Research Projects

Faculty Members Recruiting Students

This list shows a selection of faculty members who are currently looking for new graduate students. They may have specified particular projects they wish to fill. Please ensure to review the departmental profile of each faculty member to learn more about their research interests and to ensure a good fit to your intended studies at UBC.

Last namesort descending First name Research Interests Desired start dates: Project areas
Loutzenheiser Lisa Educational Context; Sexuality; Gender Epidemiology; Social Contexts; Teacher Education; Ideology and Social Policy; Epistemology and Methodology; Thought Schools (education); anti-oppressive education; queer studies; curriculum theory; Youth Studies; curriculum policy; qualitative methodologies; ethnography; Gender Studies; social inequality; sexuality education; alternative education; marginalized youth; LGBT2SQ; Race Studies in Education

Marginalized youth;SOGI Policy and Implementation; Queer and poststructural theories[Critical race theory;Gender;Sexuality;Education; Intersectionalities. 

LU JULIET Forest ecology; Economic geography; Environmental sociology; conflicts and governance issues around resource extraction and intensive land use; transnational land investments; promotion of monoculture plantations at the expense of more biodiverse systems; private sector sustainable governance initiatives Any time / year round

I'm especially seeking folks with experience (and language skills) in China, Vietnam, Laos, or Cambodia. I'm also excited to mentor non-native English speakers, non-traditional students broadly defined, and folks committed to fostering diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. See my website (https://julietlu.com) and the Interdisciplinary Biodiversity... Read More

Lynn Francis Diabetes; ß-cell development; ß-cell biology; Human pluripotent stem cells; CRISPR/Cas; transcriptional regulation Any time / year round

Research in the Lynn lab is targeted at understanding the insulin-producing pancreatic β-cell, how it fails during diabetes mellitus and how we can make surrogate cells to cure diabetes. We use a variety of models to study the regulatory pathways important for embryonic β-cell genesis and function. The current focus of research in the lab is understanding how DNA-binding transcription factors... Read More

Macfarlane Allison Research, science and technology policy; science and technology policy; energy policy, regulation; nuclear energy, nuclear waste management Any time / year round

Nuclear waste management and disposal, nuclear energy policy and regulation issues.

MacLean Karon Computer and information sciences; Information Systems; design of user interfaces; haptic interfaces; human-computer interaction; human-robot interaction

Human-robot interaction, user interface design, interactive sensing

Madden John Electrical engineering, computer engineering, and information engineering; Medical and biomedical engineering; artificial muscle; electrochemical devices; electronic skin; Functional and Intelligent Materials; medical devices; smart materials; supercapacitors; wearables Any time / year round

We are developing new wearable technologies for medical, robotic and consumer applications.

Madden Kenneth Geriatrics and gerontology; Exercise interventions; Sedentary Behaviour; Syncope; Falls Prevention; Infodemiology; Machine Learning Any time / year round

Dr. Ken Madden holds the Allan M. McGavin Chair in Geriatric Medicine at the University of British Columbia and the editor-in-chief of the Canadian Geriatrics Journal. His lab has examined the effect of exercise interventions in older adults with Type 2 diabetes, the ability of different forms of exercise to impact arterial stiffness in subjects at high cardiometabolic risk, and the impact of... Read More

Maharaj Anil Pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences, n.e.c.; Pharmacometrics; Pharmacokinetics/Pharmacodynamics; Obstetric and Pediatric Pharmacology Any time / year round

Master’s and PhD Students 

Potential Projects:
•  Assessment of breast milk-drug partitioning
•  Evaluation of the influence of renal replacement therapy on drug pharmacokinetics in children
•  Development of a Bayesian population pharmacokinetic platform for use in clinical practice

 

Manges Amee Health sciences; Immunology; Microbiology; Public and population health; Epidemiology; Molecular epidemiology; Public health

Human microbiome research and molecular epidemiology

Marshall Christopher Warren Cinema studies; Classical Greek and Ancient Rome history; Classical archaeology; Classical linguistics; Film, television and digital media; Religion and religious studies; Literary or Artistic Works Analysis; Performance and Theatrical Productions Any time / year round

I am interested in Greek and Roman poetry and its receptions, and most of my scholarship has focused on ancient theatre. I look at how genre and structure (including metre and other formal elements) can shape a literary work and how it is perceived and understood by its original audience, and by subsequent audiences. My research falls into four broad categories: Greek and Roman Theatre and... Read More

Marshall Hallie Performing arts; Ancient Greek Theatre; Arts and Cultural Traditions; Classics; Contemporary British Theatre; Cultural Industries; History of the Book; Literary or Artistic Work Dissemination or Reception Contexts; Performance and Theatrical Productions; Poetry; Reception Studies; Religion, Culture and Space; Theatre; Tony Harrison

See my areas of research interest.

