Nikolaus Dean
Doctor of Philosophy in Kinesiology (PhD)
A Sociological Exploration of Adaptive Skateboarding and Skaters with Disabilities
The Faculty of Education at UBC is advancing educational research and understanding in ways that celebrate diversity, equity, and innovation, and welcomes international collaboration in an increasingly borderless world.
For over half a century the Faculty of Education at UBC has served the international education community through leadership in research, service, and advocacy. Our faculty, students, and alumni advance research on learning and teaching; collaborate with Indigenous communities; and solve human problems across the lifespan and in diverse contexts. Our internationally renowned scholars and talented graduate students link educational research to local and global community needs, inform theory, practice and policy, and introduce innovative research methods.
We also prepare professionals for practice in a wide range of education-related fields, from preschool through adulthood. In British Columbia, more than 45% of the province’s elementary teachers, the majority of secondary teachers, and a significant proportion of BC’s special needs and First Nations teachers, counsellors, school administrators, school psychologists, and vocational rehabilitation counsellors, are prepared by the UBC Faculty of Education for their important roles.
Mission
To advance education's role in the well-being of people and communities.
Research Centres
- Centre for Culture, Identity and Education (CCIE)
- Centre for Group Counselling and Trauma (CGCT)
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research and Collaboration in Autism (CIRCA)
- Centre for Sport and Sustainability (CSS)
- Centre for the Study of Teacher Education (CSTE)
- Psychoeducational Research and Training Centre (PRTC)
- Centre for Early Childhood Education & Research (CECER)
Research Facilities
We provide outstanding research facilities for faculty and graduate students that promote leading-edge research. Our Education Library is a specialized resource with access to all of UBC’s research and special collections, including the X̱wi7x̱wa Library with materials produced by Indigenous organizations, tribal councils, schools, researchers and publishers.
The Faculty’s Education Research and Learning Commons at Ponderosa Commons features technology-enhanced teaching and learning spaces and also informal learning spaces. A number of faculty manage their own research labs, situated throughout campus.
Research Highlights
Notable strengths are in literacy, struggling and marginalized youth, Indigenous education and research, transformational curriculum design, social-emotional well-being, autism, kinesiology and exercise physiology, and multidisciplinary research in diversity, health, and digital media.
We are the national leader in the number of education graduate student fellowships received from the Social Sciences and Humanities research council (SSHRC), and are home to 4 Canada Research Chairs and 10 donor-funded research chairs and professorships.
Schools / Departments
Graduate Degree Programs
Research Supervisors in Faculty
or browse the list of faculty members in various academic units. You may click each unit to view faculty members appointed in that unit. View the full faculty member directory for more search and filter options.
| Name | Academic Unit(s) | Research Interests |
|---|---|---|
| Abdi, Ali | Department of Educational Studies | Citizenship and human rights education, International Development Education, Multi-centric Philosophies and Methodologies of Education, postcolonial studies in education, Social and Cultural Foundations of Education |
| Ahenakew, Cash | Department of Educational Studies | Cultural studies, Higher Education, Indigenous Studies, Leadership and Organizations, Post-colonial studies, Race/ethnicity, Research methodologies, Social justice, Sociology of Education |
| Anderson, David | Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy | Cultural Institutions (Museums, Libraries, etc.), Museum Education, Visitor Studies, Informal Learning, Metacognition, Science Education, Long-term Memory, Nostalgia |
| Anderson, Ann | Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy | Math education |
| Anderson, Jim | Department of Language & Literacy Education | Children and youth, cross-cultural education, early childhood, languages and literary education, linguistic minorities education, literacy, sociological issues, writing and reading |
| Andres, Lesley | Department of Educational Studies | Equity, Higher education, International and Comparative Education, International comparative higher education, Life Course research, Lifelong learning, Policy, Research methodologies, Social justice, Sociology of Education, Sociology of Higher Education |
| Asselin, Marlene | Department of Language & Literacy Education | Language Acquisition and Development, International Development, Cultural Institutions (Museums, Libraries, etc.), early literacy, literacy and international development, libraries and education |
| Beauchamp, Mark | School of Kinesiology | Social Determinants of Health, Health Promotion, Quality of Life and Aging, Mental Health and Society, Physical Activity, Health Psychology, Exercise Psychology, Sport Psychology, Group Processes, Leadership, Intervention, Social Cognition, Older Adults, Children |
| Bedi, Robinder | Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology, and Special Education | Educational Counselling, The Contextual Model of Counselling/Psychotherapy / Viewing Psychotherapy as a Cultural Practice, Counselling/psychotherapy in India, Counselling/psychotherapy/mental health with Punjabi/Sikh individuals, Counselling psychology disciplinary and professional issues |
| Belliveau, George | Department of Language & Literacy Education | Theatre, Arts-based research, Drama Education, Research-based Theatre, Interdisciplinary Arts |
| Blouin, Jean-Sebastien | School of Kinesiology | Sensorimotor Integration, Motor System, Robotics and Automation, Trauma / Injuries, Physiology, Sensorimotor physiology, Standing balance, Balance robot, Sensory virtualisation, Computational approaches, Head and neck, Whiplash injuries |
