Individualized Interdisciplinary Studies

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Pursue personalized interests across disciplinary boundaries

Faculty/School

Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, Okanagan School of Education, School of Engineering, Faculty of Health and Social Development, School of Nursing, School of Social Work, School of Health and Exercise Sciences, Faculty of Management, Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science

Program	Components	Length
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)	Coursework and dissertation	48 months

Why the Individualized Interdisciplinary Studies option at UBC Okanagan?

Have interest in an interdisciplinary topic that doesn’t fit one of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies’ themes? Create your own program of study under the Individualized option.

Work with a supervisory committee formed of faculty from across campus. Students will benefit from the knowledge and resources of all UBC Okanagan faculties, and the collaborative opportunities resulting from the interdisciplinary nature of the program.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The PhD degree is centred on conducting original, cutting-edge research that crosses disciplinary boundaries. Graduates of the PhD program are prepared for careers requiring advanced independent research and teaching in academia, government, industry, and the non-profit sector.

Program milestones

Establishing a faculty supervisory committee
Selecting and completing coursework
Preparing, presenting, and defending a dissertation research proposal
Passing an oral candidacy exam
Completing dissertation research and writing, and defending the work

Coursework requirements

9 credits are required for the PhD degree, including:

Proseminar in Interdisciplinary Studies (IGS 524)
Graduate Seminar in Interdisciplinary Approaches (3 credits, selected in consultation with the student’s supervisor)
Interdisciplinary Methods (3 credits, selected in consultation with the student’s supervisor)

Teaching democracy: From theory to classroom reality

The Individualized Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies program at UBCO allows students to pursue their interests across disciplinary boundaries to explore new perspectives and challenges and impact their communities.

Teaching democracy: From theory to classroom reality

Research and Supervisors

Supervisors

See all Graduate student supervisors

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Designing and developing behavior change systems and persuasive technologies such as serious games and mobile/web applications; modelling the behaviour of online users in social networks and e-commerce systems; data science; social computing; ethics and trust in persuasive technologies.

Luis Aguiar | Professor | Power, Conflict and Ideas, Sociology | luis.aguiar@ubc.ca | ART 316

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: The globalization of the "Justice for Janitors" campaigns; global unions; Eddie Melo: What were you? The Neoliberal University; whiteness; the Canadian Hinterland.

Philip Ainslie | Professor | Centre for Heart, Lung & Vascular Health, School of Health and Exercise Sciences | philip.ainslie@ubc.ca | 250.807.8089

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: The specific focus of Ainslie's research is directed to the integrated mechanisms which regulate human cerebral blood flow in health and disease.

Ahmad Al-Dabbagh | Assistant Professor | ahmad.aldabbagh@ubc.ca | EME 4287

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Control systems; automation systems; fault diagnosis; cyber security; alarm management

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Smart materials; Seismic rehabilitation of steel, concrete, masonry; Seismic analysis and building design

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Philosophy of science, formal epistemology, logic.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Clustering and classification via mixture models with applications to bioinformatics.

Anderson Araujo, PhD | Professor | English and Cultural Studies, Languages and World Literatures, Power, Conflict and Ideas, World Literatures | anderson.araujo@ubc.ca | CCS 365

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Transnational modernism; First World War poetry, 20th-century British and Irish literature; modernism and transatlantic modernism; peace and war studies; aesthetics.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Synthesis of Multifunctional Conductive and Magnetic Nanomaterials; Polymer Processing and Forming; Multifunctional Polymer Nanocomposites; Gas Sensors; 3D Printed Polymer Nanocomposites; Circular Economy and Plastic Recycling

Jeannette Armstrong | Professor | Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Indigenous Knowledges, Indigenous Studies | jeannette.armstrong@ubc.ca | LM4 633

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Indigenous philosophies; Okanagan Syilx thought and environmental ethics coded into Syilx literatures.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Teaching and learning in higher education; self-regulated learning; metacognition; student agency; mindsets and academic success; curriculum and program development; instructional design; Scholarship of Teaching and Learning; learning technologies; responsible and ethical uses of generative AI in teaching, learning, assessment, and research.

Adeniyi P. Asiyanbi | Assistant Professor | Geography, Global Studies, Sustainability (IGS) | a.asiyanbi@ubc.ca | ART 336

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Political ecology; governmentality; environmental governance; forest-based climate change mitigation; climate change adaptation, wildfires; forest conservation; global development; community engagement; Nigeria, Ghana, Canada (British Columbia and Alberta).

Tal Avgar | Assistant Professor | Biology | tal.avgar@ubc.ca | SCI 103

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Animal habitat-selection and movement ecology, wildlife population biology, consumer-resource interactions, ecological modelling and biometry

Wouter Bam | Assistant Professor | Manufacturing, School of Engineering | wouter.bam@ubc.ca | EME3271

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Decision support systems; sustainable development; economic complexity; multi-objective optimization; regional development; applied machine learning; industrial policy; circular supply chains; location decisions; global value chains

Phil Barker (On Leave) | Professor | Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Biology | philip.barker@ubc.ca | SCI 381

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Neurodegenerative disease, signal transduction, neurotrophin biology, cell biology, fly and mouse genetics.

Deidre Batchelar | Adjunct Professor | Medical Physics, Physics | dbatchelar@bccancer.bc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Advanced Imaging in Brachytherapy; high precision radiotherapy.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Convex analysis and optimization, monotone operator theory, projection methods, and applications.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Research interests include: youth mental health (e.g. clinical high-risk to psychosis, first-episode psychosis, anxiety, depression); early intervention in mental health; identity development and mental illness; cultural, relational, and community-based approach to early psychosis; digital divide among youth; mental health service use decision-making equity; and youth engagement in research.

Lawrence D. Berg | Professor | Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Geography, Power, Conflict and Ideas | lawrence.berg@ubc.ca | ART 253

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Critical studies of neoliberalism; geographies of academic knowledge production; place and the politics of identity; postcoloniality; white supremacy.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Early Learning; Health Education; Physical Education; Children's Physical Activity; Action Research.

Graduate student supervisor. Not currently considering graduate students.

Research Interests: Host-microbiota interactions; Glycobiology

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Advanced characterization of materials; New alloy development; Manufacturing processes

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Conceptualizations of kindness in children and adolescents; Measuring kindness in schools; Social and Emotional Learning; Canine-assisted interventions; Assessment of therapy dogs; University student well-being

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Leadership in Higher Education, Critical Policy Studies, Change Management, Emotional Labour and School Choice

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Geographic information sciences; spatial analysis and statistics; movement ecology; remote sensing.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Computational statistics, with applications to fire science; statistical process control; statistical education. Most recently, I have been focusing on visualization methodology, using a class of techniques called Data Sharpening.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Computational fluid dynamics; Turbomachinery; Multiphase turbulent flows; Hydrogen; Wind energy; Biofluid mechanics

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Citizenship; Social Studies Methods; History Education; History of Education and Curriculum; Culture and Education; Alternative and Holistic Educational Practices from an Ecological Perspective.

Bonar Buffam | Associate Professor | Power, Conflict and Ideas, Sociology | bonar.buffam@ubc.ca | ART 306

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Race and empire; crime and punishment; socio-legal studies; religion and secularity; urban geographies; social and cultural theory.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Educational Technology; Instructional Design; Curriculum Development; Technology Innovation; Integration.

Margaret Carlyle | Assistant Professor | History, Power, Conflict and Ideas | margaret.carlyle@ubc.ca | ART 247

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: History of medicine, science, & technology; history of reproduction and the life sciences; gender and women's studies; history of the body; material culture & medical technologies; medical science and race in the French Atlantic world.

Jodey Castricano, PhD | Associate Dean, Research and Graduate Studies | Digital Arts and Humanities, English and Cultural Studies, Power, Conflict and Ideas, Sustainability (IGS) | jodey.castricano@ubc.ca | CCS 338

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: 19th-century studies, including gothic studies and psychoanalysis (Freud/Jung); critical animal studies; ecofeminism; critical and literary theory, film and media studies; feminist and queer theory; ethics; social activism.

Tarryn Cawood | Assistant Professor | Earth and Environmental Sciences | tk.cawood@ubc.ca | FIP 352

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Structural and economic geology; mineral deposit formation; effect of deformation and metamorphism on mineral deposits.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Network Information Theory; Interference Mitigation; Wireless Communications; Optical Wireless Communications; Coding Theory

Jessica Chan | Assistant Professor | Education | jessica.chan@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: • Language and literacy development (early years through school-age) • Reading development for children with risk for language-based disorders (dyslexia and/or developmental language disorder) • Reading development for culturally and linguistically diverse learners • Family literacy processes • Literacy and Numeracy • Community-based literacy • Educator knowledge and professional learning

Shirley Chau, BSW, MSW, PhD | Associate Professor | Social Work | shirley.chau@ubc.ca | Somewhere in Arts Bldg

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Dr. Chau also conducts research with individuals and communities in transition that experience social exclusion due to race and ethnicity, racialized identities, and racism, class (e.g., homeless populations), and other factors that influence their access to services in the health and social care systems in “large”, “midsized”, and “small” cities in Canada.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Human-centred engineering; wearable and immersive technologies; entrepreneurship and innovation; systems thinking; human development; higher education transformation

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: • Digital and Robotic Fabrication • Building Information Modeling • Supply Chain Integration • Platform and System Design • Circular Economy Student opportunities: Dr. Chen is looking to recruit PhD students in the field of digital construction engineering and construction circular economy. Interested candidates can email Dr. Chen, providing their motivation letter and CV.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Leadership, professional learning and development, educator well-being; learning communities and school organizing; reflective practice.

