Petra Mikulan

The aim of my SSHRC-funded postdoctoral fellowship, supervised by Dr. P. Taylor Webb in the Department of Educational Studies at UBC, is to develop concepts for educational governance and policy that emanate from new modes of knowing life, and specifically, the advancements in neuroscience. The objectives of her research are to a) examine the policy and governance effects of the life sciences on school operation, access, cost, including the profound implications the life sciences portend for teacher preparation and professional development; and b) facilitate new partnerships (e.g., neurologists, geneticists, educators, teacher educators) in order to develop new modes of interdisciplinary research to better understand the augmentations and optimizations of life, genes, and neurological functioning when applied in school settings. This research project will meet the demands of entirely new modes of thought and interdisciplinary research intersecting with humanities, vitalist studies, education policy, and the life and social sciences.