| Borgen, William | Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology, and Special Education | Career Counselling, Career/life transitions, Developmental approaches to counselling, Group counselling |
| Bournot-Trites, Monique | Department of Language & Literacy Education | Bilingualism and Multilingualism, Teaching and Learning Systems, bilingualism, French immersion, Language Assessment, Intercultural communication, reading |
| Boushel, Robert | School of Kinesiology, Department of Family Practice | Kinesiology |
| Bredin, Shannon | School of Kinesiology | human motor learning, expertise and development, physical education, teacher preparation and effectiveness, Human motor behaviour (motor learning, development, and expertise), life span physical activity and health, physical and health literacy, health knowledge, health-related physical fitness, interactive gaming, telehealth, psychomotor markers of performance |
| Bryson, Mary | Department of Language & Literacy Education | technology, media, cultural studies, gender, queer theory, deviance studies, post-colonial pedagogies, Sociology, Women's Studies, Education, media and gender, media and education |
| Buchanan, Marla | Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology, and Special Education | Counsellor Stress, Narrative Inquiry, School Counselling, Traumatic Stress |
| Bundon, Andrea | School of Kinesiology | Social Contexts, disability, sport, Paralympics, sociology, critical disability studies, social media |
| Butler, Deborah | Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology, and Special Education | special education, learning disabilities, inclusive educational practices, intervention research for students with learning disabilities, Collaboration and co-regulation in teachers' professional learning, collaborative professional development models, learning disabilities in adolescence and adulhood, mathematics, metagocnition and self-regulated learning, research methods in educaiton, strategic performanc ein reading, writing |
| Cannon, Joanna | Department of Educational & Counselling Psychology, and Special Education | Special Education and Social Adaptation, Teacher Education, Educational Approaches, Speech and Language Development Disorders, Language Acquisition and Development, Cognition and Language, Literacy Training, Education of Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing, Students who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing with complex language or cognitive needs |
| Carpenter, Mark | School of Kinesiology | neural control of movement, fear of falling, Neural control of movement, postural control, fears of falling, balance disorders, Parkinson's disease |
| Chan, Jennifer | Department of Educational Studies | transnational social movements, international and comparative education, Japanese civil society, Islam in multicultural societies, Adult education, Citizenship and democracy, Gender studies, International and Comparative Education, Multiculturalism, Post-colonial studies |
| Chua, Romeo | School of Kinesiology | Human perceptual-motor control, vision and action, perceptual-motor compatibility, coordination |
| Clark, Penney | Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy | history education, Curriculum Studies Research, History Education and Historical Consciousness, History of Education, Pedagogy, Social Studies Education Research |
| Clarke, Anthony | Department of Curriculum & Pedagogy | Educational practice, Pedagogy, Research Design and Method, Teacher Education Research, Teacher Research |
Pages
Graduate Student Profiles
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Recent Thesis Submissions
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An intellectual biography of Dwayne E. Huebner : biography, curriculum history, and understanding curriculum as theological (Cross-Faculty Inquiry in Education - PHD)
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Reframing leadership in a liquid age (Educational Leadership and Policy - EDD)
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Social network analysis as a progressive tool for learning analytics : a sample of teacher education students’ course interactions with Threadz on the canvas platform (Media and Technology Studies Education - MA)
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Reading the cuts : a novel postman digital visual methodology for examining images of the self on social media (Language and Literacy Education - PHD)
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Men studying to be nurses : an exploration of the lived experience of men in undergraduate nursing education (Counselling Psychology - MA)
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Reflecting on my pedagogy : an accidental story (Educational Leadership and Policy - EDD)
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Message me when you land : tourism and hospitality students' social media relationships with friends, family, and devices (Media and Technology Studies Education - MA)
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"Like an awakening" : transformative learning as identity transformation for men in recovery from addictions (Educational Studies - MA)
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Tertiary mathematics and content connections in the development of mathematical knowledge for teaching (Curriculum Studies - PHD)
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Corazonar with/in María Zambrano : insights into crisis, heart, and hope (Educational Studies - MA)
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Factor structure of the hope-action-inventory in a problematic substance use sample (Counselling Psychology - MA)
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(Re)considering (risky) play in a Canadian early childhood context (Early Childhood Education - MA)