Graduate student supervisor

John (Song Pae) Cho | Assistant Professor | Anthropology, Global Studies, Power, Conflict and Ideas | john.cho@ubc.ca | LM4 623

Graduate student supervisor

Kevin Chong, MFA (On Leave) | Associate Professor | Creative Studies, Creative Writing | kevin.chong@ubc.ca | CCS 337

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Creative writing, fiction, creative nonfiction, literary journalism, dramatic writing.

Jonathan Cinnamon | Associate Professor | Digital Arts and Humanities, Geography, Global Studies, Power, Conflict and Ideas | jonathan.cinnamon@ubc.ca | ART 264

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: digital geographies; data studies; GIS and society; science and technology studies; urban studies; surveillance; digital and visual methods; alternative urbanism.

Bill Cohen | Assistant Professor | Education, Indigenous Knowledges | billy.cohen@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: My research interests are extended family pedagogies informed by traditional Indigenous knowledge: particularly a Syilx children-centred model informed by capti̓kʷɬ stories to transform schools to be more appreciative and sustaining of place-based relationships and cultural and ecological diversity.

Christopher Collier, PhD | Associate Professor | Electrical, School of Engineering | christopher.collier@ubc.ca | EME3285

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Bio-photonics and bio-optics; Digital microfluidics; Hyperspectral imaging; Lab-on-a-chip systems; Microfluidics for agriculture and food; Optofluidic elements; Terahertz spectroscopy

Jon Corbett | Department Head, Professor | Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Geography, Institute for Community Engaged Research (ICER), Sustainability (IGS) | jon.corbett@ubc.ca | ART 267

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Geography; ethnobiology; cartography; exploration, facilitation and promotion of community and ecosystem-based models of land and resource use in communities in Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and British Columbia, Canada

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Popular culture; sustainable practices in printmaking; innovations in print-related media; curatorial practices; artist books

Graduate student supervisor. Only Masters supervision for IGS themes Global Studies and Sustainability.

Research Interests: Urban Economics, Applied Microeconomics

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Dr. Dalton’s research interests focus on understanding the sensorimotor control of the human nervous system using various models of study (neuromuscular fatigue, healthy adult aging, and traumatic brain injury.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Discovering new biosynthetic enzymes and pathways; generating specialized metabolites structural and functional diversities; re-constituting natural products metabolism in synthetic biology chassis.

Paul G Davies | Professor | Psychology | paul.g.davies@ubc.ca | FIP 326

Graduate student supervisor. Not considering Psychology graduate students (both streams) for September 2027 intake.

Research Interests: Intergroup relations; stereotypes; prejudice; discrimination; diverse forms of social identity threat; perceived stereotypicality; levels of prejudice and discrimination that target stigmatized individuals.

Jennifer Davis | Associate Professor | Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Faculty of Management | jennifer.davis@ubc.ca | EME 4123

Graduate student supervisor

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Mathematical ecology and insect dispersal.

Michael Deyholos | Professor | Biology | michael.deyholos@ubc.ca | OM2 113

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Genetics and genomics of plants, especially in relation to pectin, cell walls, and fibers.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Computational studies of i) radical reactions involving organic, inorganic, biological and solid-state systems; ii) noncovalent interactions; iii) oxygen-centred radical induced damage of proteins.

Agnieszka Doll | Assistant Professor | Global Studies, Power, Conflict and Ideas, Sociology | agnieszka.doll@ubc.ca | ART 311

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Nexus of psychiatry and law; socio-legal studies of the everyday life of law; institutional ethnography; science, technology, and regulation; expert knowledge; regulatory spaces and pharmaceutical governance, psychedelics and drug policy, feminist and qualitative methodologies.

Graduate student supervisor. Focus: EAL Teaching and Learning in Adult and Post-Secondary Contexts.

Research Interests: English as an Additional Language (EAL) Teaching and Learning in Adult and Post-Secondary Contexts; Teaching English as an Additional Language (TEAL); Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL); Applied Linguistics; English Language Teaching (ELT); EAL Curriculum and Materials Design; English for Academic Purposes (EAP); English Language Learning (ELL); Short-Term EAL Study Abroad

Sarah Dow-Fleisner, PhD | Associate Professor (Tenure) | Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Faculty of Health and Social Development, Institute for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention (IHLCDP), Social Work | sarah.dow-fleisner@ubc.ca | Landmark

Graduate student supervisor. Only accepting doctoral or postdoctoral positions.

Research Interests: Development trajectories and resilient functioning of children and families in high-risk contexts; Parent-child and sibling relationships in families experiencing parental mental illness and substance use; Perinatal healthcare; Intervention and prevention programs for families and children; Utilization of advanced statistical methodology to examine complex social phenomenon.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Computer Vision/Graphics; Machine/Deep Learning; Image/Video Processing; Pattern Recognition; Biometrics; Video Surveillance Systems

Aleksandra Dulic, PhD | Professor | Creative Studies, Digital Arts and Humanities, Media Studies, Sustainability (IGS), Visual Arts | aleksandra.dulic@ubc.ca | CCS 171

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Visual art, new media, video, drawing 2D; media for social change; climate change; interactive art; experience design.

Daniel Durall | Associate Professor Emeritus | Biology | daniel.durall@ubc.ca | 250.807.8759

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Fungi in forest and wine systems; determining the structure of fungal networks connecting trees and the strains of yeast responsible for fermentation.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Metamorphic petrology; tectonics & microstructure; evolution of planetary lithosphere and electron-beam microscopy.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Power electronics; High power switching converters; Gate drive techniques

Renay Egami, MFA | Associate Professor | Creative Studies, Visual Arts | renay.egami@ubc.ca | CCS 164

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Contemporary Art Practices; Material Studies; Diaspora Research; Memorialization.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Human-computer interaction, Immersive Analytics, Data Visualisation, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Wastewater and Sludge Treatment; Pretreatment Technologies for Enhanced Biomethane and Biohydrogen Production from Organic Waste; Side-stream Nutrient Removal; Fate and Transformation of Micropollutants during Biological Treatment Processes; Modeling, Simulation and Optimization of Biological Wastewater/Sludge Treatment Processes; Waste Minimization and Resource Recovery

Neil Eves | Professor | Centre for Heart, Lung & Vascular Health, School of Health and Exercise Sciences | neil.eves@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Eve's primary research interests are in the integrative aspects of pulmonary, cardiac and vascular physiology and how the cardiovascular and pulmonary systems can be manipulated to optimally improve the health of individuals with chronic respiratory disease.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Organization theory; Institutional logics, agency, and emotions; Grand challenges of sustainability, inequality, community-based entrepreneurship, AI and ethics; Ethics of care (feminism philosophy); Indigenous resurgence (the Peoplehood framework and Two-Eyed Seeing)

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Travel demand forecasting; Transportation and land use interaction; Travel behaviour analysis; Activity-based modelling; Urban system microsimulation; Agent-based modelling, Survey design and methods

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Medical Imaging, MRI, Pulse Sequence Design, Image Processing, Translational Imaging

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Information and Coding Theory; Blockchain Technology

Alanaise Ferguson | Associate Professor | Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Indigenous Knowledges, Indigenous Studies, Psychology | alanaise.ferguson@ubc.ca | LM4 627

Graduate student supervisor. Not considering Psychology graduate students for September 2027 intake.

Research Interests: Qualitative, Mixed-Methods, Community-Engaged, and Decolonizing Research Methodologies; Applied research in First Nations Metis, and Inuit (FNMI) mental health, healing, and well-being; Oral First Nations Language Documentation and Revitalization; Intervention evaluation research in trauma repair and addictions reduction.

Adam Ford | Professor | Biology, Okanagan Institute for Biodiversity, Resilience, and Ecosystems Services (BRAES) | adam.ford@ubc.ca | SCI 109

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Wildlife ecology and conservation; mammals; temperate forests, grasslands, and tropical savannas.

Glen Foster | Associate Dean, Research; Professor | School of Health and Exercise Sciences | glen.foster@ubc.ca | 250.807.8224

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Foster's research aims to approach complex physiological problems using integrative and applied experimental approaches that focus on multiple systems in vivo.

Eric Foxall | Assistant Professor, Tenure-Track | Mathematics | efoxall@mail.ubc.ca | SCI 115

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Stochastic processes and mathematical biology

Jennifer Frattolin, PhD | Assistant Professor | Mechanical, School of Engineering | jennifer.frattolin@ubc.ca | EME4231

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Microfluidics; immune cell transport; fluorescent microscopy; medical devices; immunotherapeutics

Sue Frohlick | Professor | Anthropology, Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies, Global Studies, Sustainability (IGS) | susan.frohlick@ubc.ca | LM4 634

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Ethnographic writing, poetry; ethnographies of sound, hearing, listening; critical tourism studies; migration, subjectivities; feminist and sensory methodologies; community-based research; atmospheres.