Marshall Katie Animal physiology, environmental stress; Environmental Change; Marine biodiversity; Population Ecology; invertebrates and temperature adaptation

Population variation in enzyme activity, metabolic rate

Masse Louise Health care administration; Health sciences; Public and population health; Childhood obesity with specific interests in prevention and treatment using lifestyle modification; Films, Membranes and Multiphase Polymers; Health Promotion; Nutrition; Obesity; Physical Activity
  1. Understand how behaviour modification works to change lifestyles behaviours associated with obesity - Randomized control trial
  2. Understand how transitioning from elementary schools to secondary school influence student health behaviours associated with obesity
  3. Understand the influence of the Active Play standards influence licensed childcare centre as well as the... Read More
Mayor Thibault Biochemistry; Genomics; Aging; Cell Biology; Neurodegenerative diseases; Proteasome; Protein Degradation; Protein Folding; Proteomics; Proteostasis; Ubiquitin; Yeast Genetics Any time / year round

The main lab focus is protein quality control and how misfolded proteins are triaged within the cell. In the next years, we want to establish several new projects and here are some examples:
- Identification of protein quality control pathways mediating rare genetic diseases in human.
- Reconstitution of the quality control machinery in vitro to better understand the molecular... Read More

McCormick Kelly Asian history; Visual theory, visual culture and visual literacy; Modern Japan; History of Visual and Material Culture/Photography; History of Technology; History of Gender and Sexuality 2022

Modern Japan; 20th century visual and material culture

McKay Heather Population health interventions; Aging process; Social and biological determinants of aging; Health promotion and disease prevention; Prevention, treatment and support of youth health; Medical, health and life sciences; Knowledge translation and implementation science in health; Health and community services; Aging Process; Public and Population Health Any time / year round

Healthy aging and implementation science

Menkis Richard Canadian history; Historical memory; Jewish history; Holocaust studies 2021

Historical writing, historical memory and identities of Canadian Jews

Canadian responses to the Third Reich and to the Holocaust

 

 

Menzies Charles Social sciences; Indigenous studies; Natural Resource Management; Maritime Anthropology; Western Europe; Ethnographic Film Any time / year round

Indigenous students engaged (and/or interested) in community based research, decolonizing practices, and process that support Indigenous authority and jurisdiction are encouraged to connect with Professor Menzies to discuss potential applications to graduate study.  Other students interested in exploring the relations of power and inequality within contemporary capitalist society and settler... Read More

Mercer Sterett Special education and disability; Educational psychology; curriculum-based measurement; academic intervention; written expression

Development and evaluation of curriculum-based measurement tools in basic academic skill areas. Evaluation of academic interventions for students with learning difficulties.

Miller Bradley Historical studies; British Empire History; Canadian history; Criminal Justice History; International Law and International Relations; legal history; North American History; Political History Any time / year round

Canadian History; North American History; British Empire History; Legal History; Political History; Criminal Justice History; International Law and International Relations

Milloy Michael-John Infectious diseases; Clinical sciences, n.e.c.; Psychosocial, sociocultural and behavioral determinants of health; medical cannabis; overdose; HIV disease; people who use drugs; Substance use disorder

Graduate trainees and post-graduate-level fellows are invited to express their interest in working on two funded studies involving the health of marginalized people who use drugs in Vancouver, Canada:

1. The AIDS Care Cohort to evaluate Exposure to Survival Services (ACCESS): This United States National Institutes of Health-funded open observational prospective cohort... Read More

Milner-Bolotin Marina Curriculum, pedagogy and didactics; Science, technology and engineering curriculum, pedagogy and didactics; Specialized studies in education; Educational Technologies; educational innovation; Educational technology; physics education; STEM education; STEM teacher education; Science and Knowledge; teacher education; Teacher and Student Performance Evaluation; Teaching; Teaching and Learning Systems; Technological Innovations

