schoolyards—often overlooked asphalt spaces—can instead become critical infrastructures for equity, inclusion, climate resilience, and mental health.

Lauren is the founder of Schoolyards For Thought and Recess Project Canada, and a Research Scientist at the Diversity Institute at Toronto Metropolitan University. She has led multi-sector partnerships with education systems, governments, and organizations such as the Physical and Health Education, The Canadian Pediatric Society, the Canadian Public Health Association, and Canadian Human Rights Commission. She has also guided schoolyard transformations in low-income neighborhoods, bringing research to life in ways that directly improve children’s daily experiences.