Liane (Lee) Gabora | Professor | Digital Arts and Humanities, Psychology | liane.gabora@ubc.ca | FIP 235

Graduate student supervisor. Considering graduate students (Psychological Science stream only) for Sept 2027 intake.

Research Interests: Creativity; concepts, especially how they combine and adapt to new contexts; origins of modern cognition; cultural evolution; computer models of the above. I'm not currently accepting graduate students; however, please don't hesitate to contact me if you are exceptionally knowledgeable about and interested in my group's research program.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Gainforth's research aims to close the gap between health behaviour change research and practice by examining knowledge translation – the act of moving research evidence into the hands of research users.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Algorithmic and computational problems in artificial intelligence and network science; applications in social media and computational biology; graph theory and probabilistic method.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Infrastructure Digitization; Virtual Transportation Infrastructure Management; Automated LiDAR Data Processing Road Safety Analytics; Roadway Design; Smart Cities; Resilient Transportation Infrastructure

Greg Garrard, PhD | Professor | English, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, Sustainability (IGS), Sustainability | greg.garrard@ubc.ca | CCS 650

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Ecocriticism; contemporary environmental writing; critical animal studies; culture and climate change; wildfire risk.

David Geary | Associate Professor | Anthropology, Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Global Studies, Power, Conflict and Ideas | david.geary@ubc.ca | LM4 631

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Buddhism; South Asia; geopolitics of heritage; space and place; pilgrimage; diaspora; transnational religious movements and networks; mobilities and critical tourism theory

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Biochemical aspects of dietary fats and exercise in preventing the development and complications of obesity and diabetes.

Deanna L. Gibson | Professor | Biology | deanna.gibson@ubc.ca | ASC 368

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Gut health; gut microbiome; bioengineered microbes; inflammation

Paramjit Gill | Associate Professor Emeritus | Data Science, Mathematics, Statistics | paramjit.gill@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Sports analytics; statistical stylometry; social networks models.

Judy Gillespie | Director | Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Indigenous Knowledges, Social Work | judy.gillespie@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Child welfare and the role of community in child and family well-being; Mutli-sector collaboration to enhance Indigenous well-being; Interprofessional expertise for child welfare practice; The role of place in well-being; The role of attachment to place in professional retention; Place-based practice.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Transient absorption spectroscopy/microscopy to determine the charge carrier dynamics; carbon-based photocatalytic materials; sustainable energy production; sustainable photochemistry for water purification and chemical transformations

Suzanne Gott, PhD | Associate Professor | Art History, Creative Studies, Digital Arts and Humanities, Global Studies | Suzanne.Gott@ubc.ca | CCS 176

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: African art and visual culture; African women and popular culture; African museums and tangible/intangible cultural heritage

John Graham | Professor | Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Power, Conflict and Ideas, Social Work, Sustainability (IGS) | john.graham@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: social policy, diversity and social work, spirituality and social work, multicultural social work, and employee well being/ subjective well being (happiness), homelessness prevention research

Giovanni B. Grandi | Associate Professor | Philosophy, Power, Conflict and Ideas | giovanni.grandi@ubc.ca | ART 230

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Early modern philosophy, history of economic thought

Lisa Grekul, PhD (On Leave) | Associate Professor | English, English and Cultural Studies | lisa.grekul@ubc.ca | CCS 335

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Research Interests: Canadian literatures; minoritized Canadian literatures; diasporic literatures; postcolonial theory; Ukrainian Canadian studies.

Laura Grieneisen | Affiliate Professor | Biology, Okanagan Institute for Biodiversity, Resilience, and Ecosystems Services (BRAES) | laura.grieneisen@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Host-microbiome interactions in wild systems; microbial ecology

George Grinnell, PhD | Associate Professor | English, English and Cultural Studies | george.grinnell@ubc.ca | CCS 332

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Critical Theory, Cultural Studies, DIY Punk Cultures, Romantic-era Literature, Medical Humanities, Migration, Biometric Technology, Romanticism and Terror

Neha Gupta | Associate Professor | Anthropology, Community, Culture and Global Studies | neha.gupta@ubc.ca | ART 259

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Geospatial and digital methods; postcolonial, decolonial, anti-colonial and Indigenous studies of archaeology and cultural heritage; archaeology in India and Canada; data governance and community governance of heritage; anti-racism; anti-casteism. I welcome interest from prospective students for research supervision on topics related to these areas. Accepting graduate students.

Jennifer Gustar, PhD | Associate Professor Emerita | Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies | jennifer.gustar@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Contemporary Women’s Writing; Contemporary British Literature; Black and Minority Ethnic women’s writing (UK); women’s writing from South Asia and the diaspora. Feminist and postcolonial approaches to literature.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Environmental impact assessment; natural resources management; energy and mining development.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Mathematical optimization; nonconvex analysis; derivative-free optimization; bundle methods; applications in road design.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Combinatorics with a focus on graph coloring problems; discrete optimization with a focus on MIP/constraint programming solutions for the high-stakes testing industry.

Allison Hargreaves, PhD | Associate Professor | Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, English, English and Cultural Studies, Global Studies, Indigenous Knowledges | allison.hargreaves@ubc.ca | CCS 331

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Indigenous literatures and theory; critical settler colonial studies; place-based approaches to literary and cultural studies; decolonization and reconciliation as discourse and material practice.

Miranda M Hart (On Leave) | Professor | Biology, Okanagan Institute for Biodiversity, Resilience, and Ecosystems Services (BRAES) | miranda.hart@ubc.ca | ASC 372

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Microbial ecology of soil microbes; the role and the applications of microbes in sustainable agriculture, viticulture, and ecological restoration.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Human-computer interaction, mobile and wearable (e.g., smartwatches, smart glasses) user interfaces, augmented/virtual/mixed reality, information visualization, gesture interaction, computer vision, machine learning, navigation interfaces, input devices.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Radiation oncology; radiation biophysics.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Empirical Software Engineering; Code Intelligence; AI4SE; Code Representation Learning; Mining Software Repositories.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Lifecycle thinking in engineering; Circular economy; Smart Energy, Sustainability analysis in infrastructure projects; Construction productivity and safety; Construction process optimization

Catherine Higgs | Professor | Global Studies, History, Power, Conflict and Ideas | catherine.higgs@ubc.ca | LM4 636

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Southern Africa; Portuguese Africa; Atlantic World; activism; politics; labor; agriculture; policy.

Carla Hilario, PhD | Assistant Professor | School of Nursing | carla.hilario@ubc.ca | UBCO Landmark Offices

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Child and youth health; participatory research; health equity; implementation science.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Radio, optical, and computational astronomy. Interstellar gas, magnetic fields, and turbulence in and around the Milky Way. Photoionization and radiative transfer in interstellar gas. High velocity clouds. Cosmology and the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME).

Michelle Hilts | Adjunct Professor | Medical Physics, Physics | mhilts@bccancer.bc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Brachytherapy for breast cancer; 3D radiation dosimetry.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Ecology; conservation biology; effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on behaviour and population dynamics; predator-prey dynamics; extinction risks; species-at-risk legislation; wildfires and wildlife; biosolids and wildlife.

Femke Hoekstra | Assistant Professor, CCDPM | Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Southern Medical Program | femke.hoekstra@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Dr. Hoekstra’s implementation science research program focuses on improving (virtual) health services and care for equity-deserving groups in rural, remote and other isolated communities. Her research involves studying implementation processes of health innovations in real-world settings from different perspectives. To maximize the quality and impact of her work, she meaningfully engages research users as partners throughout the research process.

Rachelle Hole | Professor | Canadian Institute for Inclusion and Citizenship (CIIC), Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Faculty of Health and Social Development, Indigenous Knowledges, Social Work | rachelle.hole@ubc.ca | ARTS 368

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Rachelle’s research programme is informed by two complementary streams: 1) a substantial focus on the socio-cultural practices that promote social inclusion and equity, and 2) a methodological focus on community based participatory research methods. Critical disability studies is central to the first stream informing Rachelle’s research in the area of community living and intellectual disability.

Susan Holtzman | Department Head (PRO TEM), Professor | Psychology | susan.holtzman@ubc.ca | ASC 283

Graduate student supervisor. Considering Psychology graduate students (both streams) for September 2027 intake.

Research Interests: Health psychology; social relationships; stress and coping; adjustment to chronic illness/chronic pain; psychology of technology; digital communication and wellbeing.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Photonic device technologies; terahertz technologies; applications to free-space optical (wireless) systems; applications to lab-on-a-chip systems.

Graduate student supervisor. Not accepting new students for 2026/2027

Research Interests: Biogeochemistry; stable isotopes; biosphere-atmosphere exchange of greenhouse gases; natural and restored wetlands; lakes; soil; groundwater; trace gas analysis; automation of monitoring equipment.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Applications of machine learning and digital twins in 6G, Federated learning over wireless networks, Holographic MIMO, and Non-terrestrial networks (NTN)

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Ars2 in RNA biogenesis; RNA processing in stem cells; regulation of Pax6 by miRNA; rewiring of tyrosine pathway in cancer.