Physics education, STEM education

Mitchell Tamara Literary or Artistic Work Analysis; Artistic and Literary Theories; Political Ideologies; Contemporary Mexican Literature and Culture; Neoliberalism, Globalization, (Post-)National Politics; Political Philosophy, Critical Theory; Border and Diaspora Studies; Contemporary Central American Literature and Culture; Digital Humanities; Sound Studies Any time / year round

"Noisy Narrative" Latin American Literary Soundscapes" (Digital Humanities, Sound Studies, Literary Analysis)

Unbounded: Latin American Literature in the Age of Technological Globalization (book project)

Moran Patrick French language; Arts, Literature and Subjectivity; History of Major Eras, Great Civilisations or Geographical Corpuses; Popular Cultures Produced and Broadcasted by Media; Arthurian Romance; Cognitive Poetics; Comparative Medieval Literature; Genre Theory; Interactive Fiction; Material Philology; Medieval French Literature; Medieval Narrative Literature; Medievalism; Narrative Theory; Old French; Reader-Response Theory; Science Fiction and Fantasy Any time / year round

Medieval French literature, primarily (but not limited to) narrative literature of the 12th and 13th centuries.

Medievalism in contemporary literature.

Nagamune Ryozo Systems control and automation; Manufacturing engineering; control engineering; data-driven modeling and control; robust and linear parameter-varying control; modeling and control of floating offshore wind turbines and wind farms; modeling and control of COVID-19 outbreak; modeling and control of solar themal systems; control of automotive engines; optimization Any time / year round, 2023, 2024

Floating offshore wind farm control and optimization

Control of an integrated solar thermal system

Modeling and control of metal additive manufacturing processes

Nakamura Fuyubi Social and cultural anthropology; Museum studies (Museology); Visual theory, visual culture and visual literacy; Globalization and culture; Environment, space and place; Anthropology of art; museum studies (working as curator at the Museum of Anthropology at UBC); material and visual culture; Contemporary Japanese calligraphy; Indigenous cultures, especially Ainu; disaster and memory, especially in the context of the Great East Japan Earthquake (3.11).; contemporary Asian art and culture 2024

I am a socio cultural anthropologist, but am not a faculty member in the Department of Anthropology and cannot supervise students in that department. I am a faculty member in the Department of Asian studies and supervise students in the graduate programs in Asian studies. 

Nathan Lisa Other social sciences; Critical studies of technology; Climate Justice; Epistiemic Justice; information policy; values in design; Indigenous Information Initiatives; Collapse | Adaptive Informatics; value sensitive design 2023

climate justice; epistemic justice; information policy; information ethics

Nicolaou Savvakis Radiology, nuclear medicine and medical imaging; Computed Tomography; Artificial Intelligence; Emergency Radiology; Trauma Radiology; Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Any time / year round, 2021

Emergency/Trauma Imaging, Computed Tomography, Machine Learning, Healthcare Applications

Nielsen Torsten Clinical oncology; Pathology (except oral pathology); Biomarker development; Breast Cancer; Cancer Diagnosis and Detection; Cancer of the Musculoskeletal System; Clinical trials; Epigenomics; Experimental Therapeutics; Immuno-oncology; Tissue-based diagnostic technologies; Translational research 2023

Fusion oncogene biology and experimental therapeutics
Cancer biomarker development: immuno-oncology, in situ multiplex diagnostics, NanoString profiling

Nimmon Laura Occupational therapy; Rehabilitation medicine; Qualitative research; Health Professions Education; Chronic Diseases in Elderly; Chronic disease care; Collaborative pratice; End of life care; Families and Caregivers; Family and Care Givers; Health Care Organization; Interdisciplinary team communication; Interpersonal Communication; Palliative Care; Patient centered care; Power and Organization; Teamwork Any time / year round

Negotiation and power dynamics on chronic disease healthcare teams; Team coordination of health literacy for chronic disease patients; Patient centered collaborative practice in chronic disease care.

