Jonathan Simmons

CV

Jonathan Simmons, PhD
jonathansimmons.ca · ORCID 0000-0001-5231-0578

Experience

Graduate Writing Advisor
University of Alberta, Writing and Learning (Student Success and Experience) · Edmonton, AB · 2019 – Present

Workshops, writing groups, retreats, and individual consultations for graduate students and faculty.

Assistant Lecturer, Department of Sociology
University of Alberta · Edmonton, AB · 2019 – 2021

Introductory sociology; criminology.

Contract Instructor, Department of Sociology
University of Alberta · Edmonton, AB · 2015 – 2018

Sociology of Deviance and Conformity; Sociology of Religion; Social Psychology; Social Movements; Social Studies of Surveillance.

Contract Instructor, Department of Social Sciences
Concordia University of Edmonton · Edmonton, AB · 2017 – 2019

Sociological Concepts and Perspectives.

Doctoral Researcher
University of Alberta · Edmonton, AB · 2012 – 2018

SSHRC-funded qualitative study of atheist identity and community in Edmonton.

Earlier academic experience
University of Alberta and University of New Brunswick · 2007 – 2013

Sessional Instructor, Teaching Assistant, and Research Assistant. Selected RA positions:

  • University of Alberta Prison Project (Drs. Sandra Bucerius and Kevin Haggerty)
  • Archival Assistant, Stephen A. Kent Collection on Alternative Religions (Dr. Stephen A. Kent)
  • Program for North American Mobility in Higher Education (Dr. Joseph Galbo)
  • Irish Cultural Identity, Mediation, and Music in New Brunswick (Dr. Daniel Downes)
  • Gender Roles in Japanese Comics (Dr. June Madeley)

Workshops (selected)

Full list at jonathansimmons.ca/teaching.

Academic integrity and AI

  • Academic Integrity in the Age of AI
  • Building Academic Integrity into Your Writing Practice
  • Generative AI for Graduate Writing
  • Plagiarism: Getting It Right (so you aren’t wrong)

Grant and proposal writing

  • Getting Ready for Grant Season
  • Writing an Effective Funding Proposal
  • Writing Concisely for Grant Proposals
  • SSHRC/NSERC: Writing Strategies for Grant Applications
  • Persuasive (Grant) Writing for Graduate Law Students

Thesis and publication

  • Getting Started on Your Thesis or Dissertation
  • Crafting a Thesis or Dissertation Proposal
  • Revising Journal Articles

Writing process and clarity

  • Characteristics of Effective Writing
  • How to Write More Convincingly as a Graduate Student
  • Overcoming Writer’s Block, Procrastination, and Imposter Syndrome
  • The Hard Truth About Paraphrasing

Genre-specific writing

  • Building Better Abstracts for Medical and Scientific Writing
  • Scholarship Writing Essentials: Strategies for Success
  • Writing Clinical Notes

External and invited

  • “How to Make Informed, Practical and Responsible Decisions About Using AI in Academic Writing,” Department of Criminology and the Policy Studies Ph.D. Program, Toronto Metropolitan University (2026)

Teaching materials

  • Using AI Responsibly in Academic Writing (2026). Multi-module Canvas resource, University of Alberta.
  • AI Judgment Lab (in development). Scenario-based resource for graduate students evaluating AI-generated writing.
  • Simmons, J. (2011). Study Guide to Accompany Karen L. Anderson’s Thinking about Sociology: A Critical Introduction. Oxford University Press.
  • Simmons, J. (2011). Test Bank to Accompany Karen L. Anderson’s Thinking about Sociology: A Critical Introduction. Oxford University Press.

Research

Current projects

  • Associate Investigator, “Indigenous nonreligion in Aotearoa New Zealand and Canada,” Victoria University of Wellington (2024–present)
  • Principal Researcher, “Indigenous Atheists in Canada: Challenging Assumptions and Navigating Belonging,” University of Alberta (2023–2026)