Min Hu | Associate Professor | Economics, Global Studies, Sustainability (IGS) | min.hu@ubc.ca | ART 334

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Health Economics; Public Health; Applied Microeconomics; Labour Economics; Sports Economics

William Hughes | Director, School of Engineering | will.hughes@ubc.ca | EME 4249

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Developing technologies made from DNA; Low-cost liquid computers that perform early-stage diagnostics of hard-to-detect diseases, to sorting extremely dense and stable information for archival applications

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Learning analytics; computer science education; decision making under uncertainty; probabilistic user modeling; human-computer interaction cost models; experiment design and analysis.

Lauren Human | Associate Department Head, Professor | Psychology | lauren.human@ubc.ca | ART 317

Graduate student supervisor. Considering Psychology graduate students (both streams) for September 2027 intake.

Research Interests: Interpersonal impressions; accuracy and bias; well-being; social relationships.

Peter Hutchinson, PhD | Assistant Professor | Community, Culture and Global Studies, Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Indigenous Knowledges, Indigenous Studies | peter.hutchinson@ubc.ca | LM4 626

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Indigenous Population and Public Health; Social Determinants of Health; Cultural Safety; Self-Determination; Health Equity; Health Promotion

Derek Hyde | Adjunct Professor | Medical Physics, Physics | dhyde2@bccancer.bc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Image-guided radiation therapy for high-precision treatments.

Alessandro Ielpi | Associate Professor | Earth and Environmental Sciences | alessandro.ielpi@ubc.ca | FIP 304

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Earth and planetary geomorphology; watersheds, rivers, and floodplains; basin analysis; fluvial biogeochemistry.

Hashim Islam, PhD | Assistant Professor | Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, School of Health and Exercise Sciences | hashim.islam@ubc.ca | ART 154, 1147 Research Road

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Islam’s research program focuses on how exercise, nutrition, and cardiometabolic disease impact mitochondrial function in different cells and tissues within the human body.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Chemical and physical processes at solid surfaces; phase transitions; molecular computer simulations; heterogeneous catalysis; functional surfaces; nanoscience.

Melissa Jacques, PhD | Associate Professor of Teaching | English, English and Cultural Studies | melissa.jacques@ubc.ca | CCS 172

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Trauma theory, queer theory, affect theory and psychoanalysis; popular culture (crime fiction, vampires, and graphic memoir); experimental life writing and creative non-fiction; the scholarship of teaching and learning; narrative medicine/medical humanities.

Jennifer Jakobi | Professor | Office of the Vice-Principal, Research and Innovation, School of Health and Exercise Sciences | jennifer.jakobi@ubc.ca | 250.807.9884

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: The long term objective of Jakobi's research program is to develop prehabilitation programs that focus on maintaining functional independence in older adults.

John Janmaat | Professor | Economics, Global Studies, Sustainability (IGS) | john.janmaat@ubc.ca | ART 255

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Environmental and resource economics, with an emphasis on the role of environmental services.

David Jefferess, PhD (On Leave) | Associate Professor | Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Cultural Studies, English, English and Cultural Studies | david.jefferess@ubc.ca | CCS 371

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Humanitarian Discourse, including: The (White) Saviour Complex, Human Rights Narrative, Global Ethics and Race, Global Material Inter-relationships; Critical Heritage Studies; Colonialism and Decolonization

Andrew Jirasek | Professor | Medical Physics, Analytics in Medical Sciences (AiMs) Institute | andrew.jirasek@ubc.ca | ASC 354

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Medical physics; radiation oncology physics; Raman spectroscopy; 3D radiation dosimetry.

Thomas Johnson | Associate Professor | Electrical, Computer, School of Engineering | thomas.johnson@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Radio frequency power amplifiers; RF power sources; Binary time encoders for switch-mode power amplifiers

Jelena Jovicic, PhD | Professor | French, Languages and World Literatures, Power, Conflict and Ideas | Jelena.Jovicic@ubc.ca | CCS 334

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Literary theory, critical intellectual history, the epistolary genre, the concept of nostalgia, and 19th-century French literature.

Mary Jung, PhD | Professor | Faculty of Health and Social Development, School of Health and Exercise Sciences | mary.jung@ubc.ca | 250.807.9670

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: type 2 diabetes prevention; dietary and exercise adherence; equity, diversity, and inclusion

Mary Clare Kennedy | Assistant Professor | Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Social Work | maryclare.kennedy@ubc.ca | LM4-611

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Social-structural dimensions of health among people who use drugs; Harm reduction; Public policy and health service evaluation

Denise Kenney, MFA | Associate Professor | Creative Studies, Theatre | denise.kenney@ubc.ca | CCS 167

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Devised Theatre, Physical Theatre, Art and Social Practice, Eco-Art, Performance Art, Interventionist Performance, Experimental and Documentary Digital Film.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Combustion; Turbulence; Laser-based diagnostics; Low/zero carbon fuels; Sprays; Gas turbine engines.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Systems Ecology; Big Data Science; Microbial Metabolic Interactions; Natural and Engineered Microbial Ecosystem; Multi-omics (DNA, RNA and protein sequencing).

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Neuroimmunology; pathogenesis of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases; Glial cell biology; cellular and molecular pharmacology; method development for protecting neurons from age-related deterioration; signaling between different cell types of the central nervous system; problem-solving skills of students and effectiveness of alternative instructional techniques.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Community ecology; soil ecology; plant ecology; microbial ecology; restoration ecology; invasion biology; global change biology; determinants of plant and microbial community structure; biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.

Sarah Kraeutner | Assistant Professor | Digital Arts and Humanities, Psychology | sarah.kraeutner@ubc.ca | ASC 204

Graduate student supervisor. Considering graduate students (Psychological Science stream only) for Sept 2027 intake.

Research Interests: Motor learning; motor imagery; stroke-related neuroscience; neuroimaging; non-invasive brain stimulation

Francis Langevin, PhD | Associate Professor of Teaching | Digital Arts and Humanities, French, Languages and World Literatures | francis.langevin@ubc.ca | CCS 364

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Inclusive Language; Contemporary French, French Canadian & Québécois Culture, Literature & Society (régionalité); Literary Theory (Values, Narratology, Style); Plurilingual, Pluricultural Pedagogy

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Structural geology; tectonics; petrology; microstructures; geochronology; the geology of the Himalaya-Tibet-Karakorm system; tectonics of Southwestern British Columbia.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Active learning techniques for computer science; developing tools for learning, computational thinking and design thinking; application of HCI tools and techniques to improve teaching and learning.

Heather Latimer | Associate Professor | Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies, Power, Conflict and Ideas | heather.latimer@ubc.ca | ART 254

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Feminist theories and epistemologies; sexuality studies; science and technology studies; cultural studies; literature and film; reproduction and pregnancy; reproductive technologies and politics; reproductive governance and abortion.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Database systems and data analytics including data integration; analysis of large-scale scientific data sets and embedded databases for Internet of Things applications; software engineering and system development.

Sean Lawrence, PhD | Department Head | Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, Global Studies, Languages and World Literatures, Power, Conflict and Ideas | sean.lawrence@ubc.ca | CCS 372

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Shakespeare; canonical literature and 20th-century French philosophy; Medieval and Renaissance studies; peace and war studies; drama and theatre studies; ethics.

Brigitte Le Normand (On Leave) | Associate Professor | History | brigitte.lenormand@ubc.ca | 250.807.8232

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Urban studies; socialist Yugoslavia; labour migration in Cold War Europe.

Ruthann Lee, PhD (On Leave) | Associate Professor | Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Cultural Studies, English and Cultural Studies | ruthann.lee@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Cultural Studies; Politics of Decolonization, Solidarity, and Resistance; Indigeneity, Diaspora, and Settler Colonialism; Indigenous Peoples and Asian/Korean Immigrant Relations in Canada; Feminist Art and Media Activism; Queer Masculinities and Performance

Gabrielle Legault | Assistant Professor | Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Indigenous Knowledges, Indigenous Studies | gabrielle.legault@ubc.ca | LM4 628

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Métis in British Columbia; Métis history, identity and nationalism; Indigenous Identity and Representation; Place Identity; Decolonization; Inter-Indigenous Relations and Treaties; Critical Indigenous Studies; Indigenous geographies.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Enhanced Heat Transfer; Multiphase Flows; Electronics Cooling; Waste Heat Recovery; Aerosol (Airborne) Transmission

Eric Li, PhD | Associate Dean, Professor | Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Faculty of Management, Institute for Community Engaged Research (ICER), Institute for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention (IHLCDP), Interdisciplinary Co-op Education, Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies (IGS), Sustainability (IGS), Survive and Thrive Applied Research (STAR), Sustainability | eric.li@ubc.ca | 250.807.8853 | EME 4135

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Consumer culture; Social Innovation and social enterprise, Healthy living and well-being; Food consumption and food security; Digital economy, Internet of Things (IoT) and Internet of People (IoP); Digital marketing and consumption, Ethical consumerism and prosocial behaviour, Corporate philanthropy, Circular and sustainable Fashion.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Single-molecule biophysics; programmable molecular devices and biosensors; cancer and immune cell biology; cell mechanics and mechanobiology.

