UBC Doctoral Student Scholars Contributing to Public Good

SPPH PhD students Lisa Ritland, Ace Chan and Rachel Ramsden are among the 45 new doctoral students for the 2022/23 cohort of Public Scholars. Launched in 2015, UBC’s Public Scholars Initiative (PSI) recognizes doctoral students pursuing their research beyond traditional methods and are working in collaborative ways for the public good.

Lisa Ritland’s project, Intersectoral and placed-based approaches to fostering equity in children’s development, aims to understand how intersectoral early childhood education and care affects children and their families in neighbourhoods facing systemic and social barriers to access. The collaborative research will employ a mixed methods research design informed by a participatory social justice approach and will involve community stakeholders as knowledge partners throughout the process. Learn more about Lisa’s project here.

Ace Chan, who is working on Primary Prevention of Cancer-Causing Substance Use in Gender Minority People in Canada, says “I want to ensure that with PSI funding, communities that have been largely underprioritized and neglected in health research are not only focused on, but that the research involves members of the community as well. The research materials developed with the funding from PSI will be created by the community, for the community.” The project aims to decrease the cancer risk disparities in gender diverse communities through primary prevention. Learn more about Ace’s project here.

Rachel Ramsden’s project is Participatory Planning with Young Children: A Mixed Methods Approach to Planning Outdoor Play Environments. Partnering with local municipalities, child care centres, early childhood educators, children and their families, findings from this research will contribute to the creation of a knowledge mobilization tool that supports local government and community partners to enhance children’s outdoor play through evidence-based child care design and practices. Learn more about Rachel’s project here.

The PSI introduced two new elements for 2022/23: including PhD students from the Okanagan campus in the cohort and adding a climate stream. This year’s public scholars represent nearly every faculty and discipline, showcasing the breadth and depth of research at UBC. Congratulations to the new 2022/23 cohort!

Learn more about PSI and the 2022/23 cohort’s research profiles here.