Joining the Class of 2021 this fall, is Ph.D. Kin student Yanfei Guan!
KIN doctoral candidate, Yanfei Guan, will cross the stage as part of the UBC Class of 2021 at the Fall convocation. His dissertation examines “the relationship between inter-limb asymmetry and sports injury in youth athletes.” As part of his dissertation, he led four studies that combined sports medicine and biomechanics. Yanfei explains that he has a great interest in sports-related research, “My dissertation shows how injury prevention is important for athletes, especially for youth who are more vulnerable to soft tissue injuries.”
Prior to his doctoral studies at UBC, Yanfei studied kinesiology in China where he completed his bachelor’s degree at the Shandong University School of Sports Education and his master’s at the Shanghai University of Sports. In 2014, Yanfei travelled to Alberta to participate in a 6-month program at the University of Calgary. The experience was a turning point for him, and he decided to pursue his studies outside of China. Yanfei explains, “Being there influenced my decision to pursue a Ph.D. degree at UBC.”
Yanfei says that his time as both a Ph.D. student and a member of the UBC Kin community was nothing short of an eye-opening experience. His most important takeaway from the program is to “learn independently,” and explains that by solving problems on his own, he learned how to cope with them independently, became self-sufficient, and achieved self-improvement. After graduating this fall, he hopes to find a research position at a university in China to continue his research in sports science.