Nolde Natalia Statistics; Statistics and Probabilities; Applications in finance, insurance, geosciences; Multivariate extreme value theory; Risk assessment Any time / year round

Financial risk analytics
Multivariate extreme value theory

Oberg Gunilla History and philosophy of science (including non-historical philosophy of science); Other earth and related environmental sciences, n.e.c.; Indigenous peoples environmental knowledge; All other social sciences, n.e.c.; Science and knowledge production; Scientific controversies surrounding the evaluation of chemical risk (epistemic and ontological); Indigenous data justice as related to chemicals regulation & management; Social and cultural factors of chemicals regulation & management; Vocabulary, Knowledge, Significance and Thought Building; environmental health; The challenge of teaching science as a process and not a deliverer of irrefutable facts; The role of deliberation in science 2023

The Egesta Lab seeks outstanding graduate student applicants to obtain doctoral or masters degrees under the Resources, Environment and Sustainability (RES) graduate program. Indigenous students are particularly welcome as part of our growing program "Weaving Indigenous world views into existing chemicals management practices" which is... Read More

Ollivier-Gooch Carl Aerodynamics (except hypersonic aerodynamics); Computational fluid mechanics; Algorithm Development for Computational Fluid Dynamics; Applied Aerodynamics; Numerical analysis; Unstructured Mesh Generation; Error and Stability Analysis for Unstructured Mesh Methods; Computer Sciences and Mathematical Tools; Fluid mechanics 2023
  • Simulation of high-lift aerodynamic configurations, including extending my group's existing tools as needed for these problems.
  • Developing tools to identify whether there are unresolved features in a flow.
  • Combine and extend my group's existing tools to produce a complete toolchain for mesh generation for complex aerodynamic configurations.
Ortner Christoph Numerical analysis; Mathematical modelling and simulation; Partial and ordinary differential equations; Computational chemistry; Condensed matter modelling and density functional theory; Numerical modelling and mechanical characterisation; Numerical Analysis & Scientific Computing; Applied Analysis; Multi-scale Modelling and Coarse-graining; Molecular Simulation; Scientific Machine-learning, in particular for applications in multi-scale modelling Any time / year round

http://www.math.ubc.ca/~ortner/

Oser Scott Physical sciences; dark matter; Elementary Particles; neutrinos; particle physics; statistical methods for physics; gravitational wave astronomy; LISA 2023

dark matter, SuperCDMS

Oviedo-Joekes Eugenia Psychosocial, sociocultural and behavioral determinants of health; Substance Use; person-centered care in addiction; injectable opioid agonist treatment; Harm reduction Any time / year round

Under the supervision of Dr. Eugenia Oviedo-Joekes, the student will collaborate with a multidisciplinary team of researchers and health care providers conducting mixed methods studies on person-centered care in addiction and public health; specifically, injectable opioid agonist treatment. This work is situated under the Program of Outcomes Research on Treatment with Injectables for Addiction... Read More

Paat Joseph Mathematical optimization; Programming in operational research (including linear and nonlinear programming); Mixed integer programming; Combinatorial optimization; Polyhedral Geometry; Convex optimization 2021, 2022

Using machine learning techniques to learn heuristics for mixed integer programming.

Extending continuous optimization algorithms to work for mixed integer problems.

Designing strong mixed integer relaxations for generic integer programs. 

Page Brent Pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences (except clinical aspects); Cell Signaling and Cancer; Cancer; Cell signaling; Chemical Biology; Drug development; Drug Discovery, Design and Delivery; Medicinal Chemistry; Target Engagement Any time / year round

Several drug discovery and development projects are available for new and exciting targets involved in cancer cell signaling and metabolism. 

Paltin Judith English language; Literary or Artistic Work Analysis; Artistic and Literary Theories; Artistic and Literary Movements, Schools and Styles; Cultural Theory; Gender and Sexuality Studies; Literature and Mind; Literature and Music; Modernist Studies Any time / year round, 2022

I welcome graduate projects in modernism, understood broadly, twentieth-century Anglophone literatures, postcolonial, cultural, and materialist studies, intersectional work in feminism, gender, race, and sexuality, and media and technology studies.

