Meet our scholars

Apply Public Scholars Award

The PSI Network consists of almost 400 doctoral students and PhDs from across the full range of disciplines at UBC.

Below you can navigate their profiles based on year of scholarship, faculty, theme; read about their research; and watch brief videos of their talks. 

Bri Watson

United States of America
Doctor of Philosophy in Library, Archival and Information Studies (PhD)
Expanding the catalog: renaming and redescribing indigenous, Black, Queer, Disabled and communities of color in Galleries, Libraries, Achieves, Museums, and Special Collections (GLAMS)

Alejandra Botia

Colombia
Doctor of Philosophy in Counselling Psychology (PhD)
The role of peer support in eating disorders recovery

Rapichan Phurisamban

Thailand
Doctor of Philosophy in Resources, Environment and Sustainability (PhD)
Relationalities and River Flows: Toward a Socially-Equitable and Bioculturally-Conscious Environmental Flow Management

Denise Fong

Hong Kong
Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD)
Beyond Museum Walls: Storytelling Pacific Canada through Participatory Curation

Catherine Liao

United Kingdom
Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (PhD)
Burn injury in underserved communities in BC. A Mixed-Methods study

Verónica Relaño-Ecija

Spain
Doctor of Philosophy in Oceans and Fisheries (PhD)
Socio-ecological management in San Antonio Marine Protected Area (MPA), Argentina

Ismália De Sousa

Portugal
Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (PhD)
Towards equitable stroke care: learning from young women's experiences

Louisa-May Khoo

Singapore
Doctor of Philosophy in Planning (PhD)
Ageing in a Neuropolis: The Social Epidemiology of Stress in Late Life among Older Adults in Global-City Singapore

Ryan Stillwagon

United States of America
Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology (PhD)
Queer Rights to the City: Exploring Mechanisms of Urban Food Security in Vancouver and the Underlying Processes that Imperil LGBTQIA2S+ Survival

Alison Ariss

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Art History (PhD)
Salish Weaving in Relation with the Land: The Work of Wrapping Territory and Critiquing Institutions

Max Cohen

United Kingdom
Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD)
Placing the Just Transition in Scotland and New Zealand

Neha Sharma-Mascarenhas

India
Doctor of Philosophy in Resources, Environment and Sustainability (PhD)
Analyzing data and policy outcomes for repair, reuse, and recycling for end-of-life electronics

Rivkah Gardner-Frolick

United States of America
Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering (PhD)
Quantitative evaluation of local air pollution in collaboration with the Strathcona community to inform environmental injustice concerns.

Alberto Campos

Brazil
Doctor of Philosophy in Resources, Environment and Sustainability (PhD)
Rewilding the Brazilian Caatinga.

Evelyn Arriagada

Chile
Doctor of Philosophy in Resources, Environment and Sustainability (PhD)
Islander women mapping water-related problems and solutions

Kennedy Borle

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD)
Investigating the unmet need for clinical genetic services in Canada and identifying strategies to improve equitable access to care

Trevor Goodyear

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (PhD)
Out on the street: A community-based study with homeless 2SLGBTQ+ youth who use drugs

Caitlyn Yates

United States of America
Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD)
Degrees of Visibility: the Journeys of Extra-continental Migrants through the Americas

Kohle Merry

Canada
Master of Physical Therapy and Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (MPTPHD)
Promoting sustainable telerehabilitation: co-development of a novel telerehabilitation system for repetitive strain injuries

Shayda Swann

United States of America
Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Philosophy (MDPhD)
Investigating the role of reproductive hormones in healthy aging for women living with HIV: A community-collaborative cohort study

Callista Ottoni

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD)
Loneliness and social connection: A community-engaged study with older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic using visual and traditional methods

Nick Middeldorp

Netherlands
Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD)
Territories in dispute: repression and protection in Indigenous struggles in Northern Cauca, Colombia

Rena Del Pieve Gobbi

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD)
Mental Health Disability in higher Education: Images of stigma and resilience

Henry John

United Kingdom
Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD)
Mapping the war in the woods

Megha Kalia

India
Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD)
Making Augmented Reality Feasible for Robot Assisted Surgery

Nance Cunningham

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD)
Untold Stories of True Strength: Bringing voices of patients into health professionals' education

Cristina Rubino

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD)
Uncovering unseen links between visual and motor impairment after stroke.

Sarah-Nelle Jackson

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in English (PhD)
Getting (Virtually) Medieval: Live-Streaming as Public Scholarship

Jeffrey Hicks

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD)
Using large-scale administrative data to study the long-term causes and consequences of social assistance use

Amanda Johnson

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD)
Bioplastic from agroforestry waste: end-of-life management

Esteban Morales

Colombia
Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD)
Reimagining violence on social media: promoting critical media literacy and peace education in Colombia

Ine Beljaars

Netherlands
Doctor of Philosophy in Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice (PhD)
Toward a cultural politics of Afro-Latin partner dancing in the Netherlands

Jennifer Murray

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD)
Conducting community-based research to investigate risk factors associated with a high rate of preterm birth in a First Nations community in British Columbia (BC)

Michael Schwan

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics (PhD)
Gitksan Neologism Formation: The Future of Gitksan With Roots in the Past

Jason Winikoff

United States of America
Doctor of Philosophy in Music, Emphasis Ethnomusicology (PhD)
The Music of the Masks: Zambian Luvale Percussion, Makishi, and Timbral Aesthetics

Shota Iwasaki

Japan
Doctor of Philosophy in Asian Studies (PhD)
Fostering Awareness of Marginalized People through Literature: A Case Study of Critical Literary Pedagogy by a Marginalized Instructor

Jelena Todorovic

Serbia
Doctor of Philosophy in Classics (PhD)
Disability Theatre and Roman Comedy

Monica Shank Lauwo

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD)
Stories of lives and literacies: Social class, translanguaging and imagined futures of Tanzanian children

Lara Sarlak

Turkey
Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD)
Infrastructures of the Displaced: a case study of Istanbul

Michelle Hak Hepburn

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD)
Thinking with trees to see the forest: Huayruro trees and deforestation in San Martin, Peru

Sara Press

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in English (PhD)
Diagnosing Disparities: Unsettling the Anglo-Colonial Standards of Health and Normality in Canada and the United States

Matthew Tomkinson

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Theatre (PhD)
Peter Weiss’s Marat/Sade: A Podcast

Pranav Shrestha

Nepal
Doctor of Philosophy in Mechanical Engineering (PhD)
Affordable and portable microscopy for screening sickle cell disease in rural/remote communities

Fiona Beaty

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD)
Marine resilience in the Anthropocene: understanding the adaptive capacity of marine socio-ecological systems to change

Roger Yu-Hsiang Lo

Taiwan
Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics (PhD)
From annotation to assessment: Tools for sign language phonetic and phonological research

Verena Rossa-Roccor

Germany
Doctor of Philosophy in Resources, Environment and Sustainability (PhD)
Academics as activists? Leveraging political knowledge-to-action strategies to improve ecological determinants of health through climate policy

Natalie Payer

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD)
Shining a Light on Energy Injustice: Solar Energy Access and Urban Energy Poverty in the United States

Maya Daurio

United States of America
Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD)
Mapping Against the Grain: An Ethnographic Approach to Digital Language Cartography

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