Peer-reviewed articles

  • Eacersall, D., Pretorius, L., Smirnov, I., Spray, E., Illingworth, S., Chugh, R., Strydom, S., Stratton-Maher, D., Simmons, J., et al. (2025). Navigating ethical challenges in generative AI-enhanced research: The ETHICAL framework for responsible generative AI use. Journal of Applied Learning & Teaching, 8(2). DOI
  • Simmons, J. (2024). Indigenous atheists in Canada: Challenging assumptions and navigating belonging. Secular Studies, 6(1), 62–83. DOI
  • Sandhu, A., & Simmons, J. (2023). Police officers as filmmakers: The cinematography of body worn cameras. Policing and Society, 33(5), 593–603. DOI
  • Simmons, J., & Sandhu, A. (2020). Between Islam and Islamophobia: Stigma management among Canadian atheist activists. Secular Studies, 2(2), 117–137. DOI
  • Simmons, J. (2020). Feminist women’s attitudes towards feminist men in the Canadian atheist movement. Religion and Gender, 10(2), 182–201. DOI
  • Simmons, J. (2019). Politics, individualism, and atheism: An examination of the political attitudes of atheist activists in a Canadian city. Secularism and Nonreligion, 8(2). DOI
  • Simmons, J. (2019). Homeopathy as a form of practical magic. International Journal of Cultic Studies, 10, 32–40.
  • Simmons, J. (2018). ‘Not that kind of atheist’: Scepticism as a lifestyle movement. Social Movement Studies, 17(4), 437–450. DOI
  • Simmons, J. (2017). Atheism plus what? Social justice and lifestyle politics among Edmonton atheists. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 42(4), 425–446. DOI
  • Simmons, J., & Kent, S. A. (2015). An expansion of the rational choice approach: Social control in the Children of God during the 1970s and 1980s. International Journal for the Study of New Religions, 6(1), 27–49. DOI
  • Simmons, J. (2013). Positive psychology as a scientific movement. International Journal of Science in Society, 4(1), 43–52. DOI

Book chapters

  • Simmons, J. (forthcoming). De-converting from indigenous religious traditions. In P. Zuckerman & A. Zamušinski (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Apostasy and Religious Deconversion. Oxford University Press.
  • Simmons, J. (2021). The politics of non-religion. In J. M. Smith & R. T. Cragun (Eds.), Secularity and Nonreligion in North America (pp. 152–170). Bloomsbury Publishing. DOI

Book reviews

  • Simmons, J. (2018). Review of Resilient Gods: Being Pro-religious, Low Religious, or No Religious in Canada, by R. W. Bibby. Canadian Journal of Sociology, 43(1), 93–96. DOI
  • Simmons, J. (2014). Review of Caught in the Pulpit: Leaving Belief Behind, by D. C. Dennett & L. LaScola. Secularism and Nonreligion, 3(4). DOI
  • Simmons, J. (2013, January 15). Review of Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations, by J. Evans. LSE Review of Books.

Public writing and fiction

  • Simmons, J. (forthcoming). The Prophet and the Pathologist. Free Inquiry.
  • Simmons, J. (2025, August/September). The humanist response to authoritarianism. Free Inquiry, 45(5).
  • Simmons, J. (2025, April/May). Sacred or secular? Rethinking indigenous spirituality. Free Inquiry, 45(3).
  • Simmons, J. (2025). Les Guérisseurs. On Spec Magazine, 133.
  • Simmons, J. (2010, November). Modest intentionalism and the replicant debate. Americana: The American Popular Culture Magazine.
  • Simmons, J. (2010, April 1). The pervert’s guide to The Birds: Of Hitchcock, Žižek, the maternal superego, and critical confusion. Bright Lights Film Journal.

Media

  • Divorcing Religion Podcast (forthcoming)
  • Folio (University of Alberta), March 21, 2019
  • 630 CHED radio, May 28, 2014
  • Society of Edmonton Atheists Roundtable, November 3, 2015

