Congratulations to this year’s recipients of the Four-Year Doctoral Fellowship (4YF): Jacob Bosancich, Avneet Dhillon, Vrinda Dimri, Christopher Lamb, and incoming students Karen Davies and N. Hassen!
The Four-Year Doctoral Fellowship program ensures UBC’s best PhD students are provided with financial support of at least $18,200 per year plus tuition for a maximum of four years of their PhD studies.
Jacob Bosancich
My research explores how existing technologies such as augmented reality and artificial intelligence can be applied to support rehabilitation for individuals recovering from stroke. I’m particularly interested in developing and evaluating interventions that use these tools to enhance engagement and participation, self-management, and everyday functioning in community-living stroke survivors.
I received the Four-Year Fellowship (4YF), which will support the development and pilot testing of a technology-assisted rehabilitation program for stroke recovery. This funding will allow me to better understand the needs of stroke survivors and use those insights to guide the creation of clinically relevant, personalized interventions.
Outside of academia, you can often find me skiing, mountain biking, and spending time in nature with my family. When I’m not outside enjoying the fresh air, I am making music with friends.
Avneet Dhillon
I am in the Connections Lab under the supervision of Dr. Skye Barbic. The research I am conducting is around Population Data and Implementation Science – specifically in relation to the Standards of Mental Health and Substance Use Care in the Emergency Department for Youth. I hope to implement the standards, adjust the standards from a culturally specific lens and evaluate the impact in various Emergency Departments across British Columbia.
I’ve won the Four-Year Fellowship (4YF)! This award means a lot as it allows me to fully focus on my research. One of the biggest challenges for graduate students is balancing academic commitments with financial obligations, which often makes it difficult to stay fully engaged. Because my research is hands-on and requires me to be on-site and embedded within the community and service providers, this award makes it possible for me to show up fully. I’ll be able to invest my time and energy into building meaningful, long-term relationships to ensure the research is not only high quality but also impactful.
Outside of academia I spend a lot of time listening to music, going to concerts, coffee shops and reading and learning about different creative avenues like furniture design, graphic design, painting and more. Recently, to reconnect with my South Asian roots, I’ve been exploring different art and music styles originating from India and also learning about the lives of women in Indian history. My most recent book pick-up is The Lost Heer: Women in Colonial Punjab.
Vrinda Dimri
I am a PhD Trainee at the Aging, Mobility and Cognitive Health Lab, supervised by Dr. Teresa Liu-Ambrose. Our research focuses on understanding the role of exercise, and how other lifestyle interventions can support healthy aging and enhance quality of life of older adults. My thesis, specifically, will focus on understanding the relationship between physical activity and fluctuations in cognitive performance in older adults with mild cognitive impairment.
The Four-year doctoral fellowship will enable me to fully focus on my doctoral studies and allow me to attend multiple conferences and engage in other professional development activities.
I really enjoy CrossFit, tennis, and dancing. I also love cooking and travelling!
Christopher Lamb
The Brain Behaviour lab is primarily concerned with what limits and facilitates neuroplasticity by exploring brain-behaviour relationships. Using non-invasive brain stimulation (i.e., transcranial magnetic stimulation) and quantitative sensory testing, I will be exploring cortical sensorimotor excitability changes and central nervous pain mechanisms in individuals with painful knee osteoarthritis.
The funds from the 4-year fellowship will allow us to test more individuals with painful knee osteoarthritis as well as healthy controls, and (hopefully) increase the robustness of our results.
Outside of academia, I like to hang out with my cat, ride my bike, do weights, hike, read fiction, write creatively, draw, cook, and meditate.
Karen Davies
I work in The Motion Lab in Sunny Hill Health Centre at BC Children’s Hospital. I am a Physical Therapist and part of an interdisciplinary team that provides clinical non-invasive diagnosis and assessment of complex gait and motion in children. I had the good fortune to be introduced to Dr. Patricia Moreno Grangeiro, who founded a non-profit rowing program in São Paulo, Brazil that was the inspiration for our current research. We are exploring the feasibility of a pilot community-based rowing program for adolescents with cerebral palsy. My PhD supervisor will be Dr. Courtney Pollock.
I am honoured to be a recipient of a Four-Year Doctoral Fellowship. This award will provide invaluable financial support to enable me to work part-time and devote the time needed to my current research and PhD studies.
I love spending time with my family and friends. I also love being outdoors, particularly walking or hiking in the forest, cross-country skiing, biking, swimming, and recently rowing! I enjoy reading, travelling, and I am attempting to learn Portuguese.