Nicole Davies
Doctor of Philosophy in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (PhD)
Revitalizing Indigenous agricultural food systems through a community-led restorative research model
Applicants to Master’s and Doctoral degrees are not affected by the recently announced cap on study permits. Review more details
Our researchers are studying everything from climate change and storm water management to the relationship between food, nutrition, diet and health. The research discoveries being made here have the potential to reach across borders for world-wide applications.
We are also sharing what we’ve learned with the next generation of scientists - our students. They come to us with a strong sense of global responsibility, passionate about creating positive and lasting change on issues of importance. We believe that by providing them with the opportunity to learn outside the traditional classroom - taking part in a community-based experiential learning project or studying overseas - we can enhance their education and help them develop to their full potential.
The Faculty of Land and Food Systems offers unique hands-on learning sites for graduate students, in addition to traditional labs where food science, food processing, and nutrition and health research take place.
UBC Farm is 24-hectare site on UBC Vancouver campus, which is a living laboratory that contains agricultural, forest, and transitional landscape areas for interdisciplinary field research. The Centre for Sustainable Food Systems (CSFS) located at UBC Farm is a unique research centre that aims to understand and fundamentally transform local and global food systems towards a more sustainable, food secure future.
The Dairy Education and Research Centre, located a 2-hour drive from UBC Vancouver campus, is an internationally recognized dairy cattle research centre supporting the development and adaptation of new technologies for the dairy industry in British Columbia and beyond. The Centre has a large research herd that can provide sufficient numbers of experimental animals at a given physiological stage to meet most research requirements. These features support a vibrant critical mass of students, postdoctoral fellows, staff, visiting scientists, and faculty. A 10,800 square-foot student residence building opened in September 2015, which allows students and researchers to live on-site at the Agassiz, B.C. research station, and more closely monitor their research projects in dairy cattle welfare, animal reproduction, and resource recovery.
The Wine Research Centre has sites at both UBC Vancouver and UBC Okanagan campuses, with modern and fully equipped laboratories. Researchers in the Wine Research Centre also have access to the outstanding research facilities in the Michael Smith Laboratories (MSL) which is conveniently located adjacent to the Centre. The MSL has established itself as a force in the global biotechnology research community. Research areas include grapes, vineyards, and soils; wine and fermentation; winery performance and sustainability; and wine territory competitiveness.
In the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, our researchers are focused on finding viable solutions to pressing global crises and are known worldwide for their innovation and leadership in areas such as food science, dairy reproduction and animal welfare, sustainable agriculture, and community health and nutrition.
Our researchers have attracted millions of dollars in research funding from sources including Genome Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Michael Smith Scholar, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
Our experts are conducting ground-breaking research in many areas including:
Name | Research Interests |
---|---|
Barichello, Richard | Agricultural economics |
Black, Jennifer | Human nutrition and dietetics; Community Health / Public Health; food banks; food environments; Nutrition; Public health; school food environments; social determinants of health |
Black, Thomas Andrew | Biometeorology; Soil physics; Microclimate modification |
Cardwell, Ryan | |
Carrillo, Juli | Plant-insect interactions; Agroecology; Invasive species; evolution; Ecology; community ecology; Environmental Change; Plant evolution; Population Ecology |
Castellarin, Simone | Enology and viticulture; Horticultural crop growth and development; Crop physiology; Fruit ripening; Secondary metabolism; Environmental stresses; Viticulture |
Cerri, Ronaldo | Animal and dairy sciences; Animal behaviour; Animal developmental and reproductive biology; Animal physiology; Agricultural Machinery and Technology; Animal Production; Animal Reproduction; Biotechnology and Activity monitors; Dairy cattle reproduction; Endocrine Regulation; Endometrium-conceptus cross communication; Estrous cycle physiology in cattle; Inflammation and stress; Production medicine in dairy cattle |
Cohen, Tamara | understanding the interplay between different lifestyle behaviours; how eating behaviours relate to weight management; Obesity |
Cornelis, Jean Thomas | Earth and related environmental sciences; Pedology; Biogeochemistry; Soil-Plant Interactions |
Dee, Derek | Environment and natural resources economics; Food sciences (including food engineering); Natural resource management; Agri-food Transformation Products; aspartic proteases; Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms; Biophysics; Enzymes and Proteins; food chemistry; food proteins; funtional amyloid; meat analogues; Nanomaterials; Nutriceuticals and Functional Foods; prions; protein aggregation; protein engineering; Protein Folding; protein nanofibrils; Proteins; psychrophilic enzymes |
Frommel, Andrea | Animal physiology, environmental stress; Sustainable Aquaculture; climate change; Early development in fish; Alternative feeds in aquaculture; Fish physiology |
Guan, Leluo | Functional Genomics, Animal Microbiome |
Gulati, Sumeet | Agricultural economics; Economics of Human Wildlife Conflict; Economics of Urban Transportation; Effectiveness of Carbon Taxes; Effectiveness of Environmental Policy; International Trade and its Effect on the Environment; Political Economy of Environmental and Trade Policy |
Jessri, Mahsa | Human nutrition and dietetics; Community Health / Public Health; Epidemiology; Nutrition; Health Policies; Lifestyle Determinants and Health; Health Promotion; Health Prevention; Statistics and Probabilities; Preventive Medicine; Artificial Intelligence; Chronic Disease Prevention; clinical epidemiology; Dietary Assessment; Dietary Pattern Modeling; Dietetics; Machine Learning; Nutritional Epidemiology; predictive analytics; Public and Population Health; Simulation |