Conference presentations

  • Simmons, J. (2024). My writing partner is hallucinating: Investigating ChatGPT’s impact on PhD students’ writing practices. Consortium on Graduate Communication Virtual Summer Institute.
  • Simmons, J. (2023). You’re not indigenous enough: The voices of indigenous atheists in three Canadian cities. Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network Conference, Ottawa (virtual).
  • Simmons, J. (2021). Graduate students’ writing anxiety and the limits of self-care. Canadian Sociological Association, Edmonton (virtual).
  • Simmons, J. (2021). Harnessing online writing retreats to help graduate students. CAWS Colloquium, Edmonton (virtual).
  • Simmons, J. (2018). Political atheism and individualism. Pacific Northwest Political Science Association.
  • Simmons, J. (2017). The social justice atheist: A case study of atheist activism in Edmonton. Canadian Sociological Association, Toronto. (Best Student Paper Award)
  • Simmons, J. (2017). Atheist identity in Edmonton, Alberta: An intersectional approach. Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Washington, DC.
  • Simmons, J. (2016). ‘Not that kind of atheist’: Scepticism as a lifestyle movement. Canadian Sociological Association, Calgary.
  • Simmons, J., & Sandhu, A. (2016). Between Islam and Islamophobia: Stigma management. Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, Atlanta.
  • Simmons, J. (2015). Not all atheists are skeptics: Boundary work among secularists in Alberta. W. David Pierce Research Colloquium, Edmonton.
  • Simmons, J., & Sandhu, A. (2015). We’re not Islamophobes: Stigma management and atheist activism. Association for the Sociology of Religion, Chicago.
  • Simmons, J. (2014). Magic and mysticism in the (post) modern cult of homeopathy. ICSA Annual Conference, Washington, DC.
  • Simmons, J. (2012). Social inequality in higher education: Investigating (mis)perceptions about low-income students. Canadian Sociological Association, Waterloo.
  • Simmons, J. (2012). The science of happiness: Positive psychology as a scientific movement. International Conference on Science in Society, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC.
  • Simmons, J. (2011). New thought and American positive psychologies in context. Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, Fredericton.
  • Simmons, J. (2011). Positive psychology as a scientific movement. Canadian Sociological Association, Fredericton.

Grants, awards, and honours

  • Marsden Fund Research Grant ($360,000), Co-Investigator (2024–2027)
  • Graduate Student Teaching Award, University of Alberta (2017)
  • Best Student Paper Award, Canadian Sociological Association (2017)
  • Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship ($7,500) (2017)
  • Sociology PhD Post-Candidacy Research Grant ($1,300) (2015)
  • Sociology Student Travel Grant ($1,000) (2014)
  • Walter H. Johns Graduate Fellowship, University of Alberta (2013–2015)
  • President’s Doctoral Prize of Distinction ($27,100) (2013)
  • SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship ($105,000) (2013)
  • University of Alberta Scholarship ($15,000) (2012)
  • SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Master’s Scholarship ($17,500) (2011)

Service

University

  • SSE Health, Safety, & Environment Committee, University of Alberta (current)
  • Dean of Students Awards Committee (Accessibility Awards), University of Alberta (2020)
  • Undergraduate Teaching Committee Representative, University of Alberta (2019–2020)
  • Academic Teaching Staff Representative, Sociology Department Council, University of Alberta (2019–2020)
  • Contract Instructor Representative, Sociology Department Council, University of Alberta (2017)
  • Teaching Excellence and Policy Committee, University of New Brunswick (2011–2012)
  • Organizer, Social Sciences and Humanities Graduate Student Conference, University of New Brunswick (2011)
  • Vice-President Finance, Graduate Student Association, University of New Brunswick (2010–2012)
  • Social Science Chair Selection Committee, University of New Brunswick (2011)
  • Student Organizing Committee, Canadian Bioethics Society 22nd Annual Conference (2011)
  • Graduate Student Representative, Student Life and Support Services Committee, University of New Brunswick (2011–2012)

Community

  • Board Member, Society of Edmonton Atheists (2015–2017)

Professional

  • Journal peer reviewer: Politics and Religion; Social Movement Studies; Secularism and Nonreligion; Sociological Forum; Canadian Journal of Sociology

Memberships

  • European Network for Academic Integrity (ENAI) (2025)
  • Consortium of Graduate Communication

Education

Doctor of Philosophy, Sociology · University of Alberta · 2018
Dissertation: “Atheist Identity and Lifestyle Among Activists in Edmonton”
Committee: Stephen A. Kent (supervisor), Kevin Haggerty, Dominique Clément, Richard Reimer · External examiner: Jesse Smith

Master of Arts, Sociology · University of New Brunswick · 2012
Thesis: “Positive Psychology as a Scientific Movement: A Case Study in Scientific Legitimacy”
Supervisor: Joseph Galbo

Bachelor of Arts, Communication Studies and Philosophy · University of New Brunswick · 2010