Graduate student supervisor. Considering graduate students (both streams ) for Sept 2027 intake.

Research Interests: Clinical cognitive neuroscience; stroke; body image; hemispatial neglect; traumatic brain injury; neuropsychological assessment; cognitive bias; eating disorders; bilingualism; eye-tracking.

Jonathan Little | Professor | Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, Faculty of Health and Social Development, School of Health and Exercise Sciences | jonathan.little@ubc.ca | 250.807.9876

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Little's research is focused on understanding how the metabolic disruptions that characterize type 2 diabetes affect cellular inflammation and explore how different exercise and nutritional strategies can be used to reduce inflammation and improve overall cardiometabolic health.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Advanced nanofabrication; Nanomaterials and nanotechnology; Energy storage systems; Next-generation batteries

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Intelligent sensing, measurement, and instrumentation; Diagnostics, prognostics, and health management; Predictive maintenance; Digital twin; Computational intelligence and data/information fusion; Non-destructive testing & Evaluation; Machine/computer vision; Data analytics and machine learning.

Jessica Lougheed | Associate Professor | Psychology | jessica.lougheed@ubc.ca | ART 332

Graduate student supervisor. Not considering Psychology graduate students for September 20276 intake.

Research Interests: Adolescent emotional development; parent-adolescent relationships; interpersonal emotion dynamics; internalizing symptoms; externalizing symptoms.

Marie Loughlin, PhD | Associate Professor | English, English and Cultural Studies, Power, Conflict and Ideas | marie.loughlin@ubc.ca | CCS 340

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: 16th-century poetry and prose; early modern women’s writing; early modern drama; women’s literature; 16th and 17th-century literature; spiritual autobiography; speculative fiction; feminist and queer theory.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: SMARTer Growth; Sustainable community planning & design; Sustainable Transport & Safety; Hydrail powered, zero-emission regional passenger & freight rail; Affordable housing & CoHousing

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Computational mathematics, optimization and convex analysis; modeling; model road design to minimize construction costs under safety and environmental constraints; creating algorithms for computer-aided convex analysis; visualizing operators in 2D, 3D, and 4D.

Lesley Lutes | Professor | Psychology | llutes@mail.ubc.ca | UCH 103A

Graduate student supervisor. Considering Psychology graduate students (both streams) for September 2027 intake.

Research Interests: Clinical Health Psychology; innovative cognitive and behavioural change programs aimed at improving physical and emotional well-being and happiness; Integrated primary care; Weight management

John Lyon | Assistant Professor | Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Indigenous Knowledges, Nsyilxcn Language Fluency (BNLF) | john.lyon@ubc.ca | ART 368B

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Interior Salish Languages; Language Documentation and Revitalization; Salish Linguistics

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Fostering Pedagogical Relationships, Seeing and Acting on Innovation’s Renewing Potential—The Fecundity of Genuine Learning Contexts, Curriculum as Lived in Classrooms, Teacher Education and Professional Development Reform Efforts.

Virginie Magnat, PhD (On Leave) | Professor | Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, English and Cultural Studies, Global Studies, Indigenous Knowledges, Languages and World Literatures | virginie.magnat@ubc.ca | CCS 368

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Performance Studies; Qualitative Research; Arts-Based Inquiry; Indigenous Ethico-Onto-Epistemologies; Collaborative Eco-Cultural Practices for Collective Healing and Renewal; Occitan Language Revitalization and Cultural Resurgence.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Molecular, cellular, biochemical and environmental factors that regulate the quality and quantity of aromas and essential oils produced by herbal and medicinal plants; identification, cloning and characterization of structural and regulatory genes that are involved in the biosynthesis, inter- and intra-cellular trafficking, secretion and storage of monoterpenes in plants cells specialized for secondary metabolite production.

Graduate student supervisor

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Metamaterials; Antennas and Antenna Arrays; Passive Microwave Circuits

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Philosophy of education; educational ethics; the aims of higher education; education for democracy

Chase M Mason | Associate Professor | Biology | chase.mason@ubc.ca | SCI 385

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Plant ecophysiology, plant-biotic interactions, plant secondary metabolism, genome-wide association mapping, functional trait evolution, crop biodiversity, crop-wild relatives, evolutionary ecology.

Fiona McDonald (On Leave) | Assistant Professor | Anthropology, Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Digital Arts and Humanities, Global Studies, Power, Conflict and Ideas | fiona.mcdonald@ubc.ca | ASC 266

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Visual anthropology; anthropology of art; sensory ethnography; material culture; curatorial studies; museum studies; textiles; oral history; contemporary Indigenous art; informal science learning and the environment; anthropocene; water rights; open access and digital publishing; North America & Aotearoa New Zealand.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: McManus's research focuses on the physiological consequences of sedentary behavior in children.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: McNeil's program of research uses an integrative approach to investigate the performance and plasticity (adaptability) of the human neuromuscular system.

Laura A. Meek | Assistant Professor | Anthropology; Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity; Global Studies; Power, Conflict and Ideas | laura.meek@ubc.ca | ART 274B

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Pharmaceuticals and Counterfeit Drugs; Antimicrobial Resistance; Medical and Cultural Anthropology; Critical Global Health; Sensoriums, Embodiment, and the Anthropology of the Body; Feminist, Anti-racist, and Decolonial Science and Technology Studies; Leprosy and Disease Elimination; Critical Disability Studies; Ontological Politics; Dreams; Witchcraft; Tanzania; East Africa; Hong Kong; Fugitivity; Black Studies; African/a Studies; Postcolonial & Anticolonial Theory; Creative Ethnographic Prose

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Chemical biology: use of small molecules to study and manipulate biological systems; design of molecular tools to study the real-time dynamics of cellular events; using organic chemistry, natural products are modified to label proteins involved in cellular signaling; the biology questions studied focus on protein-protein interactions, astrocytes communication, synapse elimination, and neurodegeneration.

Graduate student supervisor. Only considering applications with exceptional academic record.

Research Interests: Textile Composites/Biocomposites; Materials Constitutive Relations; Finite Element Modelling; Robust Inverse Methods; Material Selection for End-of-Life Design Strategies; Multiple Criteria Decision Making; Design and Analysis of Computer & Physical Experiments; Surrogate Models for Process Optimization; Industry 5.0

Harry Miller | Lecturer | Psychology | harry.miller@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor. Not considering Psychology graduate students for September 2027 intake.

Research Interests: Assessment of memory with traumatic brain injury; peripheral vascular disease and cognition; emotional function post stroke; effects of alcohol use on recovery from brain injury.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Operations & Supply Chain Analytics; Blockchain-based Decision Support Systems; Life Cycle Assessment & Circular Economy; Intelligent Systems Design; Strategic Sustainable Development.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Software engineering; decision support systems (model driven and data driven); component-based software development; creative higher education.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Major: Prosthetic Heart Valves! Mechanical Engineering: Linear and Nonlinear Mechanical Vibrations Linear and Nonlinear Finite Element Methods Biomedical Engineering: Cardiovascular Engineering and Technology Atherosclerosis Articular Cartilage Mechanobiology and Osteoarthritis Cellular and Molecular Biomechanics Mechanical Vibrations on Human Performance

Bernard Momer | Associate Professor | Geography, Sustainability (IGS) | bernard.momer@ubc.ca | ART 262

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Urban cultural geography; urban planning; sustainability of cities; morphogenesis; geography of wine; the role of local culture in urban planning and sustainability in mid-size cities; changing landscapes of wine-producing regions in Canada

Susan Murch | Professor | Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Chemistry, Materials and Manufacturing Research Institute (MMRI), Okanagan Institute for Biodiversity, Resilience, and Ecosystems Services (BRAES), Sustainability (IGS) | susan.murch@ubc.ca | 250.807.9566 | FIP 350

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: The Plant Secondary Metabolite Analytical Research Team (PlantSMART) researches chemistry of plants and how plant chemistry affects human health using analytical chemistry, mass spectrometry, biotechnology, metabolomics and hormonomics approaches.

Emily Murphy, PhD | Assistant Professor | Digital Arts and Humanities, Digital Humanities, English, English and Cultural Studies | emily.murphy@ubc.ca | CCS 336

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Multimedia cultural memory; feminist and intersectional digital humanities; critical and creative making; digital pedagogy; twentieth-century literature and culture; high, middlebrow, and popular modernisms; literature of the Spanish Civil War; women’s writing; adaptation and media-specificity; dance, movement, and physical culture; celebrity culture; life writing; comics and graphic novels

Apurva Narayan | Affiliate Professor | Computer Science, Data Science | apurva.narayan@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Artificial intelligence/machine learning with emphasis on explainable AI/ML and quantum machine learning; data mining; data analytics, safety and security of cyber physical systems; software engineering; graph theoretic analysis of complex systems; decision making under uncertainty.

