Régine Debrosse

Committed to Fighting Social Inequalities by Promoting Education

Génie en herbe, the track and field team, the student newspaper, Jeunes Démocrates, theatre… When Régine Debrosse entered high school she immediately began taking part in numerous extracurricular activities. She continued in the same vein at college and then university, adding the environment and the community to her list of different areas of involvement.

Over the past few years, Régine has given of her time to a large number of organizations, in particular Dix Mille Villages (fair trade and social integration), Équiterre (sustainable development) and the McGill Urban Community Sustainment Project (a food and housing cooperative).

The bachelor’s student is currently reinvigorating the Association générale des étudiantes et étudiants en psychologie at the Université de Montréal. Régine has organized a series of lectures to guide students in their career choices and has set up a scholarship program to counter the lack of financial support available to students.

She is also currently finishing a revised version of the Association’s charter, which will include mechanisms that could “prevent fraud and guard against a lack of motivation and rigour” among its members.

Moreover, Régine is a research assistant at the Laboratoire de développement psychosocial des adolescents, run by Michel Claes, and at the Laboratoire des changements sociaux et de l’identité, run by Roxane de la Sablonnière. Ms. de la Sablonnière asserts that Régine “has all the personal qualities needed to succeed brilliantly in everything she undertakes. Always ready to help out and collaborate with others, she remains modest despite her strong personality, leadership skills and academic success.”

In 2006, Ms. de la Sablonnière and Régine also worked together when they established the Journal sur l’Identité, les relations interpersonnelles et les relations intergroupes (JIRIRI), a scientific journal with a reading panel intended for undergraduate students in psychology.

“It was during the activities linked to this project that I became clearly aware of Régine’s leadership and cooperation skills. Without her steadfast commitment, the JIRIRI would not be such a high quality journal,” points out the associate professor in the department of psychology at the Université de Montréal.

Dave Miranda, a research officer at the Laboratoire sur le développement psychosocial des adolescents, is also full of praise for Régine. “While working with her, I witnessed firsthand her independence, initiative, insight and sense of responsibility, because she managed to surpass herself by quickly learning the ins and outs of scientific publishing, high calibre statistical analysis and advanced research methods.”

This is certainly no coincidence. Régine personally admits that she is fascinated by scientific research and in fact hopes to pursue a career as a university professor and researcher. “Education has the potential to curtail social inequalities and I truly hope to be an active emissary for education,” she points out. “I hope to be able to find the best solutions for improving our education system and then help implement them.”

Régine Debrosse