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..
Tuesday, July 7, 2026 2:00 PM - Zoom
Kiana Yazdani
(Experimental Medicine)
Characterizing Opioid Against Therapy Engagement and its Association with Mental Disorders Pharmacotherapy Among People Living with HIV and Co-Occurring Opioid Use and Mental Disorders: A Methodological and Population-Based Assessment
Supervisor(s): Professor Viviane Lima
Wednesday, July 8, 2026 9:00 AM - Room 200
Iwan Townson
(Chemical and Biological Engineering)
The Impact of Clathrate Formation on the Viability of Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Supervisor(s): Professor Peter Englezos, Professor Charles A Haynes
Friday, July 10, 2026 9:00 AM - Room 200
Shuheng Li
(Materials Engineering)
Deformation of Magnesium and Its Alloys Across Temperatures by Spherical Indentation and 3D-EBSD
Supervisor(s): Professor Warren J Poole, Professor Ben Britton
Friday, July 10, 2026 12:30 PM - Room 203
Kiran Marathe
(Zoology)
Phylogenetic Systematics of the Jumping Spider Subtribes Plexippina and Aelurillina
Supervisor(s): Professor Wayne Maddison
Monday, July 13, 2026 9:00 AM - Room 200
Brandon Forys
(Psychology)
What Defines Cognitive Effort? Optimality, Preferences, and Strategies
Supervisor(s): Professor Rebecca Todd, Professor Alan F. Kingstone
Wednesday, July 15, 2026 12:30 PM - Room 203
Nancy Lin
(Social Work)
Accommodating Disability in Mental Health Treatment After Acquired Brain Injury
Supervisor(s): Professor Christiana Bratiotis
Wednesday, July 15, 2026 12:30 PM - 6172, Gateway Health Building, 5955 University Boulevard
Carrie Marie Peters
(Kinesiology)
The Role of Observed Errors in Performing and Learning Motor Skills
Supervisor(s): Professor Nicola Hodges
Monday, July 20, 2026 9:00 AM - Room 200
Liam Irwin
(Forestry & Environmental Stewardship)
Management and Monitoring of Mid-rotation Stands with Tree-level Remote Sensing Approaches
Supervisor(s): Professor Nicholas Coops
Tuesday, July 21, 2026 9:00 AM - Room 203
Simone Maletto
(Mathematics)
An Integral Two Variable p-Adic L-Function for the χ-Twisted Symmetric Square Representation Associated to an Ordinary Modular Form
Supervisor(s): Professor Vinayak Vatsal
Tuesday, July 21, 2026 9:00 AM - Room 200
Jeffrey Proctor
(Pharmaceutical Sciences)
Pharmacokinetic Modeling of Time-Dependent Clearance of Therapeutic Antibodies: Clinical Implications and Physiological Mechanisms
Supervisor(s): Professor Harvey Wong
Friday, July 24, 2026 2:00 PM - 3038, MacLeod Building, 2356 Main Mall
AMITH KHANDAKAR
(Electrical & Computer Engineering)
A Scalable and Privacy-Aware Framework for Connected Vehicle Systems Using Smartphone-Based Multimodal Sensing
Supervisor(s): Professor David Michelson
Wednesday, July 29, 2026 9:00 AM - Room 200
James Maltman
(Forestry & Environmental Stewardship)
Maximizing Co-Benefits from Natural Climate Solutions between Carbon Sequestration and Habitat Restoration for a Threatened Species Using Earth Observation
Supervisor(s): Professor Nicholas Coops
Wednesday, August 5, 2026 4:00 PM - Room 203
Gio Ferson Bautista
(Chemistry)
Chemical Investigation of the Aqueous Extract of Western Redcedar Bark (Thuja plicata Donn)
Supervisor(s): Professor Orlando Rojas
Wednesday, August 12, 2026 11:00 AM - Zoom
Edward Raack
(Medical Genetics)
Pharmacogenomic and Mechanistic Analysis of Genetic Predisposition to L-Asparaginase-Induced Pancreatitis in Pediatric Patients with Cancer
Supervisor(s): Professor Bruce Carleton, Professor Colin Ross
Monday, August 24, 2026 12:30 PM - Room 200
Rama El-khawaldeh
(Chemistry)
Vision-Guided Experimental Control in Self-Driving Labs
Supervisor(s): Professor Jason Hein