Defences held in person have locations listed with the date below. Zoom information for virtual exams is not listed; if you are interested in attending one of these defences, please contact the candidate's department or graduate.doctoral@ubc.ca. Zoom links are available one week prior to the defence.
Monday, 28 July 2025 - 10:30am - 969, Henry Angus Building, 2053 Main Mall
Dongliang Lu
Department: Sauder School of Business
Essays in Corporate Governance and Financial Institutions
Monday, 28 July 2025 - 12:30pm - D317, Chemistry Bldg, 2036 Main Mall
Qingyuan Bian
Department: Chemistry
Engineering Protein-Based Functional Materials
Monday, 28 July 2025 - 12:30pm - 203, Mathematics Bldg, 1984 Mathematics Rd
Katharine Faulkner
Department: Mathematics
Mathematical Models for a Mechanistic Understanding of Type 2 Diabetes Development
Monday, 28 July 2025 - 1:00pm - Zoom
Yupei Ma
Department: Vancouver School of Economics
Essays in Applied Microeconomics
Monday, 28 July 2025 - 1:30pm - 1330, Life Sciences Institute, 2350 Health Sciences Mall
John Kim
Department: Cell & Developmental Biology
Consequences and Repair of Mitochondrial Protein Import Defects in Mammals
Monday, 28 July 2025 - 1:30pm - Dorothy Lam Boardroom, BC Cancer Research Institute, 675 West 10th Avenue
MONA ORANGI
Department: Oncology
The Role of Innate Lymphoid Cells in Steatohepatitis and Liver Fibrosis
Tuesday, 29 July 2025 - 9:00am - Room 203
Baohui Jia
Department: Civil Engineering
Membrane Ageing in Drinking Water Treatment: Assessing the Impact of Natural Organic Matter Foulants and Hypochlorite Interactions
Tuesday, 29 July 2025 - 9:00am - Zoom
Hong Sik Kim
Department: Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries
Economic Impacts of Ocean Deoxygenation on Marine Fisheries and Ecosystems
Tuesday, 29 July 2025 - 12:30pm - Room 200
Xia Sun
Department: Forestry
Synthesis and Applications of Dialcohol Nanocellulose
Tuesday, 29 July 2025 - 1:00pm - Zoom
Kate Wahl
Department: Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Advancing Knowledge Translation in the Context of Abortion Policy and Practice in Canada
Tuesday, 29 July 2025 - 3:00pm - X836, ICICS, 2366 Main Mall
Shih Han Chou
Department: Computer Science
Vision and Language: Representation Learning, Commonsense Reasoning, and Consistency
Tuesday, 29 July 2025 - 4:00pm - 2071, Civil and Mechanical Engineering, 6250 Applied Science Lane
Xinglong Huang
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Development and Applications of Light Field Microscopy Systems for On-Chip 3D Characterization of Dynamic Samples in Microfluidic Platforms
Wednesday, 30 July 2025 - 9:00am - D213, Chemistry Bldg, 2036 Main Mall
Paul Heine
Department: Chemistry
The Atmospheric Fate of Volatile Organic Selenium Measured by Online Proton-Transfer-Reaction Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry
Wednesday, 30 July 2025 - 9:00am - Zoom
Shayan Jannati
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Quantitative Analysis of Cell Mechanics with a Focus on Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CMs)
Wednesday, 30 July 2025 - 10:00am - Zoom
Eva Crowson
Department: Educational Studies
The British Empire's Ruins in Higher Education
Wednesday, 30 July 2025 - 12:30pm - Room 203
Robert Shilton
Department: Civil Engineering
Sprayable Geopolymer for Underground Wastewater Infrastructure
Wednesday, 30 July 2025 - 1:00pm - 2101, Douglas T. Kenny Building, 2136 West Mall
Matthew Billet
Department: Psychology
Antecedents and Outcomes of Spiritual Connections to Nature
Wednesday, 30 July 2025 - 3:00pm - 3113, BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, 950 West 28th Avenue
Junran Yan
Department: Cell & Developmental Biology
Eukaryotic Elongation Factor 2 EFK-1/eEF2K Promotes Starvation Resistance in Caenorhabditis elegans
Thursday, 31 July 2025 - 9:00am - Room 200
Ka-Ming Tong
Department: Chemistry
Photophysics of Rhenium(I) and Platinum (II) Complexes with Sulfur-Bridged of Flexible Lewis Pair Ligands
Thursday, 31 July 2025 - 12:30pm - 1312, Life Sciences Institute, 2350 Health Sciences Mall
Kevin Jeffers
Department: Medical Genetics
Characterization of the Yeast VPS13 VAB Domain in Regard to its Regulation of PxP Adaptor Recruitment and VPS13 Function
Thursday, 31 July 2025 - 12:30pm - Room 200
Natalie Westwood
Department: Zoology
Exploring the Intricacies of Systems: From Treeholes to Teaching