Magali Nehemy | Assistant Professor | Earth and Environmental Sciences | magali.nehemy@ubc.ca | FIP 302

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Ecohydrology; forest hydrology; hydrological connectivity; isotope hydrology; transpiration phenology; community-directed adaptation research

Astrida Neimanis, PhD | Professor | English and Cultural Studies, Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies, Indigenous Knowledges, Sustainability (IGS) | astrida.neimanis@ubc.ca | CCS 370

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Feminist studies (with a focus on embodiment, ecofeminisms, material feminisms and intersectionality), environmental studies (with a focus on cultural studies of water, weather and climate change, and multispecies justice), everyday militarisms, interdisciplinarity, epistemologies and non-traditional research methodologies.

Sajjad Nejatie | Assistant Professor | Global Studies, History, Power, Conflict and Ideas | sajjad.nejatie@ubc.ca | ART 263

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Islam in Asia; The Persianate World; Historiography; Narrative Theory; Migration; Tribalism; Ethnic Identity; Empire and State Formation and Nationalism.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Plant-microbe interactions; soil health; plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria; biological control; postharvest fungal pathogens; orchard replant disease; nitrogen cycling; nitrification; denitrification.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Hydrogeology and vadose zone processes; regional groundwater resources; surface water and groundwater interactions; agricultural irrigation efficiency and nitrate leaching; agricultural greenhouse gas production; acid rock drainage and mine reclamation; soil physics. Geoscience education.

Graduate student supervisor. Considering Psychology graduate students (both streams) for September 2027 intake.

Research Interests: Bilingual first language learning; second language learning; gestures

Michael J Noonan | Assistant Professor | Biology, Sustainability (IGS), Statistics | michael.noonan@ubc.ca | SCI 379

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Animal movement, conservation, encounter theory, evolutionary processes, macro-ecology, and statistical ecology.

Brian O'Connor | Professor | Psychology | brian.oconnor@ubc.ca | ART 330

Graduate student supervisor. Considering graduate students (both streams) for Sept 2027 intake.

Research Interests: Statistics; personality; psychopathology; interpersonal behaviour; especially psychometrics, factor analysis, item response theory, Bayesian methods, dimensional models of personality and psychopathology, and software for statistical procedures.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Wide band gap III-V semiconductors; Disordered semiconductors; Microelectronic circuits

Emmanuel T. Osei | Assistant Professor | Biology | emmanuel.osei@ubc.ca | ASC 366

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Establishing 3D bioartificial and biomimetic models to assess abnormal multicellular and multiorgan interactions in lung diseases and discover therapeutic targets.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Engineering the human microbiome; Advanced statistical methods for analysis of big data (health sciences); Biology of built environment

Ondine Park | Assistant Professor | Power, Conflict and Ideas, Sociology | ondine.park@ubc.ca | ART 307

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Cultural environmental sociology; social and cultural theory; social imaginaries; space and spatialization, time and temporality; aesthetic sociology, cultural representations and practices; urban and suburban studies; sociology of food.

Ilya Parkins | Associate Department Head, Professor | Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies, Power, Conflict and Ideas | ilya.parkins@ubc.ca | ART 258

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Feminist theories, especially epistemologies; history and theory of fashion; theories of modernity and early twentieth-century cultural formations; femininities; Periodical media’

Lael Parrott | Dean, Professor | Biology, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Sustainability (IGS) | lael.parrott@ubc.ca | ASC 448

Graduate student supervisor. Not accepting new students for 2026/2027

Research Interests: Understanding ecosystems and landscapes as complex systems in which human and biophysical processes are coupled across multiple scales of space and time; incorporating complexity into natural resource management approaches; regional-scale landscape modelling; social-ecological networks; agent and individual-based modelling approaches; landscape science and scenario building.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Canadian history; environmental history; economic history; history of capitalism.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Evaluation of drinking water treatment processes; Source water quality assessment; Integrated data analysis and machine learning pertaining to water quality

Nathan Pelletier | Associate Professor | Biology, Sustainability (IGS) | nathan.pelletier@ubc.ca | FIP 340

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Sustainability measurement and management; life cycle thinking; environmental and social life cycle assessment of food, feed and biomass supply chains; resource efficiency; social license and market access; trade-based externalization of environmental and social risk.

Francisco Peña, PhD | Professor | Digital Arts and Humanities, Languages and World Literatures, Power, Conflict and Ideas, World Literatures | francisco.pena@ubc.ca | CCS 163

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Literary Studies, Biblical Studies, Religious Studies, and History of Ideas; literary study of the Bible; influence of the Bible in Medieval and Early Modern Spanish literature; Jewish/Christian relations in Medieval Iberia.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Anthropogenic climate change impact assessment and adaptation; use of climate databases and stochastic weather generators in assessing future climate change; historical and forecasted climate change at Western North American ski resorts; forecasts of future extreme temperature events in the cities of Taiwan; determining the effects of future climate change on stream water quality in Taiwan.

Jason Pither | Associate Professor | Biology | jason.pither@ubc.ca | ASC 367

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Biogeography; landscape ecology; biodiversity conservation; community ecology; paleoecology; biodiversity patterns in space and time.

Katrina Plamondon, PhD | Associate Professor | Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Faculty of Health and Social Development, Indigenous Knowledges, School of Nursing | katrina.plamondon@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor. Learn about our lab and submit an inquiry: https://www.equityscience.ca/contact

Research Interests: Connecting knowledge with action for equity; global public health; equity science; critical pedagogy; methods for relational, responsive research; methodologies include engaged/co-production approaches, dialogic methods, arts-informed approaches, narrative inquiry, critical discourse and policy analysis

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Low-valent main group compounds, catalysis, small molecule activation, conjugated materials.

Sarah Purcell | Assistant Professor, CCDPM | Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, Faculty of Health and Social Development, School of Health and Exercise Sciences, Southern Medical Program | sarah.purcell@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Energy metabolism; dietary energy requirements; body composition; obesity; women’s health.

Matthew Rader, MFA | Associate Professor | Creative Studies, Creative Writing | matthew.rader@ubc.ca | CCS 350

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Poetic Genres and Forms, Poetics of Collaboration, Community engaged poetics, Creative Nonfiction, Short Fiction, Community Engaged Writing, Literary Aesthetics, Literary History, Interdisciplinary Art Practices, Embodied Poetics, Disability Aesthetics.

Rasika Rajapakshe | Adjunct Professor | Computer Science, Medical Physics | rasika.rajapakshe@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Medical imaging; deep learning in medical imaging; web and mobile technologies in health care; health and medical imaging informatics; cancer risk modeling; decision support systems in oncology.

Benjamin Ramirez | Assistant Professor of Teaching | Indigenous Studies | ben.ramirez@ubc.ca | ART 249

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Indigenous Survivance; Decolonization; Indigenous ways of knowing and being; Ojibwe knowledge; Indigenous Gender Identities and settler colonization.

Madeleine Ransom | Associate Professor | Global Studies, Philosophy, Power, Conflict and Ideas | madeleine.ransom@ubc.ca | ART 338

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Philosophy of Perception; Philosophy of Cognitive Science; Philosophy of Technology; Epistemology; Aesthetics.

Margaret Reeves, PhD (On Leave) | Associate Professor | English and Cultural Studies, Power, Conflict and Ideas | margaret.Reeves@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Early modern women’s writing; children’s literary cultures (early modern to contemporary); early modern childhood and youth; Milton and early modern political theory; satiric fiction; women’s literature; Medieval and Renaissance studies; 16th and 17th-century literature; history of the novel; auto/biographical discourse; speculative fiction; feminist and queer theory.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Physiology of epithelial ion transport; insect toxicology; insect-plant interactions; metals toxicology; organic ion transport.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: o Empirical Software Engineering o Mining Software Repositories o Social aspects of Software Engineering o EDI in Software Engineering o Bug prediction and detection o Software maintenance and evolution o Open Source Software o Large Language Models

Charlene Esteban Ronquillo | Assistant Professor | Faculty of Health and Social Development, School of Nursing | charlene.ronquillo@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: health informatics; nursing; health equity; artificial intelligence; implementation science

Samuel Roy-Bois, MFA | Associate Professor | Creative Studies, Visual Arts | samuel.roy-bois@ubc.ca | CCS 166

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Sculpture, installation, photography, performance and the built environment.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Study the effect of concrete deterioration and steel corrosion on the behaviour of concrete structures; Repair and strengthening existing structures using composite materials (FRP, FRCM, TRM); Study post-consumer waste products in concrete

Michael Russello | Professor, Associate Head Graduate Studies | Biology | michael.russello@ubc.ca | FIP 346

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Population genomics; conservation genetics; molecular ecology; life-history evolution.

Adam Saifer | Faculty of Management, Community Engagement, Social Change, and Equity (IGS), Power, Conflict and Ideas (IGS), Institute for Community Engaged Research (ICER) | adam.saifer@ubc.ca | EME 4151

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Critical philanthropy studies; nonprofit and voluntary sector; political economy; social movements; public policy; post-growth organizing.