Jovel Ayala, Eduardo | Ethnobotany, mycology, natural product chemistry and Aboriginal health |
Karakochuk, Crystal Dawn | Human nutrition and dietetics; Nutrition; Global Health and Emerging Diseases; Hematology; Biochemical markers of iron status; Clinical dietetics; Determinants and causes of anemia; Inherited blood disorders (sickle cell, thalassemia, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency); International nutrition; Maternal and child nutrition; Micronutrients (namely iron, folic acid, and zinc); Risk-benefit of micronutrient supplementation |
Kitts, David | Food chemistry and toxicology, cellular and molecular mechanism, oncology |
Knipfer, Thorsten | |
Kontogiorgos, Vasileios | Food colloids, gels, foam and emulsions; Food chemistry (including fermentation); Food rheology, food texture and sensory evaluation; Nutraceuticals, functional foods and bioactive; food chemistry; Physical chemistry of foods; Food colloids; Food emulsions; Food polysaccharides; food proteins |
Krzic, Maja | Soil sciences; Soil health; Soil management; Soil science education |
Lamers, Yvonne | Human nutrition and dietetics; Nutrition; Nutrients; Biological and Biochemical Mechanisms; Breast Feeding and Infant Nutrition; Clinical Chemistry; Maternal and child health; Micronutrients; Newborn Screening; Nutritional Biochemistry; Nutritional Biomarker; Periconceptional folic acid supplementation; Pregnancy; Prenatal Supplements; Toddler Nutrition; Vitamins |
Martens, Tabitha | |
McAusland, Carol | Interactions between globalization and public good provision, impacts of trade liberalization on environmental politics, potential use of trade policy to stem damages from exotic species introductions and biological invasions Environmental impacts of international trade, implications of skilled labor migration for the global provision of public goods |
Measday, Vivien | Chromosome segregation in the budding yeast using molecular biology and genomic tools |
Middleton, Georgia | Public health nutrition policy; Children and families; Parenting and caregiving; Food and eating environments; Food insecurity; Shared eating occasions; Qualitative methodology and methods |
This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems.
Year | Citation | Program |
---|---|---|
2023 | Dr. Zarate-Barrera combines economics and computational methods with large-scale data to understand the effects of environmental stressors on non-health-related outcomes and the causes and consequences of female empowerment in violent contexts. | Doctor of Philosophy in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Madhok conducted his doctoral studies in environmental and development economics. His work documents how economic activity shapes the environment in developing nations, with emphasis on biodiversity loss, air quality, and land use change. His findings inform the design of policies that balance economic growth and environmental conservation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Williams examined the effectiveness of folic acid supplementation in children with sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder. The findings from his clinical trial provide evidence to inform nutritional management and supplementation practices in Canadian children living with this disease | Doctor of Philosophy in Human Nutrition (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Rinaldi examined public discourse and planning processes involving water science and democracy in extractive frontiers in Colombia. She found that narratives are shifting towards a more nuanced understanding of complexity, uncertainty and the role of expert knowledge at the water-energy nexus. | Doctor of Philosophy in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Yan investigated the production of waxy layer on fruit surfaces that protects fruits against environmental stresses such as UV Light and dehydration. Her work revealed the critical roles of wax compounds in improving fruit quality and shelf life. Her work will have significant implications on agriculture and horticulture crop development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Plant Science (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Ravani Cecato studied topics in environmental economics. Her research showed that information dissemination contributes to enforcing environmental regulations. She also showed that migration is an important adaptation strategy to climate change. | Doctor of Philosophy in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Sahar showed how feeding and aggressive behvaiours during the pre-calving period are associated with disease during the post-calving period in diary cattle. Using such behaviours, Dr. Sahar built predictive models that successfully identify cows at high risk of disease before they are sick. | Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Animal Biology (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Cochrane studied natural vs synthetic folate supplementation during pregnancy. Her results showed that maternal folate status can be maintained by using either of the two supplements, but that human milk composition is affected. These findings will inform optimal folate supplementation practices during pregnancy for healthy starts in life. | Doctor of Philosophy in Human Nutrition (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Solis-Becerra examined how indigenous cuisine can serve as an effective tool to achieve local Food sovereignty while preserving regional biocultural diversity. Both are key aspects in the development of sustainable food systems and food security strategies aligned with culturally respectful initiatives. | Doctor of Philosophy in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (PhD) |
2023 | Dr. Ratuski studied approaches to environmental enrichment for mice and rats living in laboratories. She tested the effects of various enrichment strategies on rodent behaviour and emotional states. Her work demonstrates how species-appropriate changes to conventional laboratory housing can promote natural behaviour and improve rodent welfare. | Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Animal Biology (PhD) |