Sustainability Scholars Program

Call for applications:

The Sustainability Scholars Program is an innovative paid internship program. We match UBC graduate students with on- and off-campus sustainability partners to work on applied research projects that advance sustainability across the region.

Are you a UBC graduate student interested in . . .

Solving real-world sustainability questions and challenges?
Getting paid while gaining valuable professional work experience?
Developing applied sustainability skills and knowledge under the guidance of a mentor?
Building a professional network of sustainability practitioners?

Apply to be a UBC Sustainability Scholar this summer and contribute to advancing the environmental, social, and economic sustainability goals of organizations across the region.

For information on available projects, visit our website.

Applications close February 2!

Congratulations to Drs. Mark Carpenter, J. Tim Inglis, and to Eveline Pasman, Bastiaan Bloem, Martin McKeown and Taylor W.Cleworth on their publication

Congratulations to faculty members, Drs. Mark Carpenter and J. Tim Inglis and fellow members of the Origins of Balance Deficits and Falls cluster, Bastiaan Bloem, Martin McKeown and Taylor W.Cleworth on their recent publication: “A Novel MRI Compatible Balance Simulator to Detect Postural Instability in Parkinson’s Disease”, which was recently published in Frontiers in Neurology – the world leading open-access journal in its field.

Postural instability is a debilitating and largely treatment-resistant symptom of Parkinson’s disease (PD). A better understanding of the neural substrates contributing to postural instability could lead to new targets for improved pharmacological and neurosurgical interventions. However, investigating these neural substrates necessitates the use of functional MRI scanners, which are almost exclusively horizontally-based. The team aimed to develop, and validate the use of, an MRI compatible balance simulator to study static and dynamic balance control in PD patients and elderly controls.

Deficits in static and dynamic balance control can be detected in PD patients using a novel MRI compatible balance simulator. This novel technique allows for functional neuroimaging to be combined with balance-relevant tasks, and provides a new means to create insights into the neural substrates contributing to postural instability in PD.

Click here to read more.

Active Kids 2018/2019 Year In Review

Active Kids has completed it’s 2018/2019 Annual Report! It contains more information about who we are, and highlights some of our favorite success stories from Kin students and community partners initiatives that took place during the last full academic year. We invite you to view it on our website

If you would like to get involved and become a coach or volunteer for any of our programs please visit our website at kin.ubc.ca/activekids/hiring or email kimberly.truong@ubc.ca.

Congratulations to Canada West Hall of Fame inductee: Thelma Wright

UBC Kin alum, the 1973 Physical Education and 1974 Education graduate Thelma Wright, was announced Thursday as the 68th Canada West Hall of Fame inductee. She is the first addition of the New Year, as the conference continues its march to 100 inductees during the 2019-20 season.

The only UBC female track athlete to appear in two Olympics, Wright was one of the world’s top middle distance and cross-country runners in the 1970s.

Known as “The Mighty Atom”, Wright competed in both track and cross country at UBC, where she was part of three conference championships and two Canadian championship-winning teams between 1969 and 1974.

Wright represented Canada at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics and won consecutive bronze medals in the 1,500-metre at the 1970 and 1974 Commonwealth Games.

Dr. Eli Puterman speaks about how exercise can reduce stress during the holidays on Global News

UBC School of Kinesiology’s Professor Dr. Eli Puterman explains how our bodies handle stress and how exercise can be used to combat this stress around the holidays.

See the interview in its entirety on Global News.

KIN Senior Orientation Leader: Kirkland Halliday

Hi everyone! My name is Kirkland Halliday, and I am in my 3rd year of Interdisciplinary Kin. I haven’t figured out what I want to do once I graduate, but I’m very interested in anything related to the brain, especially concussions – of which I admittedly have had a few too many. For all those rare moments when I am not in Osborne or Wood, I love to do anything outside: hiking, running, surfing – you name it! I am on the Level 6 Coed Cheerleading Team at UBC, meaning that when I’m not in Osborne working in labs, I am probably still there for cheer practice.

In my opinion, “being a leader” cannot be defined because it means something different to everybody. For me personally, it means being the best person you can be at all times. It means stepping up whenever possible while accepting that people can demonstrate leadership in different ways. I believe that by recognizing different leadership styles we can each grow as leaders. Serving as a Senior Orientation Leader (SrOL) provided me with the opportunity to meet so many new friends in the Kin-munity this past year: these people have changed the way I see leadership, the way I see teamwork, and the way I see myself as well.

