Scholarly Work

Research Projects

Funded research at UBC spanning postdigital learner agency, patient agency in cardiovascular care, and emerging technologies in education and health.

Current Work

Active Projects

Education

ALIVE

Agency in Learning, Immersive & Virtual Environments

The ALIVE project investigates how learners exercise agency in immersive and virtual environments. Grounded in a theoretical framework of learner agency as a capacity shaped by context, the project examines the design conditions — in both digital and physical environments — that enable learners to act with intention, persistence, and critical awareness. The lab brings together graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, and community partners at UBC.

SSHRC Insight Grant$399,0032022–2027

Education

NARRATE

Learner Agency Emergence Through Algorithmic Literacy

NARRATE explores the human–algorithm relationship in learning contexts — specifically, how learners develop algorithmic literacy and how that literacy shapes the conditions for agency. As algorithmic systems increasingly govern which content learners see, which assessments they receive, and which paths are recommended, the question of whether and how learners can exercise meaningful agency within these systems becomes urgent.

SSHRC Insight Development Grant$74,9942023–2025

Health

PATIENT-FOCUS

Promoting Agency Through Innovative Education & Networked Teams

PATIENT-FOCUS facilitates outcomes and collaboration for understanding the brain–heart system. This project connects researchers, clinicians, and patients to promote agency in heart failure care — particularly through networked team models that position patients as active contributors to clinical research and care planning.

CFREF Brain-Heart Interconnectome$25,0002025–2026

Health

PACE

Patient Agency in Cardiovascular Education

PACE is a pilot study examining how educational interventions can promote agency in patients living with heart failure. Grounded in theoretical work on patient agency and lived experience as a heart transplant recipient, the project develops and tests patient-centred approaches to heart failure self-management and advocacy — designed with patients, not just for them.

CIHR CHF Alliance$25,0002023–2025

Health

Brain-HF PSP

Brain & Heart Failure Priority Setting Partnership

The Brain-HF Priority Setting Partnership identifies the most important unanswered questions about the brain–heart connection in heart failure, centering patient and caregiver voices throughout. Priority setting partnerships are a well-established method in health research for ensuring that research agendas reflect patient priorities rather than only researcher interests.

CFREF Brain-Heart Interconnectome$100,0002025–2026

Health

Unbundled Learning

Patients with chronic conditions — heart failure, PTSD, anxiety, long COVID — spend most of their time outside formal clinical settings. Informal peer networks and social media are already providing education and support, but this learning is rarely studied or designed for. Most research focuses on institutional approaches while ignoring peer-driven educational processes.

UBC$15,0002023–2025

Past Work

Completed Projects

Education

Falling Skies!

Three-dimensional immersive virtual environments (3DIVEs) offer novel possibilities for formative assessment, yet their potential for developing science inquiry in middle school remains under-researched. Existing assessments fail to capture how students exercise agency — setting goals, regulating effort, and persisting through challenge.

SSHRC2021–2024

Health

PATIENT A Pilot Study

Patients with chronic conditions are increasingly expected to participate meaningfully in research, yet traditional models position them as passive subjects rather than active partners. There is no established framework for understanding or measuring patient agency in research contexts.

Canadian Heart Function Alliance, CIHR2024–2025

Health

From the Heart

Women with heart failure are under-served, under-researched, and under-represented — experiencing worse outcomes than men despite significant burden of disease. Their lived experiences are rarely centered in the design of healthcare resources or patient education.

CIHR2019–2023

Health

vCHAT-HF

High-risk COVID-19 patients with chronic heart failure face compounding challenges: anxiety, social isolation, disrupted medical care, and caregiver strain. Digital interventions that provide social network support and evidence-based counseling are urgently needed.

CIHR2020–2023

Education

Beyond the Academy

Higher education's career pathways are shifting. PhD graduates and postdoctoral fellows face uncertain labour markets with few models for professional agency beyond traditional faculty positions. Virtual learning communities offer a potential pathway — but their impact on professional development and agency is poorly understood.

SSHRC2021–2024

Education

Pandemic Transformed Pedagogy

COVID-19 forced a sudden and unprecedented shift to emergency remote teaching (ERT) in technology education — a domain that relies heavily on hands-on, design-based learning. Whether this disruption constituted a 'disorienting dilemma' capable of transforming pedagogy, and what lasting changes it produced, remained unknown.

SSHRC, UBC2020–2023

Education

Virtual Reality Anatomy

COVID-19 disrupted physical anatomy dissection labs — a cornerstone of health sciences education. The pedagogical effectiveness of VR alternatives, and how students emotionally and cognitively engage with virtual specimens compared to physical ones, was unknown.

UBC HIVE2021–2023

Health

Preferences and Decision Needs

Patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) face complex medication decisions with significant quality-of-life implications. Both patients and clinicians lack structured tools to identify decisional needs, understand patient values, and align treatment with what matters most to patients.

CIHR, SPOR2022–2024

Research overview

Research statement, areas of focus, the ALIVE Lab, and funder acknowledgements.

Research Program →