Among the most critical elements of any doctoral exam, from the perspective of those who coordinate these complexities, is the search for a strong Chair. Yet this search serves as a perennial challenge to the Doctoral Examinations team. We consider ourselves very lucky indeed if we issue fewer than 10 invitations before confirming 1 chair for an upcoming exam. It is not at all unusual in some disciplines to invite 30 or more chairs before some gracious faculty member agrees to help us out.
If you would like to contribute your time and wisdom to UBC’s doctoral exams:
- Please have a look at the list of upcoming exams below and if one interests you, please send us an email to graduate.doctoral@ubc.ca
- Or send us an email detailing the areas that interest you and days/times that you might be generally available and we'll contact you as new exams are scheduled. Again, send an email to graduate.doctoral@ubc.ca
Please bear in mind that the chair cannot be affiliated with the candidate’s graduate program, or a member of the supervisor's department..
Friday, October 9, 2026 12:30 PM - 126, Mathematics Bldg, 1984 Mathematics Rd
Danny Ofek
(Mathematics)
New Lower Bounds on the Essential Dimension of Linear Algebraic Groups
Supervisor(s): Professor Zinovy Reichstein
Friday, October 16, 2026 4:00 PM - Room 203
Siddharth Rout
(Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences)
Leveraging Transport Theory to Advance Machine Learning for Weather Modelling
Supervisor(s): Professor Eldad Haber
Monday, October 19, 2026 10:00 AM - Room 200
Samuel Martin
(Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences)
Spatio-Temporal Progression of Orogenesis and Plateau Development in the Central Andes: A Four-Dimensional View from Basin Analysis and Stable Isotope Paleoaltimetry
Supervisor(s): Professor Joel Edward Saylor
Wednesday, October 21, 2026 12:00 PM - Zoom
Xueru Liu
(Botany)
Identification of Novel Contributors to Plant Immunity Using the camta2/3 sard4 Autoimmune Mutant
Supervisor(s): Professor Xin Li, Professor Yuelin Zhang
Thursday, October 22, 2026 9:30 AM - Room 203
Jiaxin Gu
(Sociology)
From Study to Settlement: Chinese Student-Turned-Migrants and the Uncertain Education-Migration Nexus in Canada
Supervisor(s): Professor Qiang Fu
Monday, October 26, 2026 1:00 PM - Room 200
Vicki Cheng
(Pharmaceutical Sciences)
Mental Health Across the Colorectal Cancer Continuum: Epidemiologic and Patient-Reported Outcomes Research
Supervisor(s): Professor Mary De Vera
Wednesday, October 28, 2026 4:00 PM - Room 203
Mary Cook
(French, Hispanic and Italian Studies)
Iho, Soi, Self: Mā'ohi, French, and British Cultural Identity Negotiation in the Eighteenth-Century Society Islands
Supervisor(s): Professor Farid Laroussi
Tuesday, November 3, 2026 12:30 PM - Room 200
Fleur Damen
(Forestry & Environmental Stewardship)
Managing for Resilience: How Density and Tree Breeding Shape the Climate Response of Coastal Douglas-Fir
Supervisor(s): Professor David Montwe, Professor Nicholas Coops
Friday, November 6, 2026 12:00 PM - 1346, Life Sciences Institute, 2350 Health Sciences Mall
Hans Ghezzi
(Bioinformatics)
Characterizing Species-Specific Ecological Dynamics and Genomic Adaptations to Osmotic Perturbations in the Gut
Supervisor(s): Dr Carolina Tropini
Thursday, November 26, 2026 9:00 AM - Room 200
Woocheol Kim
(Geography)
Post-Developmental Urbanism: Conjunctural Approach to Uneven and Combined Urban and Regional Development in South Korea’s Heavy-Industrial and High-Tech City-Regions
Supervisor(s): Professor James Glassman