Research Projects

Canadian Immigration Updates

Review details about the recently announced changes to study and work permits that apply to master’s and doctoral degree students. Read more

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
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

Implementation science

Scale-up of health promoting innovations

Adapting effective health promoting innovations for equity deserving groups

Health equity

Equity in 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

First Nations 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... Read More

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

Moe Jessica Clinical medicine; Substance Use; Addictions; Identifying, characterizing and developing interventions for high risk emergency department patients; Evaluating optimal naloxone dosing in ultra-potent opioid overdoses; Developing approaches to emergency department screening for opioid use disorder; Evaluating buprenorphine/naloxone standard dosing and microdosing interventions; Overdose prevention Any time / year round

Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Emergency Response to the Opioid Overdose Crisis. Objectives: optimizing identification of people at risk for overdose (e.g., emergency department screening) and low-barrier access to harm reduction and life-saving therapies at acute care interfaces. 

Clinical and public health interventions to decrease overdose risk (opioid agonist therapies, monitoring... Read More

Moore Alex Community ecology (except invasive species ecology); Plant-animal interactions; Global change biology; Ecological restoration (except bioremediation); Applied community and ecosystem ecology; impact of predator-prey interactions on the health and functioning of coastal wetland ecosystems; role of cultural values and knowledge in ecosystem restoration conservation; Global change impacts on coastal environments 2024, 2025

Interdisciplinary research on coastal wetland ecology and conservation

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.

Murugan Mathav Probability theory; Metric and fractal geometry; Differential equations and integral equations in pure mathematics; Metric geometry; potential theory; probability theory and analysis; quasiconformal mappings; Relationship between Markov processes and the geometry of the underlying state space; Quasisymmetric Uniformization; Analysis and diffusions on fractals Any time / year round

Analysis and Diffusions on fractals, Quasisymmetric uniformization, heat kernel estimates, Harnack inequalities.

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 metal additive manufacturing processes; modeling and control of solar themal systems; modeling and control of automotive engines; optimization Any time / year round

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 2025

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. 

Nguan Christopher Urology; Computer engineering; Civil engineering, n.e.c.; Biomedical instrumentation (including diagnostics); Medical devices; Artificial tissues engineering; Biomedical robotics; Image guided surgery systems; Applied immunology (including antibody engineering, xenotransplantation and t-cell therapies); Transplantation immunology; kidney transplantation; patient reported outcomes; medical apps for mobile health; machine learning analytics of medical imaging; machine learning analytics of complex medical data outcomes; Robotics; quality in healthcare; environmental impact of healthcare; Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare; planetary health intersection with healthcare Any time / year round

planetary health in healthcare

artificial intelligence in medicine and surgery and imaging

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; Genetically engineered mouse models 2026

Sarcoma fusion oncogene biology, epigenomics and experimental therapeutics;

Cancer biomarker development: in situ multiplex diagnostics, nanoString profiling, immuno-oncology

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

Oberle Eva Public and population health; Other education; Adolescent Mental Health/ Social-Emotional Wellbeing; Positive youth development; Promoting mental health and wellbeing through schools; Risk and resilience; Research with population-level data; Social and emotional learning in schools 2025

Quantitative research using data from the Middle Years Development Instrument and other HELP-surveys. Topics all focus on the development of children and youth and include trajectories of wellbeing over time, associatios between social-emotional competence and academic success, differences in social-emotional and mental wellbeing among population subgroups. Examining aspects of... 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 2024
  • 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/

Ovie Glory Teacher education and professional development of educators; Education systems, n.e.c.; Educational administration, management and leadership; Crisis Management in Schools; Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization; Social Justice Education; Mental Health and Wellness and Education; Teacher Education Research Any time / year round

Projects related to my current research: Crisis management; educational leadership and administration; Black studies; mental health and wellness and education; social justice, teacher preparation, equity, diversity, inclusion and decolonization.

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  studies on person-centered care in addiction and public health. This work is situated under the Person-Centered Care in Addiction and Public Health research program, an exciting and growing body of work that seeks to develop... Read More

Oya Simon Privacy-enhancing technologies; Cybersecurity and privacy technologies; Signal processing for security and privacy; Encryption and cryptography; Mathematical optimization; Privacy; Computer Security; Anonymous communications; Machine learning security and privacy; Searchable encryption; Statistical analysis Any time / year round

Machine learning privacy, searchable encryption, anonymous communication systems, differential privacy

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. 

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.

Paradis Gregory Design and analysis of sytems; Modelling and applications of systems; Production systems engineering; Systems engineering, n.e.c.; Programming in operational research (including linear and nonlinear programming); Combinatorial and network optimization (including programming and metaheuristics); Optimization under uncertainty (including stochastic and robust optimization); Bilevel optimization and game theory; Stochastic models (including queueing and simulation); Decisions and risk analysis; Forest management; Forest Operations; forest estate modelling; carbon budget modelling; Ecosystem services; cumulative effects; Operations Research; industrial engineering; computer science; forest economics; forest sector sustainability; mining sector sustainability Any time / year round, 2025, 2026, 2027

Some recent and ongoing research project titles and synopses listed below, you give potential graduate students, postdocs, collaborators, and research partners an idea of the types of projects we are working on in the FRESH lab. Note that we have a long queue of new (not yet launched) project ideas staged and waiting for the right people and funding to converge—reach out to Dr. Gregory Paradis... Read More

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; Design of healthy, just, and resilient cities through urban nature; Environmental justice; Human Behaviours in public space; Urban planning; urban forestry Any time / year round

1. Access to urban green and blue spaces of varying sizes and forms

  • Research question: How do we connect low-mobility populations (e.g., children, older adults, people with disabilities, low-income people) with diverse urban parks, forests, and waterfronts?
  • Skills/interests needed: multidisciplinary interests (environmental justice, urban design and... Read More
Pavlidis Paul Neurosciences, medical and physiological and health aspects; Engineering and technology; genomics; Bioinformatics; cellular and molecular neuroscience; Genetics; disorders of the nervous system; single-cell genomics; Computational Biology; Gene regulation Any time / year round

Please visit https://pavlab.msl.ubc.ca/research/ for more information on our research.

