Exercise, Kinesiology & Health Seminar Series: Dr. Mark Bruner

Exercise, Kinesiology & Health Seminar Series: Dr. Mark Bruner

Together for us: Utilizing Social Identity Theory to enhance youth mental health in sport

Thursday, March 9 | 12:30 – 1:30 PM

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian adolescents experienced a loss of social connection with peers and reported a two-fold increase in mental health issues. As youth begin to re-engage in sport, there is an opportunity to promote mental health. A key facet to consider is the identity youth associate with their sport team (i.e. social identities).

This talk will overview the ongoing research in the Groups For Youth Development (G4YD) lab to understand and harness social identity in youth sport teams at a competitive and recreational level. Specifically, it will share findings from the Together For Us (T4Us) intervention designed to enhance mental health in youth competitive sport teams. 

Dr. Mark Bruner (Ph.D.) is a Canada Research Chair in Youth Development through Sport and Physical Activity and a Professor in the School of Physical and Health Education at Nipissing University.

Location: Life Sciences Centre (LSC), Room 1002, 2350 Health Sciences Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T1Z3

**No Zoom or recording**

Exercise, Kinesiology & Health Seminar Series: Dr Brendon Gurd, Queens University

Fasting is amazing for mice, but is it good for you?

Thursday, January 26 | 12:30-1:30 PM

Intermittent fasting is emerging as a dietary strategy to induce weight loss and improve cardiometabolic health. In mice, prolonged fasting induces beneficial adaptations in skeletal muscle and in whole body health that mimic the benefits of regular exercise. However, in humans it is less clear whether fasting per se is beneficial or if fasting is simply a simple means of restricting calories. This talk will explore the evidence supporting/refuting the benefits of fasting as a means of improving health in humans with a focus on skeletal muscle metabolism and function.

**No Zoom or recording**

Location: Life Sciences Centre (LSC), Room 1002, 2350 Health Sciences Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3

Research Roundtable: Anti-Racism & Lateral Allyship in Physical Activity & Sport 

In celebration of Move UBC, join us Thursday, February 23 for a Research Roundtable! This event seeks to bring together diverse perspectives to discuss anti-racism and lateral allyship (support across BIPOC identities) in physical activity and sport in Canada. The event will be composed of two parts, a virtual webinar from 9-11am and an in-person working session from 11-12:30pm.

Panelists include:

  • Dr. Janice Forsyth, Professor in the Faculty of Education, School of Kinesiology, University of British Columbia
  • Dr. Courtney Szto, Assistant Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, Queen’s University
  • Dr. May Farrales, Assistant Professor in the Departments of Geography and Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies, Simon Fraser University
  • Shalom Brown, second-year Master’s student in Kinesiology, University of Toronto
  • Alyssa Reyes, first-year PhD student, Simon Fraser University

Learn more and register.

Healthy Aging Talks: Dr. David Almeida

Monday, January 23, 6-7 PM

Tuesday, January 24, 12-1 PM

Dr. David Almeida from Pennsylvania State University College of Health and Human Development will host a series of lectures for the public and UBC research community.

Public Lecture

Finally, Some Good News About Stress! The Benefits of (Some) Daily Challenge

Research documents the pernicious effects of daily stressors on well-being, but often ignored in these studies are people reporting no stressors This talk examines the benefits and costs of a “stressor-free life”, with a focus on the potential benefits of small amounts of daily stress. To answer these questions, we used data from the National Studies of Daily Experiences (NSDE) to calculate the prevalence of adults who reported no daily stressors over the course of 8 consecutive days. Data were comprised of 20,188 daily interviews from 2,804 adults ages 25-85. Results indicated that 10% of adults reported no stressors over the 8 days. These stressor-free individuals were more likely to be older, male, less-educated, and lower-income, compared to those who reported stressors. Stressor-free adults were also less likely to report positive events in their daily lives.

Monday, January 23, 6-7 PM PST

Learn more and register: http://bit.ly/3CPebkU

Research Talk

Health as a Daily Experience: Lessons from 42,243 Days of US Adults

How we live our daily lives has profound implications for our health and well-being. Day-to-day patterns of stress, social interactions, mood, physical activity, and sleep have been shown to be powerful predictors of physical and mental health., a 20-year longitudinal study that combines daily telephone interviews about mundane yet frequent experiences with biological assessments of health. This research design permits the assessment of the dynamics of ebb and flow of multiple aspects of daily life. Three general “lessons” discussed are: First, it is vital to distinguish between exposure and responses to daily stressors, but this is difficult to do; Second, variety and range of experiences are often more important than amount of experiences; and Third, a stress-free life is not always beneficial.

