Candidates bios:

Executive Committee Candidates:

 My name is Fatima Qaraan and I am a 5th-year PhD student in Political Science researching child marriage in Canada, with prior service as an adjudicator for CUPE’s Ways and Means Fund and Childcare Committee. Since October 2024, I’ve served as YUGSA’s VP Finance, gaining insight into our members’, DGSAs’, and communities’ needs. If re-elected, I will work closely with the finance team to deliver robust, equitable resources amid Toronto’s rising living costs. I will commit to fair, unbiased reviews of funding applications, ensuring graduate students facing tuition, living expenses, and precarity get the funding they need most. With my firsthand knowledge of these struggles in Canada’s second-most expensive city, I’ll continue advocating tirelessly for accessible financial support.


Fatima Qaraan:

For the year 2026-27, three issues are going to define my commitment to YUGSA: OSAP cuts, structural hardships confronting international students and strengthening student governance! I wish to advocate for these three related concerns and ensure that these are heard and discussed at all levels of university administration. My interest in applying for the position of V.P. Internal with YUGSA is emerging from my continuing belief that academic pursuits in the university space are ultimately intertwined with pursuits to understand what should be the role of a university within any society. I am also sensitive to how certain voices are marginalized, especially when discussing what constitutes as being a “good student” within the university system. And hence, I am committed to ensuring that YUGSA continues to be the strong, independent voice representing all grads on campus!


Shantanu Mehra:

I am running for President of YUGSA to deliver concrete, measurable change in the areas that most directly shape graduate students’ daily lives. My platform focuses on addressing financial precarity by advocating for greater transparency in fees and stronger financial supports, and strengthening academic conditions through increased accountability in supervision and clearer, fairer policies. I will also work to hold university administration accountable by demanding more transparent communication and more efficient processes that directly impact graduate students.

Building on my experience as VP Equity and my work within university governance spaces, I will ensure that YUGSA is not only representative, but effective, actively engaging with graduate students, responding to your concerns, and translating them into institutional action. I am committed to ensuring that student governance reflects the full diversity of our community and that York remains a space grounded in care, respect, and the protection of marginalized voices.

Sarah Habini:

I am a PhD Year 3 Geography student. I have had the honour of representing the Geography Graduate Student Association as the YUGSA Councillor over last two years (2023-24, 2024-25), and as the GeoGSA VP. I was involved in the inventory work for the GeoGSA Mutual Aid Food Commons project (also known as the Founders’ Food Commons), which served the entire graduate student community during its open hours through the last 3903 strike. As a Unit 1 member, I am the incoming 3903 Joint Health and Safety Committee Coordinator (2026-27). At my previous university (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi), I served a union with a membership strength of 8,500+ students, speaking truth to power and successfully mobilising resources for resistance against the neoliberal onslaught on publicly funded education.

With three years of students' union executive portfolio experience and two years of professional campaign management expertise across countries and continents, I took the VP Campaigns office after a by-election on January 15 at YUGSA. Since the last two months, I have initiated a Changemakers corner in the newsletter to mobilise knowledge around graduate student research and activism that has gone together on campus. We have also tried to maintain a monthly opportunities section for our membership who wish to work around organised action. I have also taken it up to align graduate students’ campaigns with the Toronto York Region Labour Council, the Migrant Rights Network, and the Canadian Federation of Students campaigns. We have been working to share information around the Hands Off Our Education campaign, Bill 33’s far-reaching oversight and the Bill C-12 campaign, which directly impact our membership.

At a time when universities globally are willing to pay thousands of dollars in legal fees just to keep unions in check, as we saw recently at McGill, YUGSA understands that the way forward is building larger solidarities across campaigns to safeguard the interests of each and every member of our graduate student community. I hope to earn your support so that, as your representative in the position of the returning VP Campaigns, I can ensure that YUGSA's message, strategy, and fundraising efforts always reflect your voice. I intend to keep working on the single principle that THE UNION SERVES THE MEMBER, and not the other way round. Unions are products of collective struggles for equity; they are our pathways to just futures.

Aishwarya Bhattacharyya:

Esmaeel Sharafadin Abofakher is a PhD student in Children, Childhood and Youth Studies at York University whose research focuses on youth wellbeing, migration, and the role of arts and community programs in building resilience and belonging.

Before coming to Canada, Esmaeel worked in the humanitarian sector with organizations such as the Danish Refugee Council and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, supporting displaced youth and communities affected by conflict.

Running for VP Equity at the York University Graduate Students’ Association, he is committed to advocating for stronger student funding, pushing back against cuts to the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP), and improving support for marginalized, international, and first-generation graduate students. Esmaeel believes equity must include economic justice and equal access to opportunities.

Esmaeel Abofakher:

When milestones for international graduate students become more opaque, who benefits and who bears the cost? Why are funding structures being reduced as the cost of living continues to rise? Why does outreach remain weak when our lives as graduate students are connected to broader struggles as workers, migrants, and community members? If student bodies are not strong, who holds institutions accountable? Are we building a campus community, or are we being left to navigate these challenges alone?

I have witnessed the work that the union has undertaken after two tumultuous years marked by persistent pressure on student unionisation and academic freedom on campus. Seeing the determination with which YUGSA has attempted to rebuild collective resistance and restore the voice of graduate students has encouraged me to stand as part of the GradPulse slate. I am currently a third-year doctoral student in the Communication and Culture programme at York University. Prior to this, I completed my Master’s degree and MPhil at Jawaharlal Nehru University in India. During my years there I spent four years organising with the All India Students’ Association, and later in my professional life I worked with the All India Central Council of Trade Unions. These experiences shaped my enduring belief that the concerns of students and the struggles of labour communities are intertwined. My interest in community relations grows from the simple conviction that students stand at a liminal juncture: many have already been part of the labour world, many are preparing to enter it, and many are sustained by families whose lives are shaped by its conditions. I currently serve as a CUPE 3903 representative on the Joint Health and Safety Committee, and the Toronto and York Region Labour Council. If entrusted with the honour of representing the YorkU graduate student community as the Vice President- Community Relations, my aim would be modest, achievable: to strengthen the bonds between graduate students, labour organisations, and tenant associations, so that our struggles are not isolated but understood as part of a shared effort for dignity, fairness, and collective well-being.

Ankit Singh:

Lead Councillor Candidates:

Lassonde School of Engineering

My name is Ray Jahanian, and I am a first-year PhD student in Electrical Engineering at the Lassonde School of Engineering. My research focuses on electric vehicles and intelligent energy systems, with an emphasis on developing solutions that support more sustainable and efficient transportation infrastructures. Beyond my academic work, I value being active and helpful within my environment and contributing positively to the community around me. I believe that a strong academic environment is one where students are supported not only in their research but also in navigating the broader challenges of graduate life.


Open positions:
Executives and Senators:
President
VP Equity
VP Campaigns
VP Community
VP Internal
VP Finance

Senators (2)

Chief Councillors:
AMPD
Education
Lassonde
Schulich
Science
Osgoode
LAPS
Environmental Studies
Health
Glendon


CALL FOR NOMINATIONS 2026

Nomination Period: March 3 to March 16


To familiarize yourself with YUGSA’s structure, rules, and guidelines, please read the Bylaws here.

  • For a description of Executives’ roles and responsibilities, please read Bylaw 4 (page 17-25).

  • For a description of Senators’ and Chief Councillors’ roles and responsibilities, please read Bylaw 8 (page 33-36).

  • To learn about election rules and procedures, please read Appendix C (page 72-84) in the Bylaws.