Gabriela Tymowski-Gionet

Research interests

• Applied ethics (sport, health, animals & environment)
• Children's rights
• Olympic studies
• Healthy and active Living
• Mindfulness

Teaching

• KIN 3093: Ethics & Kinesiology
• KIN 3291: Coaching Healthy Behaviours
• KIN 4025: Modern Olympic Studies (co-taught)
• KIN 4093: Health Care Ethics
• KIN 6111: Research Methods
• KIN 4097: Mindfulness (forthcoming)

Biography

Dr. Tymowski-Gionet has undergraduate degrees in kinesiology and education, and a master's degree in kinesiology (University of Western Ontario), and a Ph.D. in applied ethics (University of Gloucestershire, UK).

Her research has dealt with the ethical issues affecting children, from one end of the activity spectrum where they are over-involved in competitive and high-performance sport to the other end where they are under-involved in physical activity and sport, and overly sedentary.

She is concerned with children's rights, particularly the child's right to an open future and how that right may be compromised in a child’s early years. She is also interested in high-risk sport, and the ethical concerns surrounding personal autonomy. Of late, she has presented on “sport” hunting and its inherent immorality.

Gabriela’s students have been involved in the BOOST project since 2004, a community outreach activity for kinesiology students working with elementary school children at St. Mary’s First Nation.

Gabriela’s overarching philosophy is to live mindfully and compassionately.

Current research projects

Gabriela’s current research focuses on the notion of killing animals for one’s pleasure (aka “sport” hunting) as a dark leisure practice. She is also working on examining the morality of introducing children to killing animals, and the application of virtue ethics to the killing of animals.

She is currently seeking a graduate student for a master’s project in mindfulness.

Graduate students

• Roy Hickey (current) Children’s sport
• João Manuel de Carvalho Pereira (2015) Physical literacy and reading literacy: the relationship between fine and gross motor skills and reading ability of children in grades three and four, in a New Brunswick, on-reserve First Nation elementary school
• Maura Carter, M.Sc. (2013) Development and evaluation of an after-school sports program for young girls enrolled in an on-reserve, First Nation elementary school in New Brunswick.
• Jennifer Charters, M.Sc. (2013) Coaching one’s own: an ethical analysis of parents who coach their own children in competitive sport
• Caitlin Wheeler, M.Sc. (2011) The moral implications of pharmacopherapy and bariatric surgery as treatment options for childhood obesity.
• Sung Min Kang, M.Sc. (2009) Defining sport: Philosophical conflicts between the practices of sport and cybersport.
• Eric Porcellato, M.Sc. (2006) The right of responsibility: Childhood obesity, children’s rights and the best-interest standard.
• Jeff Callaghan, M.Sc. (2004) Unchecked: A critical analysis of the moral issues of introducing body checking in youth ice hockey.

Recent selected presentations & publications

Tymowski, G. (2015) “Introducing children to killing animals for sport: An ethical examination of children and ‘sport’ hunting.” Making Sense of the Animal and Human Bond. Mansfield College, Oxford University, Oxford UK. July 20 – 21, 2015.

Tymowski, G. I., Mason, F., Byers, T. (2015) “Ethical Behaviour and Values in Sport.“ In T. Byers (Ed.) Contemporary Issues in Sport Management: A Critical Introduction. London: Sage Publications.

“The virtue of compassion: Animals in sport, hunting as sport, and entertainment” (2014). In J. Gillett & M. Gilbert (Eds), Sport, Animals and Society. New York: Routledge. pp 140-54.

“Sport hunting and selfishness: The moral vacuity of anthropocentrism.” The 2nd Czech Philosophy of Sport Conference, in conjunction with the European Philosophy of Sport Association Meeting. Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic, October 17 – 19, 2013.

BOOST: Building Opportunities, Opening Students’ Tomorrows. 1st Annual National Aboriginal Physical Activity Conference. University of British Columbia, February 21 – 22, 2013.

Tymowski, G. (2013). Child Sports Stars. In David Levinson & Gertrud Pfister (Eds.), Berkshire Encyclopedia of World Sport (3rd ed.) (pp. 255–258). Great Barrington, MA: Berkshire Publishing Group.

Forbes, S.L, Tymowski, G., McPherson, M.N., Livingston, L.A., Montelpare, W.J., Keightley, M. (2012) “Sports are “good for you”: Revisiting the sport ethic and normalization of sports injury in the era of heightened awareness.” Putting it on Ice III: Constructing the Hockey Family: Home, Community, Bureaucracy and Marketplace. Saint Mary’s University, Center for the Study of Sport and Health. July 12-14, 2012.

Tymowski, G. “Richer and Thicker Gender Equity: Challenging the Status Quo in Intercollegiate Athletics.” International Association for the Philosophy of Sport Conference. Rome, Italy; September 2010.