Tuesday, January 24, 12-1 PM PST

Learn more and register: http://bit.ly/3WklN5A

Faculty & Staff Headshots – February 17

We have organized a faculty and staff shoot day to have professional headshots taken for our website. Cakewalk Media will be onsite on Friday, February 17 from 9:30am – 5:30pm. Photos will be taken at WMG Room 100.

You can book in a 10-minute timeslot for your headshot using this link. Please arrive to your selected timeslot early and ready for your professional photo.

We kindly ask that you please make time in your calendar to have your headshot taken, as this will help improve the cohesiveness of our website. If you are unavailable on the day, please email Jess Bauer (jess.bauer@ubc.ca). A second half day may become available for those who cannot make it on February 17. Details will be announced once confirmed.

Details:

Date: Friday, February 17, 2023

Time: 10-minute timeslots between 9:30am – 5:30pm

Location: WMG Room 100

Dr. Chris West: Pushing the boundaries of spinal cord research

Dr. Chris West is at the forefront of spinal cord research, as part of an interdisciplinary team exploring how innovative, implantable stimulation technologies can help people with spinal cord injuries live longer, healthier lives. Having previously worked with the School of Kinesiology, we would like to congratulate Dr. West on this exciting research achievement!

Read the full article.

Congrats Dr. Fagan!

Jan. 9th 2023 – Congratulations to Dr. Matthew Fagan who recently passed his doctoral defence, titled, “The Athlete’s High? Can Physical Activity and Sport Participation Prevent Substance Use in Youth?”

Happy New Year from the POP-PA Lab!

Jan 9th, 2023 – Wishing all a Happy New Year! Looking forward to great things in 2023.

The UBC Magazine features KIN alumni ambassador

The University of British Columbia Magazine recently featured Robyn Freiheit (BKin’15) and her experiences of living and working abroad in Portugal.

Robyn has been living in Porto for the past four years, where she works as a freelance marketing, communications and project management specialist, and serves as the alumni UBC Global Alumni Ambassador for Portugal.

Read the full article.

Franks, Ian

Professor

Phone: 604–822–6891

Email: ifranks@mail.ubc.ca

Office Address:

D. H. Copp Building, Room 4602 2146 Health Sciences Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z3

Mailing Address:

War Memorial Gymnasium, Room 210 6081 University Boulevard, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1

Education

University of Alberta, 1980, PhD, (Motor Learning and Control)

University of Alberta, 1977, MSc, (Motor Learning and Control)

McGill University, 1975, BEd, (Physical Education)

St. Luke’s College, Exeter University, 1968, Certificate of Education, (Math/Physics)

Research Area

Research Interests

Research and teaching

Many of our actions are triggered by changes in the environment and most of these actions can be prepared in advance of the anticipated change. When human action is observed in these reactive situations one may be oblivious to the fine synchronization that is required between movement preparation, initiation and execution and yet each is vital to the effective control of action. Success and failure of these processes are evident in many everyday situations. From the Olympic sprinter who prepares for a fast start out of the blocks in elegant smooth pursuit of their goal, to the Parkinson’s disease patient who fails to initiate a seemingly simple step over a roadside curb and freezes despite what appears to be maximum cognitive effort. In our lab we examine how people prepare, initiate and control their actions in various environmental contexts using a variety of methodologies. One method we have used to good effect in the past is to probe the processes of movement preparation by delivering a startling stimulus along with the “go” command. This brief loud sound causes a startle reflex but also appears to trigger and release any voluntary movement that is prepared, stored and ready to initiate. Indeed very fast reaction times of the sprinter (less than 100 milliseconds) may be the result of a startle like trigger and not a false start. We have also shown that startle can trigger prepared movements quite smoothly and effortlessly in patients with Parkinson’s disease. Because we have an understanding of the pathways responsible for the startle reflex it then becomes possible to map movement preparation and initiation as it interacts with this reflex. In the future, we will to continue our research efforts into the investigation of motor preparation and initiation using techniques such as startle.

Publications

Consulting and professional practice

Consulting enquiries should be directed to me at the the email address above.

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