UBC Sociology is excited to welcome our incoming cohort of doctoral and master’s students to the department!
We look forward to seeing what new perspectives and research they will bring to our community, with focuses ranging from migration policy to climate resilience to social inequalities.
Gabrielle Abando
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Gabrielle Abando
PhD Student
Gabrielle is joining our PhD cohort this year after completing her MA in sociology at UBC this May. Her research interests broadly the areas of migration, urban and community sociology, and sociological theory. During her masters, Gabrielle studied ethnic community participation through a symbolic interactionist lens. She also completed her Honours BA in sociology at UBC, where she explored the spatial mechanisms of immigrant neighbourhood hubs through a case study of the Joyce-Collingwood neighbourhood, a well-known Filipino hub in Vancouver. Gabrielle is also a member of Dr. Sean Lauer’s Infrastructure and Integration Lab (I’^2 Lab), where she works on projects exploring the intersections between social infrastructure, relationship formation, and immigrant experience.
Supervisor: Sean Lauer
Previous Institution: University of British Columbia
Fun fact about me: Outside of school, I also volunteer at a local bunny rescue.
Naomi Cutler
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Naomi Cutler
PhD Student
Naomi Cutler is an incoming PhD student whose research interests lie at the intersection of climate disasters and geospatial data. She is particularly interested in how maps and other spatial tools can support communities in their decision-making about climate disasters. She completed her MS at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability and her BA in History at Middlebury College. Most recently, she worked as a Research Coordinator at the University of Washington’s Center for Disaster Resilient Communities.
Supervisors: Kathryn McConnell and Ethan Raker
Previous Institution: University of Michigan, Middlebury College
Fun fact about you: I am a tap dancer!
Chih-Hsuan Chang
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Chih-Hsuan Chang
PhD Student
Chih-Hsuan Chang is from Taiwan and has a BA and MA in Sociology at National Taiwan University. She is interested in how migrants’ everyday lives are structured by institutional arrangements and how migrants, in turn, shape governance. Her master’s thesis explores how Southeast Asian migrant workers in Taiwan mobilized their networks with co-national brokers to carve out spaces for negotiation in the job transfer process, as well as how the state and brokers jointly retain obedient workers. Her previous research also examines migrants and their left-behind children, labour migration intermediaries, and cross-national comparisons of guest-worker regimes. At UBC, Chih-Hsuan will continue developing cross-national comparative research aimed at illuminating the conditions that drive divergent migration policy trajectories across North America and East Asia.
Supervisor: Irene Bloemraad
Previous Institution: National Taiwan University
Daichi Larocque
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Daichi Larocque
MA Student
Daichi is joining us from Victoria, where he completed his undergraduate studies with a Bachelor of Arts in Honours sociology and Major psychology at the University of Victoria. He has a particular interest in interdisciplinary perspectives on mental health and well-being, blending approaches from both sociological and psychological research. Throughout his graduate program, he is interested in investigating how social forces influence perceptions of climate anxiety and grief in Canada.
Supervisor: Rima Wilkes
Previous Institution: University of Victoria
Fun fact about me: I have a first-degree black belt in Taekwondo!
Jena Benson
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Jena Benson
MA Student
Jena joins us from Vancouver, where she completed her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and English Literature at the University of British Columbia. As a lifelong dancer, herself, Jena found a unique interest in studying dance through sociological lenses. This research interest led her to examine race, gender, sexuality, artistry, and access to professional and competitive dance spaces. In her graduate studies, Jena looks forward to building upon this research by focusing her attention on Metro Vancouver’s dance landscape and identifying barriers to access.
Supervisor: Qiang Fu
Previous Institution: University of British Columbia
Fun fact about me: I polar plunged in a lake in Whitehorse, Yukon on New Year’s Day in -30°C weather.
Sheena Bennett
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Sheena Bennett
MA Student
Sheena’s research interests include political discourse and urban space as sites of resistance. Specifically, her work examines protest, collective memory, and urban space, as well as the broader dynamics of power and resistance in both historical and contemporary contexts. She is particularly interested in the relationship between protest, memory, and power, with a focus on how resistance is spatially contained and absorbed into hegemonic narratives through processes of spectacle and memorialization.
