Justine Cotnoir
BA Psychology, MA Kinesiology (In progress)
Justine Cotnoir left her home, Sherbrooke, Québec, and began her master’s degree in 2024 at the University of Lethbridge.
Justine’s passion for sport psychology began during her years as a competitive Ultimate Frisbee player and lifeguard with a strong swimming background. As a lifelong sports enthusiast, she became fascinated by the psychology of athletes, which shaped her academic focus as a psychology undergraduate.
She earned her BA in Psychology from Bishop’s University in 2024, completing an honours thesis that examined the prevalence of ADHD across different skill levels in sport. Alongside her studies, she served as the lead research assistant for Dr. Rafael Tedesqui on a Fonds de recherche du Québec–funded project investigating personality and talent identification in sport.
Currently she is an MA student in the PALS (Psychology for Active Living and Sport) lab under the supervision of Dr. Scott Rathwell. Justine is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of sport stakeholders regarding ADHD in youth team sport. In addition to her thesis research, she is the lead research assistant on Dr. Rathwell’s SSHRC-Insight project exploring the quality of sport experiences among Masters athletes and has been a teaching assistant for several kinesiology courses.
Looking ahead, Justine plans to pursue a PhD to deepen her research on ADHD in sport and advance her goal of becoming both a leading researcher and a professor. Ultimately, she hopes to contribute to the development of improved sport conditions for athletes with invisible disabilities, and a better understanding of neurodiversity in sport.