Christine Schreyer | Professor | Anthropology, Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Digital Arts and Humanities, Indigenous Knowledges | christine.schreyer@ubc.ca | ART 368C

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Linguistic anthropology; First Nations language and culture; land claims and Aboriginal Title; ethnolinguistics, ethnohistory, social memory, oral history, landscape, and traditional land use studies; works with First Nations communities on language issues such as language maintenance and revitalization of endangered languages

Graduate student supervisor. Enrollment of new graduate students is currently on hold.

Research Interests: Stress analysis in metal castings, components, and joints; Solidification, phase evolution and transformation; Lightweight alloy development for automotive and aerospace industries; Phase and structural transformation in metals; Material properties - ferrous and lightweight alloys and metal matrix composites; Ferrous and non-ferrous alloys: casting, heat treatment, and forming technologies; Thermal dynamics, heat transfer in metallurgical engineering.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Mechatronics for automobiles; sensor less control of piezoelectric actuators, machine tool process control; optimisation of carbon nanotube reinforced composite materials

Sumer Seiki, PhD | Associate Professor | Education | sumer.seiki@ubc.ca | EME 3161

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Science education; narrative inquiry; social justice

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: rural resilience, tourism and sustainability, landscapes of wine and food, international experiential education

Shawn Serfas, MFA | Department Head, Associate Professor | Creative Studies, Visual Arts | shawn.serfas@ubc.ca | CCS 153

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Contemporary Painting, Drawing and Printmaking practices; Environmental Sciences; Landscape pictorial conventions and issues bordering Relational Abstraction and Representation; Collaboration and interdisciplinary research methods; Religion; Chaos theory and anti-aesthetic theory

Robert Shave | Professor | Faculty of Health and Social Development, School of Health and Exercise Sciences | rob.shave@ubc.ca | 250.807.9708

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Shave's work examines the acute and chronic effects of exercise and/or environmental stress upon the heart.

Karis Shearer, PhD | Associate Professor | Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Digital Arts and Humanities, English, English and Cultural Studies | karis.shearer@ubc.ca | CCS 162

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Modern and contemporary Canadian and American poetry; literary audio; literary archives; media studies; feminist theory; sound studies; oral history; digital humanities; editing and publishing; history of higher education, particularly the development of Creative Writing as an academic discipline in Canadian universities.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Computer vision; video and image processing; intelligent cameras; biomedical applications; new algorithms for emerging industrial applications and software design of video surveillance systems.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Urban economics, economic history

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: AI engineers frame problems with networks; statisticians tackle them with statistics. Bridging these paradigms, my research in statistics and data science spans change-point detection, saddlepoint approximations, robust nonparametrics, outlier identification, k-sample problems, and clustering methods.

Paul Shipley | Dean Pro Tem, Associate Professor | Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Chemistry | paul.shipley@ubc.ca | 250.807.8749

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Organic chemistry; natural products biosynthesis; the biochemistry of secondary metabolism; nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry; rational modification of biosynthetic pathways in bacteria to produce novel compounds with the potential to be pharmacologically relevant.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Behaviour of unsaturated clay; Chemical and biological treatment of problematic soils; Underground nuclear waste disposal modeling

Deana Simonetto | Assistant Professor | Power, Conflict and Ideas, Sociology | deana.simonetto@ubc.ca | ART 310

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Gender, Health and Sport, Qualitative Methods, Self and Identity, Symbolic Interaction, Deviance and Social Problems, Social Media.

Onyx Sloan Morgan | Assistant Professor | Community, Culture and Global Studies, Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity, Indigenous Knowledges, Sustainability (IGS) | onyx.sloanmorgan@ubc.ca | ART 368D

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Socio-legal geographies; resource extraction; wild/fireclimate justice; queer geographies; settler colonialism; youth-led research; modern treaties

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Synthesis and reactivity of paramagnetic organometallic chromium compounds of relevance to catalytic carbon-carbon bond forming reactions; single electron transfer reactions and electronic structure effects in synthetic organometallic chemistry.

Megan Smith, PhD (On Leave) | Associate Professor | Creative Studies, Digital Arts and Humanities, Media Studies | megan.smith@ubc.ca | IA1 131

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: New media art, immersive art and storytelling, virtual reality, physical computing, critical design, geo location, visual art, interactive art, climate change, satellites, orbital environment

Michael V Smith, MFA | Professor | Creative Studies, Creative Writing, Digital Arts and Humanities | Michael.V.Smith@ubc.ca | CCS 343

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Poetry (verbatim, concrete, confessional, spoken word), novel, short fiction, creative nonfiction/memoir, experimental short film and videopoems, writing with digital media (ie Twitter, Instagram, video, podcasting, audio installation, YouTube, etc.), with particular focus on queer oral history and memoir, as well as small town and working class stories.

Emily Snyder | Associate Professor | Indigenous Knowledges, Power, Conflict and Ideas, Sociology | emily.snyder@ubc.ca | ART 315

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Socio-legal studies; social inequalities; gender, sexuality, and law; connections between health and law, with a focus on the legal regulation of STBBIs; Indigenous laws and legal issues.

Dixon Sookraj | Associate Professor | Social Work | dixon.sookraj@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Participatory research to promote health and wellbeing Policies and processes of social service delivery systems in responding to the needs and aspirations of marginalized groups, including Indigenous Peoples.

Jessica Stites Mor | Department Head, Professor | History, Power, Conflict and Ideas | jessica.stites-mor@ubc.ca | ART 314

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Transnational solidarity movements; politics and culture of the left; history of cinema.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Computational chemistry of iron-sulphur coordination compounds, clusters, nanoparticles, and mineral surfaces; chemical structure and properties of templated carbon materials; synchrotron spectroscopy of inorganic, bioinorganic, and organometallic complexes.

Graduate student supervisor. Not considering Psychology graduate students for September 2027 intake.

Research Interests: Rural mental health; barriers to accessing mental health services by adults 50 years and older in rural communities; media and mental health-related stigma; role of media in combating stigmatizing attitudes about mental health disorders and suicide.

Margo Tamez | Associate Professor | Indigenous Studies | margo.tamez@ubc.ca | ART 250

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Margo Tamez is a poet, historian, theorist, editor and the author of four poetry collections, including, Raven Eye, and FATHER | GENOCIDE. Her book, Gathering Together, We Decide: Archives of Dispossession, Resistance, and Memory in Ndé Homelands, (Critical Issues in Indigenous Studies, University of Arizona Press), intervenes at the intersection of Indigenous feminist theory, history, militarization, genocide, archives, memory, and Indigenous-led investigations.

Marie Tarrant, RN, MPH, PhD | Provost and Vice-President Academic | Faculty of Health and Social Development, Global Studies, Power, Conflict and Ideas | marie.tarrant@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Maternal and Child Health; Breastfeeding; Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative; Maternal and Childhood Vaccine Uptake; Influenza Vaccine

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Information geometry, topological data analysis, queueing theory and applications in telecommunication systems, random walks in quarter plane and applications in probability modeling.

Edward Taylor | Associate Professor | Social Work | edward.taylor@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Urban and social geography with an emphasis on migration processes; community formation, housing, and neighborhood change; ethnic entrepreneurship and the social structure of Canadian cities; gentrification; racialization in the city; class segregation; urban form.

Leanne ten Brinke | Associate Professor | Psychology | leanne.tenbrinke@ubc.ca | ART 318

Graduate student supervisor. Considering graduate students (both streams) for September 2027 intake.

Research Interests: Deception; lie detection; nonverbal behaviour; psychopathy; power and influence; leadership

Miles Thorogood, PhD | Assistant Professor | Creative Studies, Digital Arts and Humanities, Media Studies, Visual Arts | miles.thorogood@ubc.ca | CCS 363

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Sound design, Soundscape, Spatial audio, Audio signal analysis, Digital audio effects, Machine listening, Adaptive systems, Sound art

Lisa Tobber | Assistant Professor | Civil, Indigenous Knowledges, School of Engineering | lisa.tobber@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Structural engineering; tall buildings; seismic design of precast concrete; disaster-resilient buildings; reinforced concrete buildings; precast concrete buildings

Bryce Traister | Dean | Digital Arts and Humanities, English, Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies | bryce.traister@ubc.ca | CCS 323C

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: American Literature, especially the colonial and antebellum periods; religious studies; American Cultural Studies; science fiction.

Michael Treschow, PhD | Associate Professor | Digital Arts and Humanities, English, English and Cultural Studies | michael.treschow@ubc.ca | CCS 345

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Old English Language and Literature. Paleography and the digital editing of texts. Mystical Theology and suffering. Tolkien.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Algebraic topology; manifold calculus of functors and its applications to spaces of embeddings; homotopy theory; mathematics education.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Mathematical biology and spatial ecology; mathematical models of ecological systems; the development and analysis of mathematical and computational models; cyclic predator-prey populations.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Solar energy conversion; Photovoltaics; Solar fuels; Thin film semiconductors

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Dr. van Donkelaar's research focuses on gaining a better understanding of traumatic brain injury (TBI) due to intimate partner violence. Dr. van Donkelaar is on leave until May 2027 and is not accepting any new graduate students.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Data-driven and learning control; system identification; control of robotics and mechatronic systems; emerging applications in agriculture and health care

Zach Walsh | Professor | Psychology | zachary.walsh@ubc.ca | ASC 206

Graduate student supervisor. Considering Psychology graduate students (both streams) for September 2027 intake.