I think that the best part about being a SrOL was that it allowed me the opportunity to challenge myself. For example, I have always been a nervous public speaker but the SrOL position allowed me to step outside of my comfort zone and practice that skill. I have become much more confident when I present in front of others. Thanks to my fellow SrOLs and others with whom I worked, I learned to control my nerves and to have faith in my own abilities. Overall, becoming a SrOL was one of the best decisions I’ve made so far in my undergraduate degree, as it was a great way to meet other leaders, work on my goals, and challenge myself to try new things.

Nominate the Next Worthy KIN Alum for an Alumni UBC Achievement Award!

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The accomplishments of the members of UBC’s global community of alumni represent an inspiring account of positive social, cultural, and economic change in the world.

Please help us recognize your fellow UBC alumni who are advancing their ambitions for a better world. The next Awards recipients won’t raise their own hands. That’s why we need you to nominate or submit a name to us.

Nominations close on January 31, 2020.

If you know someone who graduated with a Physical Education, Human Kinetics or Kinesiology degree whose accomplishments you think should be recognized, click here to nominate them today. Or send us the name of the person you want to nominate in an email to: kin.alumni@ubc.ca

Congratulations to the KIN Graduating Class of Fall 2019!

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On November 27th, 2019, the UBC School of Kinesiology celebrated 64 new graduates who completed their degree from a range of programs: B.Kin, M.Kin, M.Sc. M.A., PhD, and (M)HPCTL. We would like to welcome them into the UBC KIN alumni community! Please join us in congratulating them.

To our new young alumni, we have a personalized video clip from alumniUBC of each of you crossing the stage and receiving your UBC degree. You can view and download your clip here.

KIN Senior Orientation Leader: Aayush Malhotra

What’s up Kinners? My name is Aayush and I am a fourth-year student in the Interdisciplinary stream. I decided to pursue Kinesiology because, like many, I am heavily involved in sport and played competitive tennis for 7 years, which led to an injury that I was hoping my studies would help me to fix! In doing so, I have fallen in love with the program – especially the physiology side – with my favourite classes being Kin 190/191 (that’s 110/131 for the new students), 275, 375 and 473. After I graduate this year, I hope to continue my education by completing a masters abroad or by applying to medical school somewhere in Canada.

Outside of school, I volunteer with the AMS Speakeasy, an amazing resource on campus that offers peer to peer support for a wide range of student issues; and at the Vancouver Crisis Centre, where I teach classes on mental wellbeing and suicide prevention. I am very passionate about mental health and look to help within the field wherever possible. I still love tennis and split my time between the court and the gym each week. I also work at a lab on campus where we are investigating addiction and decision-making behaviours, which is an area I hope to continue working on in the future!

My favourite part of the undergrad experience by far has been the camaraderie that Kinesiology students share, no matter what stream or year. I love how I can walk into practically any active Kin class and pick out at least a handful of students with whom I am close, because Kin pride is so strong and is cultivated right at the start of Imagine Day. This is part of what led me to the Senior Orientation Leader (SrOl) position, as I was able to make a direct and salient difference in the incoming class’ introduction to Kinesiology and help shape the attitudes that they’ll carry over the next four years.

If you are looking for a leadership role within Kinesiology that is both rewarding and enjoyable, I would encourage you to apply as a SrOl! Through this position, I was able to take an active role within the planning of Imagine Day, helped to train the orientation leader team and shaped the experiences of incoming students to Kin. Becoming a SrOl has helped me to grow as a leader, work on my ability to collaborate with others, and gain confidence with public speaking.

Being a SrOl isn’t all about gaining experience — I have also made some amazing connections with great people on campus, which was my favourite part of this role. I went on a fun weekend retreat to meet the other faculties’ leaders, have become friends with my fellow Kinesiology seniors, and have worked closely with many phenomenal staff, all of whom made this a very worthwhile experience and one that I would urge you to pursue!

Distinguished Speaker Series: What ‘startles’ tell us about motor control in health & disease

Dr. Vivian Weerdesteyn is an Associate Professor with the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour at Radboud University, in Norway. On December 4, 2020, as part of the Distinguished Speaker Series, she presented on patients with corticospinal lesions that support the involvement of the reticulospinal system in StartReact.

She explains how conflicting findings in choice reaction tasks may be understood within this framework and the implications of StartReact results for motor control in health and disease.