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Through the kaleidoscope : a common worlds attunement to lively child-place relationships (Early Childhood Education - MA)
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First-year medical students’ perceptions of objective structured clinical examinations’ contributions to learning (Cross-Faculty Inquiry in Education - PHD)
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How men envision themselves as men in the future : a grounded theory (Counselling Psychology - MA)
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Configuration conundrum : teachers' beliefs about grade-span configuration and student reading achievement (Educational Studies - MA)
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Non-binary and transmasculine reproduction : stories of conception, pregnancy, and birth (Counselling Psychology - MA)
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Self-validation : sources that Aboriginal university students pursue (Counselling Psychology - PHD)
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A narrative examination of using school-based trauma-informed practices (Counselling Psychology - PHD)
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Measuring the effectiveness of a group-therapeutic model for veterans (Counselling Psychology - PHD)
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Places that speak : diversity and social responsibility in Canadian early childhood education (Educational Studies - PHD)
Doctoral Citations
A doctoral citation summarizes the nature of the independent research, provides a high-level overview of the study, states the significance of the work and says who will benefit from the findings in clear, non-specialized language, so that members of a lay audience will understand it.
| Year | Citation | Program |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Dr. Lemon conducted a narrative examination of school-based trauma-informed practices. This is one of the first Canadian studies to investigate trauma-informed practice implementation from the perspective of school counselling professionals. This research supports the continued development of trauma-informed practices in the education system. | Doctor of Philosophy in Counselling Psychology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Wawrykow's research investigated Aboriginal students' sources of and access to self-worth. She modified an analysis method to fit with Indigenous oral storytelling traditions. Her findings highlight Indigenous ways of healing and fostering self-worth and contribute to culturally sensitive delivery of clinical service and conducting research. | Doctor of Philosophy in Counselling Psychology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Price attends to a Welsh cultural approach to contemplative connection with the living world. As a response to climate change, her writing explores ways of knowing with trees, culture, words, and ancestors. It offers a creative, devotional, and regenerative approach to environmental and contemplative education. | Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Roberson investigated the impact of immigration background on social belonging. Situating the measurement of social belonging in schools within an international comparative context, he shows that immigration background and national multicultural integration policy are valuable explanatory variables in the ecological validity argument. | Doctor of Philosophy in Measurement, Evaluation and Research Methodology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Kitil studied the role that executive functions play in important developmental outcomes. She found that 4th and 5th grade students who had better executive functions earned higher academic grades eight years later. Given its malleability, this research highlights the importance of finding ways to support executive functions at an early age. | Doctor of Philosophy in Human Development, Learning, and Culture (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Kady-Rachid critically examined constructions of people of Arab descent in educational text and talk in secondary schools in British Columbia. Analysis revealed a discourse of othering, barriers to teaching about peoples of Arab descent, and the importance of supporting teachers' efforts to teach in culturally relevant ways. | Doctor of Philosophy in Human Development, Learning, and Culture (PhD) |
| 2020 | Educators make numerous judgments that affect vulnerable people every day, a responsibility for which there is little institutional training or support. Dr. Jensen explores Hannah Arendt's ideas about thinking, willing, and judging, and how these resources inform educational practice, helping educators to make ethical-political judgments. | Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership and Policy (EdD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Fawcett developed a Family-Centred Positive Behaviour Support (FCPBS) approach for families of young children with Down syndrome and behavioural challenges, the first of its kind at the secondary tier. This program was effective in improving the children's behaviour, decreasing parental stress levels, and enriching family quality of life. | Doctor of Philosophy in Special Education (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Diaz-Diaz studied how young children learn about diversity and social responsibility through their relationships with place. Her research demonstrates that uncritical multicultural pedagogies can prevent children from learning about and from Indigenous knowledge. These findings will inform policy and pedagogy development, particularly in BC. | Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Kester explored the treatment of anxiety among students with autism spectrum disorder in a school setting. She evaluated the effectiveness of a school-based cognitive behaviour therapy intervention delivered by educators in schools. Her findings will help to apply clinically-controlled research to real life settings such as schools. | Doctor of Philosophy in Special Education (PhD) |