Research Interests: Cannabis use - medical and non-medical; substance use; hallucinogens; harm reduction; personality disorder; partner violence; aggression; third-stream/mindfulness behavior therapies; drug policy.

Annie Wan, PhD | Associate Professor | Creative Studies, Digital Arts and Humanities, Media Studies | annie.wan@ubc.ca | CCS 174

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Innovating Artistic and Socially Motivated Design through Creative Media by means of Gamification in Digital Heritage Preservation, Museums Archives and Digital Conservation; Employing Creative Media for the Socially Disadvantaged by means of Adopting Extended Realities and Intelligence Technologies for well- being.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Electric Power Systems; High Power Electronics; HVDC and FACTS Systems; Electrical Machines and Drives; Real-time Simulation

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Variational analysis; convex analysis; optimization; classical analysis; optimization applications in signal processing; statistics; communications.

Lingyu Wang | Professor | Computer, School of Engineering | lingyu.wang@ubc.ca

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Cloud security; network functions virtualization (NFV) security; network security; software security; security metrics; privacy Student opportunities: Dr. Wang is looking to recruit MASc and PhD students to work on industry-sponsored cloud/5G security projects. Interested candidates should email Dr. Wang their CV and transcripts.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Eco-hydrological processes in forested watersheds; forest disturbance (e.g., timber harvesting, wildfire) and cumulative hydrological impacts in large watershed; interactions of forest change, climate and water; sustainable forest management, aquatic habitat, carbon budget, and various watershed processes; and a wholistic approach on watershed ecosystem science and management.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Combinatorics; discrete geometry; realization spaces of polytopes and matroids; interaction of problems in combinatorics with applied algebraic geometry and optimization; equiangular lines and combinatorial problems arising from applications to digital communications.

Shawn Wilson | Professor | Community, Culture and Global Studies, Indigenous Studies | shawn.wilson@ubc.ca | ART 252

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Indigenist Methodologies; Social-Emotional Wellbeing; Culture and Health

Graduate student supervisor. Not considering Psychology graduate students for September 2027 intake.

Research Interests: Subjective well-being; happiness; the “good life”; cross-cultural differences in emotion; flourishing & thriving; positive emotions; interventions to increase well-being.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Mechanistic enzymology; structural and functional analysis of cofactor containing proteins.

Michael Woodworth | Professor | Psychology | michael.woodworth@ubc.ca | ASC 205

Graduate student supervisor. Not considering Psychology graduate students for September 2027 intake.

Research Interests: Psychopathy; violent offending; deception detection; computer-mediated communication; assessment and treatment of forensic populations; memory and psychiatric issues primarily within a legal context.

Helen Yanacopulos | Professor | Global Studies, Political Science, Power, Conflict and Ideas | helen.yanacopulos@ubc.ca | LM4 621

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: International Development; civil society and NGOs; strategy and transnational networks; political communication; international norms; anti-slavery; conflict and development, Human Rights.

Kyong Yoon, PhD | Professor | Cultural Studies, Digital Arts and Humanities, English and Cultural Studies, Global Studies | kyong.yoon@ubc.ca | CCS 175

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Digital media, mobile communication, migration, Korean popular culture, and youth culture.

Mike Zajko | Associate Professor | Power, Conflict and Ideas, Sociology | mike.zajko@ubc.ca | ART 308

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Governance; social theory; surveillance; security; AI, algorithms & critical data studies.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Analytical glycobiology: the use of modern instrumental techniques to study carbohydrates, their oligomers (glycans) and their metabolism; developing new methods to investigate carbohydrates; and using chemical and analytical tools to investigate the functions of protein-linked glycans in cells and animals.

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: State of the art sensors focusing on microwave resonators; High-speed and low-power analog circuit design; Analog-to-digital converters for a variety of applications

Graduate student supervisor

Research Interests: Dr. Zhu’s primary research interests include digital marketing, branding, consumer behavior, business analytics, and social networks. She has two streams of research: 1) investigating the impact of technology on consumers and the antecedents and consequences of consumer use of technology (e.g., AI, Metaverse) and 2) examining the effectiveness of different marketing strategies (e.g., digital marketing, business networks) and the importance of branding (e.g., brand extension).

Alum Spotlight Story: Dr. Camille Rosseau

From Fear to Flourish: Tackling Public Speaking Anxiety in Students Through Canine-Assisted Support

Alum Spotlight Story: Dr. Camille Rosseau

From Fear to Flourish: Tackling Public Speaking Anxiety in Students Through Canine-Assisted Support

Students and Alumni

Meet our students

View our list of students and alumni profiles to discover more about our students and their research.

Connect with your peers

Connecting with graduate student colleagues is a key component of the graduate student experience. Follow the IGS Student Society and your Graduate Student Association to learn more about events and points of connection.

Theses and Dissertations

Find all UBC Okanagan student publications on the University’s digital repository for research and teaching materials.
EXPLORE STUDENT PUBLICATIONS

Careers and Outcomes

The interdisciplinary nature of the program will prepare students to continue their academic research in a wide range of fields, or for careers in diverse industries.

Post-secondary institutions
Public service
Private sector
Non-profit and NGOs
Municipal, Provincial, Federal governments

Tuition and Funding

Tuition

For official tuition and fee information, see the academic calendar’s page on standard doctoral degree programs.

Funding Opportunities

Graduate student stipends are funded through a combination of internal and external funding awards, Teaching Assistantships, and Research Assistantships.

Although funding and stipend amounts are not guaranteed, UBC’s Okanagan campus has a number of assistantships available for qualified students. Talk to your potential supervisor about funding opportunities.

Students are expected whenever possible to apply for relevant scholarships and fellowships.

Assistantships

Teaching Assistantships (TA)

Paid TA positions allow graduate students to develop skills in teaching, supervision, facilitation, and student assessment. Teaching assistants may lead seminars, help teach undergraduate courses, or assist in student evaluations and marking. Teaching assistants are mentored by their supervisor and via the Centre for Teaching and Learning.

Research Assistantships (RA)

As paid research assistants, graduate students assist their supervisor or other researchers in conducting high-level research, which often contributes to the student’s thesis. RAs are typically funded by the supervisor’s external grants, contracts, and sometimes, other sources of funding.

SCHOLARSHIPS

UBC Awards

The College of Graduate Studies administers merit-based graduate awards at the Okanagan campus. The College manages a number of award competitions each year and administers payment of all internal awards and selected external awards.

External Awards

All prospective graduate students (Domestic and International) should explore and apply for external awards and fellowships, including awards offered by Canada’s three research councils: CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC.

Graduate scholarships and awards may also be available from foundations, private companies or foreign governments (check with your country’s education authority).

Admission and Applying

Applicants are encouraged to contact potential supervisors before starting their application. Admission to the program requires the support of a faculty supervisor, as well as meeting program-specific criteria for admission requirements.

Admission Requirements

A complete application package will contain:

Online application and application fee
Official transcripts for all post-secondary institutions attended
Statement of Intent endorsed by signature by the proposed supervisor of the applicant, and including the names of at least two other faculty members who agree by signature to participate on the supervisory committee
English language test (for non-native speakers of English)
CV or resumé
Two reference forms or letters

How to Apply

Applying takes time. Students are advised to start the application process two months in advance of the application deadline.

For full consideration, students should submit all application materials by the following deadlines:

Intake	Application Deadline
January*	June 1
May*	October 1
September	January 15

*The first January & May intakes will be in 2028.

Start your application

Global and Close-Knit

At UBC Okanagan, you gain all the benefits of attending a globally ranked, top 3% university while studying in a close-knit learning community.

International Prospective Students Student Life at UBCO

Discover the Okanagan

A diverse natural region with sandy beaches, beautiful lakes, vineyards, orchards and snow-capped mountains, the Okanagan is an inspirational landscape perfect for those seeking leisure or outdoor adventure.

UBC's Okanagan campus borders the dynamic city of Kelowna, a hub of economic development with a population of more than 150,000 people— the fourth fastest-growing population in Canada.

Living in residence Living off campus

Start your application

Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies (IGS)

Individualized Interdisciplinary Studies

Quick Find

Why the Individualized Interdisciplinary Studies option at UBC Okanagan?

Program milestones

Coursework requirements

Teaching democracy: From theory to classroom reality

Teaching democracy: From theory to classroom reality

Research and Supervisors

Supervisors

Alum Spotlight Story: Dr. Camille Rosseau

Alum Spotlight Story: Dr. Camille Rosseau

Students and Alumni

Meet our students

Connect with your peers

Theses and Dissertations

Careers and Outcomes

Tuition and Funding

Tuition

Funding Opportunities

Teaching Assistantships (TA)

Research Assistantships (RA)

SCHOLARSHIPS

UBC Awards

External Awards

Admission and Applying

Admission Requirements

How to Apply

Global and Close-Knit

Discover the Okanagan

Related Programs