Supervisor: Catherine Corrigall-Brown
Previous Institution: University of Windsor
Keeley Dalton
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Keeley Dalton
MA Student
Keeley completed her undergraduate degree in sociology with honours at the University of Victoria. Her undergraduate research was on equity and human rights offices at Canadian post-secondary institutions. Her research interests are in policy, institutions, social inequalities and social theory.
Supervisor: Elizabeth Hirsh
Previous Institution: University of Victoria
Fun fact about me: I can do the worm forwards and backwards.
Brie Beaudry
she/her
Brie Beaudry
MA Student
Brie completed her Bachelor of Science in Global Resource Systems specializing in Environment and Climate at the University of British Columbia. Her research focus is on environmental sociology, with interest in collective remembrance, climate justice, and the environmental paradigm.
Supervisors: Andrew Jorgenson and Sean Lauer
Previous Institution: University of British Columbia
Fun fact about me: Brie loves to make her own jewellery out of re-used and thrifted pieces.
Ashlynn Argo
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Ashlynn Argo
MA Student
Ashlynn is a graduate student in the Department of Sociology under the supervision of Dr. Lindsey Richardson. They hold a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Criminal Justice with a minor in Human Rights from the University of Winnipeg. Her research interests lie in community-based harm reduction initiatives, non-carceral approaches to substance use, prison abolition, and housing justice.
Supervisor: Lindsey Richardson
Previous Institution: University of Winnipeg
Love Jonson
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Love Jonson
MA Student
Love Jonson has spent the past decade working as a city planner and policy analyst trying to make sure all people can live and thrive in our cities. Her work has spanned affordability, zoning, and racial equity across housing, transportation, and food systems. Love’s research interests relate to the impact of place and the built environment on social relationships, belonging, culture, and the boundaries of communities. Love received her Bachelor of Urban and Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia.
Supervisor: Nathanael Lauster
Previous Institution: University of Virginia
Fun fact about me: It’s a Greek tradition to name your children after their grandparents. The Greek version of my name is somewhat common, even if its English translation is not!
Sarah Shokry
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Sarah Shokry
PhD Student
Sarah is joining us from Vancouver, where she completed her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Sociology at the University of British Columbia. During her undergraduate studies, she developed a strong interest in questions of identity, migration, and belonging. For her MA research, Sarah is excited to explore how Kuwaiti youth educated in international schools are socialized through educational systems and family discourses into a Western-oriented worldview, and how this shapes their sense of cultural identity both before and after migrating abroad.
Supervisor: Amanda Cheong
Previous Institution: University of British Columbia
Fun fact about me: I lived in Kansas City for 6 months.
Kathleen Boulter
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Kathleen Boulter
MA Student
Kathleen is an MA student in the Department of Sociology at the University of British Columbia, under the supervision of Dr. Andrew Jorgenson. She completed her undergraduate studies in the dual degree program between Sciences Po Paris, focusing on sociology, economics, and the SWANA region. She is interested in using quantitative research methods to better understand the ways in which economic inequality and injustice function on a macro-sociological scale through a political economy framework.
Supervisor: Andrew Jorgenson
Previous Institutions: Sciences Po Paris, University of British Columbia
Fun fact about me: I try to go see one new movie a week!
Yujia Huang
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Yujia Huang
MA Student
Yujia graduated from the University of British Columbia with an honours degree in Sociology and a minor in Data Science. Her research interests include social stratification, social change, and sociological theory. As a grad student, she’s focused on building both her quantitative and qualitative research skills.
Supervisor: Qiang Fu
Previous Institution: University of British Columbia
Fun fact about me: Yujia can have pho four days in a row.
AnnaRose Beckett-Herbert
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AnnaRose Beckett-Herbert
MA Student
AnnaRose completed a joint honours degree in Psychology and Sociology at McGill University. Her research focuses on adolescent mental health and wellbeing, with a specific focus on youth participation in harmful online subcultures. She is particularly interested in using qualitative methods to better understand the social and relational factors that make harmful ideologies and communities appealing to young people.
Supervisor: Seth Abrutyn
Previous Institution: McGill University
Fun fact about me: I bodybuild and do triathlons!