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

Philbrick Rachel Classical literatures; Latin poetry; Greek poetry; genre; Textual authority and credibility; Intertextuality Any time / year round

I would be glad to work with graduate students who are interested in any literary, linguistic, or metrical aspects of Latin poetry, regardless of author or time period. My aim as an advisor is to help you sharpen your own research interests and to support you in setting and meeting big goals.

Pleiss Geoffrey Statistical theory and modeling; Machine learning; Computational methods in statistics; Spatial statistics; Numerical analysis; Machine Learning; neural networks; Gaussian processes; Bayesian optimization; reliable deep learning 2023, 2024, 2025

See my website for research interests: https://geoffpleiss.com

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

Protopopova Alexandra Other biological sciences; Social structures; rabbit housing; dog training; cultural differences in human-companion animal relationships; Animal behaviour; animal shelter; Animal welfare; community initiatives 2026, 2027

Dog training; feral rabbit housing; vet service deserts.

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

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

Reichstein Zinovy Group theory and generalisations; Algebra; Algebraic groups; algebraic geometry 2024

Pure mathematics.

Renwick Kerry Curriculum, pedagogy and didactics, n.e.c.; Teacher education and professional development of educators; Critical Pedagogy; Educational Policy; Familial Contexts; Health Education; Home Economics; Human and Social Ecology; Public health; teacher education 2026, 2027

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

Reynolds Graham Intellectual property law; Copyright law; property law; Intellectual property and human rights; Intellectual property and climate change; Intellectual property and social justice; Technology and access to justice 2025

Intellectual property and human rights

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; Evolution of developmental systems; Pedodontics; Congenital Anomalies; craniofacial development; chicken embryo limb development; Developmental biology; Embryonic Development; Evo-Devo; Growth Factors; orofacial clefting; reptilian tooth development; Cell signaling 2024, 2025

Rare diseases - validation of disease-causing human variants in animal models

Cleft lip - exploration of the human gene and environmental factors that lead to cleft lip using the chicken embryo model

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

Robinson Wendy Other basic medicine and life sciences; Medical Genetics; Early (prenatal) human development; Placenta; Epigenetics; DNA methylation; Sex differences; Mosaicism 2024

Sex differences at the genetic/epigenetic level in early development.

Developmental origin of extraenbryonic tissues and their epigenetic programming

Congenital Heart Defects and confined placental mosaicism

 

Rodrigues Brian Pharmacology and pharmaceutical sciences (except clinical aspects); Diabetes; Cardiomyopathy; Heart Failure; Energy Metabolism; Cardiovascular metabolism; Endothelial cell - cardiomyocyte crosstalk; Vascular Endothelial Growth factors Any time / year round

The objective of our study is to examine the biology of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) during diabetes. To do this, we will use models of diabetes and various cellular approaches. Given the disturbing news that diabetes is rampant across the globe, and that its incidence will double in Canada by 2016, results from these studies will help in gaining more insight into the mechanism(s) by which cardiac... Read More

Routh Supriya Law (except legal practice and international law); Asian legal studies; Human rights including international human rights; Jurisprudence, legal theory, and critical studies; Labour and employment law including international labour law; law and development; Law and social justice; Law and society Any time / year round

social justice and law, law and development, legal theory, labour and sustainable development, public law

Sadarangani Manish Immunology; Microbiology; Clinical sciences; Antimicrobial resistant bacteria; Bacterial Vaccines; Childhood infections; Epidemiology; Immune System; Vaccine Development; Vaccine immunity; Clinical trials and observational studies Any time / year round

My research encompasses the full breadth of vaccine science via a unique combination of laboratory, clinical and epidemiologic research, integrating an exciting and innovative range of work. This breadth of expertise enables me to respond quickly to changing priorities, exemplified during the COVID-19 pandemic when I tackled diverse knowledge gaps rapidly and produced high quality results to... Read More

Sadatsafavi Mohsen Respiratory diseases; Epidemiology (except nutritional and veterinary epidemiology); Epidemiology; Biostatistics; Respiratory Research Any time / year round

My lab (Respiratory Evaluation Sciences Program - https://resp.core.ubc.ca/) is looking for a brilliant graduate student (MSc or PhD) for exciting projects in predictive analytics and decision modeling.

The project is part of the $2M The Canadian Institutes of Health Research-funded IMPACT study (... Read More

Sakakibara Brodie Clinical medicine; Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy; Gerontology; rehabilitation; Physical Activity; Physical Rehabilitation; Stroke Rehabilitation; Chronic disease self-management and prevention; Telehealth in people with stroke and cardiovascular disease; Complex behavioural intervention development; Clinical trial methodologies; Participatory and patient-oriented research Any time / year round

Chronic disease management

telehealth/rehabilitation

Stroke recovery

Chronic care

Schabas Margaret History and philosophy of economics; Economics and business administration; History and Philosophy of Economics; Philosophy, History and Comparative Studies; science studies; History of Early Modern Philosophy; British Empiricists Any time / year round

History and Philosophy of Economics; Philosophy of Nature; Environmental Philosophy; Early Modern Philosophy; British Nineteenth-Century Philosophy; Science and Technology Studies

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