Park Keun Smart city design and development and related analysis; Landscape studies (except architecture); Urban design and studies; Geographic information system (GIS and GPS) applications; Land transportation systems engineering, n.e.c.; Design of healthy, just, and resilient cities through urban nature; Environmental justice; Human behaviour; Landscape planning; Public health; urban design; urban forestry; Urban planning Any time / year round

1. Effective monitoring of urban parks and forests usage

  • Overall research question: How can we monitor and predict the usage dynamics in urban parks and greenways in a reliable and efficient way?
  • Skills/interests needed: digital technology (sensors, drones, etc.), computer programming (python, R, SQL, etc.), machine learning algorithms, observational... Read More
Pelech Steven Neurological disorders (except neuromuscular diseases); Mechanisms of carcinogenesis; Adaptive immunity; Medical virology; Protein Microarrays; Protein Kinases; Protein Phosphatases; Protein phosphorylation; Cell signalling; Signal transduction; Cell division; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Neurological Disease; Cancer; Immunology Any time / year round

Investigation of protein kinase signalling networks in diverse experimental model systems, including growth factor-treated human cancer cell lines and meiotic maturation of sea star and frog oocytes. Investigations of protein kinase signalling networks in biopsied human tissues from patients with cancer, neurological disorders and diabetes. Development of microarray technology for monitoring... Read More

Price Morgan Health Information Systems; Design; family medicine; eHealth Adoption; eHealth Requirements Engineering; eHealth Ux/UI Design; software engineering; decision support systems; Treatment Adherence; Consumer eHealth; Health System Improvement; primary care; Team-based care Any time / year round

Our lab is based in Victoria and connected to both the Island Medical Program and UVic Computer Science. We have a range of projects including: eHealth related projects connected to community based Electronic Medical record design and assessment of adoption; action research projects with partners related to health system improvement using EMRs in practice; consumer mHealth projects related to... Read More

Puterman Eli Kinesiology; Neurosciences, biological and chemical aspects; Neurosciences, medical and physiological and health aspects; Acute exercise; cellular aging; chronic stress; Exercise interventions; Health Psychology; Physical Activity; Physical literacy; Stress physiology; telomeres Any time / year round

Our Fitness, Aging and Stress Lab at UBC is currently actively engaged in several different laboratory and community studies. In the laboratory, we are examining the impact of different lengths and intensities of exercise on biological and psychological responses to acute stressors. We are also examining the flip side of this - how chronic and acute stress impact biological and psychological... Read More

Quon Bradley Cystic Fibrosis; Epidemiology; Respiratory System; Proteomics; Immune Mediators: Cytokines and Chemokines; biomarker discovery and development; clinical epidemiology; health care economics; medication adherence Any time / year round

Cystic Fibrosis blood biomarker research and development - proteomics and transcriptomics Health outcomes research using the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Registry - clinical epidemiology

Ranger Manon Neurodevelopment; Clinical nursing, secondary (acute care); neurodevelopment; Early-adversity; Biomarkers of early stress exposure; Brain development; pain; Prematurity 2021, 2022

I am conducting novel translational research to advance the health and care of children and their families. Specifically, my long-term goal is to improve the care of infants born preterm (< 37 weeks gestation). To accomplish this, I am leading a research program to address the impact of early stress, such as pain, inflammation, clinical treatments and maternal separation, on the developing... Read More

Rea Christopher Chinese literatures; Asian history; Chinese literature; Cinema; Print culture; translation; Humor Any time / year round

Modern Chinese literature, cinema, cultural history, print culture, translation

Renwick Kerry Curriculum, pedagogy and didactics; Specialized studies in education; Critical Pedagogy; Educational Policy; Familial Contexts; Health Education; Home Economics; Human and Social Ecology; Public health; teacher education

Health Literacy; Food Literacy; Teacher Education: Curriculum Development; Educational Policy

Rhemtulla Jeanine Forestry sciences; Ecology and Quality of the Environment; Ecological Trends; Landscape and Restoration; Environment Management and Protection; Biodiversity and Biocomplexity; Conservation & Poverty Alleviation; Ecosystem services; Landscape ecology & spatial analysis; Reforestation; socio-ecological systems; Temperate & tropical forest & agroforestry systems

Forest restoration in tropical systems

Richman Joy Marion Dentistry and oral health; Cell signaling; chicken embryo limb development; Congenital Anomalies; craniofacial development; Developmental biology; Embryonic Development; Evo-Devo; Growth Factors; orofacial clefting; reptilian tooth development

The role of non-canonical WNT signaling in facial and limb development in the chicken embryo
Rare diseases - validation of disease-causing human variants in animal models
The molecular basis of the ever-renewing reptilian dentition using the gecko model

Rieseberg Loren Bioinformatics; Genomics; Plant biology; adaptation; crops; invasive plants; plant evolutionary biology; speciation; weeds Any time / year round

Adaptation, Speciation, Evolution of Crops and Weeds, Bioinformatics

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