Fiana Kawane
Doctor of Philosophy in English (PhD)
Research Topic
Toward lyric disunities: Late modern political ecologies of South Asian diasporic poetry, 1970s to 2000s
Kavita Philip
Professor
Research Classification
Research Interests
Colonial and Postcolonial Science and Technology Studies
STS
HCI
History of Science and Technology
Cold War Science
Relevant Thesis-Based Degree Programs
Research Options
I am interested in and conduct interdisciplinary research.
Research Methodology
Archival work, Oral histories, Critical & Comparative Studies in Gender, Race, and Law
Recruitment
Master's students
Doctoral students
Any time / year round
I cannot reply to generic inquiries.
If you are thinking about applying for a Ph.D. program at UBC, you are interested in pursuing research in STS, South Asian studies, Science Fiction studies, Environmental studies, and related areas, and you wish to request my research supervision, please send me an email explaining your background and interest with a 1000 word response to any of my publications that you've read, or talks that you've heard. I recommend using a library database; if you do not have access to a library, you may try google scholar or academia for public access options.
Complete these steps before you reach out to a faculty member!
Check requirements
- Familiarize yourself with program requirements. You want to learn as much as possible from the information available to you before you reach out to a faculty member. Be sure to visit the graduate degree program listing and program-specific websites.
- Check whether the program requires you to seek commitment from a supervisor prior to submitting an application. For some programs this is an essential step while others match successful applicants with faculty members within the first year of study. This is either indicated in the program profile under "Admission Information & Requirements" - "Prepare Application" - "Supervision" or on the program website.
Focus your search
- Identify specific faculty members who are conducting research in your specific area of interest.
- Establish that your research interests align with the faculty member’s research interests.
- Read up on the faculty members in the program and the research being conducted in the department.
- Familiarize yourself with their work, read their recent publications and past theses/dissertations that they supervised. Be certain that their research is indeed what you are hoping to study.
Make a good impression
- Compose an error-free and grammatically correct email addressed to your specifically targeted faculty member, and remember to use their correct titles.
- Do not send non-specific, mass emails to everyone in the department hoping for a match.
- Address the faculty members by name. Your contact should be genuine rather than generic.
- Include a brief outline of your academic background, why you are interested in working with the faculty member, and what experience you could bring to the department. The supervision enquiry form guides you with targeted questions. Ensure to craft compelling answers to these questions.
- Highlight your achievements and why you are a top student. Faculty members receive dozens of requests from prospective students and you may have less than 30 seconds to pique someone’s interest.
- Demonstrate that you are familiar with their research:
- Convey the specific ways you are a good fit for the program.
- Convey the specific ways the program/lab/faculty member is a good fit for the research you are interested in/already conducting.
- Be enthusiastic, but don’t overdo it.
Attend an information session
G+PS regularly provides virtual sessions that focus on admission requirements and procedures and tips how to improve your application.
ADVICE AND INSIGHTS FROM UBC FACULTY ON REACHING OUT TO SUPERVISORS
These videos contain some general advice from faculty across UBC on finding and reaching out to a potential thesis supervisor.
Supervision Enquiry
If you have reviewed some of this faculty member's publications, understand their research interests and have reviewed the admission requirements, you may submit a contact request to this supervisor.
Current Students & Alumni
This is a small sample of students and/or alumni that have been supervised by this researcher. It is not meant as a comprehensive list.
If this is your researcher profile you can log in to the Faculty & Staff portal to update your details and provide recruitment preferences.