Meet our scholars

The PSI Network consists of 347 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. 

Katrina Dunn

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Theatre (PhD)
Real Estate and Theatricality in Vancouver’s Downtown Core

Alexander Held

Germany
Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (PhD)
Essays on Civic Participation and the Quality of Democracy

Tonya Smith

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD)
Lil'wat Food Security and Ecosystem Services

Assadullah Sadiq

Afghanistan
Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD)
Language and Literacy from the Periphery: Understanding the Language and Literacy Practices of Afghan Refugees in Pakistan

Jens Vent-Schmidt

Germany
Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD)
Patient Integrated Development of a New Cell Therapy for Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
Simangele Mabena

Simangele Mabena

South Africa
Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD)
The Team Effort Project: A South African Deaf and Hearing teaching partnership for d/Deaf education
Sharon Provost

Sharon Provost

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD)
A realist evaluation of violence prevention education in BC healthcare
Ketty Anyeko

Ketty Anyeko

Uganda
Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD)
Senses of Justice and Reparations: Women's Decision Making After Wartime Sexual Violence in Northern Uganda

Kelsey Copes-Gerbitz

United States of America
Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD)
Wildfire: Building Socially and Ecologically Resilient Communities in the British Columbia Interior

Kelsey Johnson

United States of America
Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD)
Social and economic geographies of blood plasma donation in the United States
Jose Arias-Bustamente

José Arias-Bustamante

Chile
Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD)
Contested lands and climate change: A case study of adaptation to change in the context of Mapuche People
Harini Rajagopal

Harini Rajagopal

India
Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD)
Valuing ‘multilayeryed lifeworlds’: Working with children and teachers to explore the multimodal communicative practices and identities of young English language learners.
Helina Jolly

Helina Jolly

India
Doctor of Philosophy in Resources, Environment and Sustainability (PhD)
Investigating the perceptions and values of ecosystem functions through gender lens - A socioecological inquiry of Indigenous (Adivasi) communities in Kerala, India

Natalia Balyasnikova

Russian Federation
Doctor of Philosophy in Teaching English as a Second Language (PhD)
Exchanging Stories: A narrative inquiry into the learning experiences of seniors studying English as an additional language
Kaitlyn Jaffe

Kaitlyn Jaffe

United States of America
Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology (PhD)
Experiences of Medical Research Participation among People who use Drugs: An Ethno-epidemiological Approach

Analise Hofmann

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Genome Science and Technology (PhD)
Re-contextualizing interdisciplinary knowledge in biology laboratory courses to improve student learning outcomes.

Heather Palis

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD)
The relationship between illicit stimulant use and treatment outcomes among patients receiving supervised injectable opioid assisted treatment in Vancouver

Tugce Conger

Turkey
Doctor of Philosophy in Resources, Environment and Sustainability (PhD)
Green Infrastructure as a Resilience Building Tool to Reduce Coastal Flooding Risk

Kyle Loewen

United States of America
Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD)
To Market: Experimentation, Labor, and the Re-structuring of Last Mile Logistics

Severn Cullis-Suzuki

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD)
Learning the Ancestral Language of My Children: Charting a Course to Fluency in Xaayda Kil

Celestin Hategeka

Rwanda
Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD)
Improving Access and Quality of Emergency Care for Newborns and Children in Rwanda

Ashli Akins

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD)
Dismantling Voicelessness: Culturally Significant Art as a Tool to Deconstruct Embedded Racism, Inequity, and Poverty

Laura Yvonne Bulk

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD)
Being Blind in a Sighted World

Maggie Low

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Resources, Environment and Sustainability (PhD)
Indigenous Rights and Environmental Governance: Implications of the Reconciliation Protocol Agreement for Heiltsuk Nation

Lily Ivanova

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology (PhD)
Institutionalizing empathy: The Role of Culture in the Representation and Interpretation of Genocide

Evan Taylor

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Language and Literacy Education (PhD)
Doing Cancer While Trans*: Biopolitical Intersections of Gendered Embodiment and Cancer Regimes

Francois Lachapelle

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology (PhD)
Two Case-Studies in the Sociology of Global Scientific Field

Chantelle Recsky

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing (PhD)
Developing a Taxonomy of Technology-Mediated Adverse Events

Mollie Chapman

United States of America
Doctor of Philosophy in Resources, Environment and Sustainability (PhD)
Agr-'culture' and Biodiversity: Rethinking Payments for Ecosystem Services in Light of Agrarian Values

Laura Melissa Guzman

Colombia
Doctor of Philosophy in Zoology (PhD)
Improving R Instruction in Undergraduate Statistics Courses Using Educational Theories

Takuro Ishikawa

Colombia
Doctor of Philosophy in Experimental Medicine (PhD)
Communicating the Safety Benefit of Booster Seats

Aarthi Gobinath

United States of America
Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD)
Comparing Pharmacological and Non-Pharmacological Antidepressants in a Rat Model of Postpartum Stress

Gregory Gan

Russian Federation
Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD)
The World in A Suitcase: Experience of Place amongst Transnational Migrants of Russian Émigrés to France, Germany and the
 United States

Steve Williams

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Resources, Environment and Sustainability (PhD)
The Splash and the Ripples: Evaluating the Societal Effects of Social Innovation Lab Processes

Stephanie Glegg

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Rehabilitation Sciences (PhD)
Using Social Network Analysis to Advance Knowledge Translation in Pediatric Rehabilitation

Emily Jessica Rugel

United States of America
Doctor of Philosophy in Population and Public Health (PhD)
Defining Equitable Access to Natural Space as a Mental Health-Promoting Urban Resource

Jaime Semchuk

Canada
Multiple Stakeholder Perspectives on School-Based Mental Health Literacy Interventions: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA)

Graham McDowell

United States of America
Doctor of Philosophy in Resources, Environment and Sustainability (PhD)
Socio-Ecological Adaptation to Hydrological Change in High Mountains

Bulmaro Valdés Benavides

Mexico
Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering (PhD)
Reducing Compensatory Movements in Stroke Therapy through the Use of Robotic Devices and Augmented Feedback

Jocelyn Fraser

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Mining Engineering (PhD)
From Social Risk to Shared Purpose: Can the Mining Sector Transform Social Responsibility

Sereana Naepi

New Zealand
Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies (PhD)
Nai tavi ni na marama ena matavuvale: How Indigenous Women Agitate for Change in Higher Education

Jamie Fenneman

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Botany (PhD)
A Taxonomic Revision of the Sunflower Family (Asteraceae) in British Columbia

Hassan Halawa

Egypt
Doctor of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer Engineering (PhD)
Artemis: Defending Against Automated Large-Scale Cyber Intrusions by Focusing on the Vulnerable Population

Yemi Adeyeye

Nigeria
Doctor of Philosophy in Forestry (PhD)
The Politics of Knowledge in Multi-Level Forest Governance: Perceptions, Roles and Contested Narratives of Knowledge across Scales

Sarah Fessenden

United States of America
Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD)
"We just Wanna Warm some Bellies": Food Not Bombs, Anarchism, and Recycling Wasted Food for Protest

Emma Feltes

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD)
The Constitution Express and the Making of Indigenous Rights in Canada

Claire Fogal

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in Theatre (PhD)
Western Canadian Evolutions of Decroux and Grotowski in Theatre Pedagogy, Practice and Performance

Teilhard Paradela

Canada
Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD)
Audiences Exposed: Communication and Discipline in the Philippines in the late 20th Century

Pages