Thursday, 31 July 2025 - 12:30pm - 1617, Forest Sciences Centre, 2424 Main Mall
Ramon Melser
Department: Forestry
Enhanced Assessment of Boreal Vegetation Productivity Using Integrated Satellite-Derived Datasets and Analysis Approaches
Thursday, 31 July 2025 - 1:00pm - E404, Shaughnessy Bldg, BC Women's Hospital, 4500 Oak st
Yasser Sabr
Department: Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Severe Maternal Morbidity and Maternal Mortality Associated with Pre-existing Medical Conditions in Pregnancy
Thursday, 31 July 2025 - 3:00pm - Zoom
Daniel Jaramillo Calderon
Department: Vancouver School of Economics
Essays on the Economics of Crime and Conflict
Friday, 1 August 2025 - 9:00am - Room 200
Samantha Myers
Department: Rehabilitation Sciences
Understanding Who Engages and Why it Matters: Predictors and Outcomes of Exercise Adherence in Real-World and Remote Cancer Exercise Programs
Tuesday, 5 August 2025 - 10:00am - Zoom
Kanageswari Singara Veloo
Department: Chemical and Biological Engineering
Minimal Thermal Treatment of Cellulosic Biomass to Produce Torrefied Pellets
Tuesday, 5 August 2025 - 11:00am - 3200, Biological Sciences Building, 6270 University Blvd
Siobhan Schenk
Department: Botany
The Bacterial Community of Sugar Kelp (Saccharina Latissima) in Cultivation and under Salinity Stress
Tuesday, 5 August 2025 - 12:30pm - Room 200
Evan Muise
Department: Forestry
Assessing Forest Ecological Integrity and Protected Area Effectiveness in British Columbia with Satellite Remote Sensing
Tuesday, 5 August 2025 - 12:30pm - Room 203
Evgenia Rabinovich
Department: Music
Fostering Flow in Piano Performance through Effective Practice
Tuesday, 5 August 2025 - 4:00pm - Room 203
Zihuan Wang
Department: Electrical & Computer Engineering
Machine Learning Enabled Integrated Sensing and Communication for Next Generation Wireless Networks
Wednesday, 6 August 2025 - 9:00am - Zoom
Brian Watson
Department: Information
Expanding the Margins in the History of Sexuality & Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums & Special Collections (GLAM)
Wednesday, 6 August 2025 - 12:30pm - Room 200
Naomi Graham
Department: Computer Science
Factoring Over Probability Simplices: From Theory to Applications
Thursday, 7 August 2025 - 9:00am - Room 203
Sneha Singh
Department: Pharmaceutical Sciences
Cross-Talk between Somatostatin and Dopamine Receptors: its Role in Neurogenesis and Amyloid Beta-Induced Neurotoxicity
Thursday, 7 August 2025 - 1:00pm - 12th Floor Seminar Room, BC Cancer Research Centre, 675 W 10th Ave
Faeze Keshavarz Rahaghi
Department: Bioinformatics
Application of Machine Learning and Language Models in Health and Biological Sciences
Thursday, 7 August 2025 - 1:00pm - 2202, Civil and Mechanical Engineering Bldg, 6250 Applied Science Ln
Indu Kant Deo
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Physics-Guided Deep Learning for Dynamical Systems: Applications to Fluid Flow and Ocean Acoustics
Friday, 8 August 2025 - 9:00am - 224, Biodiversity Research Centre, 2212 Main Mall
Graeme Keais
Department: Botany
Evolutionary Consequences of Conflict and Competition During the Haploid Phase
Monday, 11 August 2025 - 10:00am - 5505, Fred Kaiser Building, 2332 Main Mall
Eric Cheng
Department: Electrical & Computer Engineering
Development of a Machine Vision Guided Inkjet Platform for Single Cell Isolation Using Real-Time Machine Learning Feedback
Wednesday, 13 August 2025 - 9:00am - Room 200
William Primrose
Department: Chemistry
Development of Glassy Organic Dots for Biological Imaging
Wednesday, 13 August 2025 - 11:00am - Zoom
Mikayla Pachkowski
Department: Psychology
Coping with Suicidal Ideation: A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Examination
Thursday, 14 August 2025 - 9:00am - Room 203
Bruce Musariri
Department: Materials Engineering
Impact of Organic Compounds on Arsenic Toxicity in Arsenopyrite Biooxidation for Pretreatment of Refractory Gold Ore
Thursday, 14 August 2025 - 9:00am - Room 200
Tamara Ukwu
Department: Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice
Protection of Children in Times of Crisis: Evacuation of Children from Children's Home "Ljubica Ivezić" during the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995)
Thursday, 14 August 2025 - 10:00am - 5104, Earth Sciences Building, 2207 Main Mall
Joseph Janssen
Department: Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
