Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies

Anika Saba, PhD

Anika is pursuing a PhD in IGS: Power Conflict and Ideas, with supervisor Dr. Jennifer Gustar. Considering 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh as her case study, she will survey the problems that Western trauma theory poses for the Global South. Since contemporary Bangladeshis, like Anika herself, learn about the war through mediated histories in autobiographical, fictional, and filmic narratives, the aim of her project is to examine cultural narratives of the 1971 war to reveal the ways in which they contribute to a rethinking of trauma, memory, and affect. Her interest in these areas of study resulted from her MA in the UK. Subsequently, she completed a post-graduate diploma and a research fellowship in genocide studies. Now, she brings those skills to her doctoral research project. Anika is passionate about sharing knowledge and bringing awareness to the impact of the Bangladeshi War and the limitations of Western theory in interpreting the effects of war.

Ahlam Bavi, PhD

Ahlam Bavi is a conceptual artist, industrial designer, and a digital humanist. She has studied and researched at the University of Lucerne, Switzerland and the University of Calgary, where her digital sculpture work was recognized by an award. She is trained in the Reggio Emilia Educational approach, as well as in VR and AR and digital technologies.

Ahlam’s visual artworks consist of conceptual sonic sculptures, digital remediate artworks, 3D calligraphy, and algorithmic 3D printed sculptures. She also collaborates with museums to improve the experience of low vision visitors and to re-imagine of artworks through digital technology.

Melissa Hart, PhD

Melissa Hart is a doctoral student currently working on a creative research project: Judas-Kiss—Betrayal of our Primordial Comrade in the Rarest Rainforest on Earth: wolves, humans, and British Columbia’s Southern Interior Rainforest. Hart’s current research interests lie in wolf creative narrative, digital painting, regenerative-culture, eco-art activism, and in-situ, practice-based methodology.

Yasaman Lotfizadeh, MA

Yasaman is a professional Graphic Designer and Art History enthusiast. In her first year as a masters student, she works both as a Research Assistant, supervised by Dr. Hussein Keshani, and a Graduate Academic Assistant, affiliated with the AMP Lab. Her current study focuses on applying Digital Humanity theories and tools in connection with the sixteen-century Persian illustrated manuscripts. She is interested in historiography through Social Network Analysis and Data Visualization.

Yasaman completed her previous studies in Graphic Design, where her artworks focused on cultural and historical contexts. In her research, she worked on two Persian illustrated manuscripts, with a focus on miniature’s decorated Shields.

Having a variety of teaching experiences, including private institutions, high schools, vocational colleges, and universities, in her career, Yasaman found herself passionate about teaching. From 2014 to 2019, she taught several Art History, Graphic Design principle workshop and Design software courses. As a former skating instructor, player and referee, and in her free time, she likes to skate.

Heather Magusin, MA

Heather Magusin is a professional photographer, cyclist, and writer. Her research centers on the influence of public discourse on our responses to complex social-environmental phenomena; currently, wildfire is her focus. Her thesis analyzes the Twitter response to the 2016 Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo wildfire, and her GRA work on the Living with Wildfire research project focuses on wildfire in the Okanagan region. Her other research interests include the intersections of urban design, active transport, and socio-environmental justice, specifically around bike commuting as a tool for emancipation and revolution. In her free time, you can find her outside riding her bike, hiking in the backcountry, nerding out over plants and lichens, or debating passionately about obscure topics.

Heather is the 2019/20 DAHU Grad Student Representative.

Sepideh Saffari, PhD

Sepideh Saffari is an award-winning artist and architect currently pursuing her IGS Ph.D. in Digital Arts & Humanities at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan Campus. She is also a graduate research associate of the AMP lab and a member of the Centre for Culture and Technology. In these affiliated research centers of the university, she has been collaborating on projects such as Aga Khan Garden web app and Water Ways. In 2006, she started her academic education in Architectural Engineering in which she ranked third and first among students in her BA and MA programs respectively. Since then she has held artistic and architectural positions, namely teaching at universities, designing constructed buildings, and working at game and animation companies.

Meg Yamamoto, PhD

Meg Yamamoto was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts with Distinction in Visual Studies at the University of Calgary, completing her degree through a Study Abroad program in Berlin, Germany in 2014. She was awarded the University of Calgary Silver Medallion in Art in 2015 and spent the following two years studying the geometric, structural, and symbolic properties of Hiberno-Saxon Knotwork. Meg completed her Master of Fine Arts degree in Visual Arts at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus. Her master’s thesis research was funded by the Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Master’s Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), and she received a University Graduate Fellowship as well as the Graduate Dean’s Entrance Scholarship from the University of British Columbia. Her PhD research looks at how experiential and artistic responses to the local flora and fauna can be documented in online archives and databases.