Diagnosing Spatiotemporal Catchment Hydrologic Behavior via Causal Inference, Information Theory, and Machine Learning
Thursday, 14 August 2025 - 1:00pm - V2-221, Clinical Support Building, BC Children's Hospital, 932 29th Ave Bikeway
Chau Truong
Department: Cell & Developmental Biology
Delineating the Roles of Integrin α6 in Central Nervous System Involved Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
Monday, 18 August 2025 - 9:00am - Room 200
LEI LI
Department: Chemical and Biological Engineering
Simulation of Hydrogel Mechanics in Biomicrofluidic Applications
Monday, 18 August 2025 - 9:00am - Zoom
Justin Turner
Department: Rehabilitation Sciences
Garden of Resilience: Individual, Clinician, and Indigenous Community Stories of Disruption and Adaptation during the 21st Century
Wednesday, 20 August 2025 - 9:00am - Zoom
Kevin Roberts
Department: Psychology
Improving Psychological Tools for the Investigation of Affective Biases in Perception and Attention
Wednesday, 20 August 2025 - 3:30pm - Zoom
Maram Sakr
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Democratizing Robot Learning: Teaching by Demonstration with Everyday Users in Mind
Wednesday, 20 August 2025 - 4:00pm - Zoom
Jasem Estakhr
Department: Neuroscience
Important Roles of AKAP150-anchored PKA and CaN in Mediating Crosstalk Between LTP and LTD and Consequently LTP/LTD Balance
Thursday, 21 August 2025 - 9:00am - Room 200
Christian Weilbach
Department: Computer Science
Structured Amortized Variational Inference
Thursday, 21 August 2025 - 12:30pm - Room 200
NUHA ALOMAR
Department: Dentistry
Supervision and Autonomy in Periodontics Surgical Education: A Grounded Theory Study at an Academic Institution
Thursday, 21 August 2025 - 2:00pm - 240, West Mall Annex (WMAX), 1933 West Mall
Keisha Maloney
Department: Community and Regional Planning
Rehearsals for Transformation: Learning the Craft of Planning
Friday, 22 August 2025 - 1:00pm - 1346, Life Sciences Institute, 2350 Health Sciences Mall
Abhishek Bedi
Department: Microbiology and Immunology
WAVE 2 and Tpm3.1/3.2: Actin Dynamics, B Cell Biology, and Targeting B-Cell Lymphomas
Monday, 25 August 2025 - 9:00am - Room 200
Jennifer Nagtegaal
Department: French, Hispanic and Italian Studies
Expanded Comics: Multimediality, Performance, and Extra Multimodality under Post-Postmodernism
Tuesday, 26 August 2025 - 9:00am - 2202, Civil and Mechanical Engineering Bldg, 6250 Applied Science Ln
Sifat Kalam
Department: Civil Engineering
Engineering Membrane Wettability for Industrial Wastewater Reclamation
Wednesday, 27 August 2025 - 9:00am - Room 200
Kieran Forde
Department: Curriculum and Pedagogy
Pilgrimage, Reorientation, and Reconciliation: Teacher Inquiry and the Curriculum of the Self
Wednesday, 3 September 2025 - 12:30pm - Room 200
Ning Shen
Department: Statistics
Probabilistic Modeling of High-Throughput Sequencing Data for Enhanced Understanding of DNA Methylation Heterogeneity
Thursday, 4 September 2025 - 10:00am - 1330, Life Sciences Institute, 2350 Health Sciences Mall
Ramin Ebrahim Nakhli
Department: Biomedical Engineering
Characterization of Cellular Interactions in Histopathology Images for Clinical and Biomedical Research using Deep Learning Models
Thursday, 4 September 2025 - 3:00pm - Zoom
Benjamin Hives
Department: Kinesiology
Exploring the Reciprocal Relationship between Stress and Physical Activity
Friday, 5 September 2025 - 1:00pm - Zoom
Xinyuan Zhang
Department: Sauder School of Business
Learning and Decision-Making in Complex Information Environments
Thursday, 11 September 2025 - 12:00pm - Zoom
Jennie Pearson
Department: Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program
Building "Communities of Care" under Sex Work Criminalization and Beyond: Exploring How Mutual Aid Supports the Health, Safety and Wellbeing of Sex Workers in Vancouver, Canada
Friday, 12 September 2025 - 12:30pm - Room 200
Amirhossein Tavakoli
Department: Vancouver School of Economics
Essays on Firms and Workers
Monday, 15 September 2025 - 9:00am - Zoom
Robert Mahikwa
Department: Educational Studies
Mentoring Indigenous Graduate Students into Indigenous Scholars
Friday, 19 September 2025 - 9:00am - Zoom
Elise Chu
Department: Curriculum and Pedagogy
Understanding Curriculum as Play: Transdisciplinarity, Spirituality, and Consciousness
Friday, 10 October 2025 - 9:00am - Room 200
Jill Morris
Department: Curriculum and Pedagogy
A Curriculum of Revelation: Jean-Luc Marion's Saturated Phenomena in the Classroom