Student Directed Seminar courses

2025/26 Student Directed Seminars

If you’re a student interested in taking a Student Directed Seminar course in the 2025/26 Winter Session, browse the course descriptions below for information. Student Directed Seminar courses are only available to third or fourth-year undergraduate students. Students are allowed to enrol in a Student Directed Seminar once during their undergraduate degree.

To register for a Student Directed Seminar course, log into your Course Schedule and search the course code, or contact the student coordinator directly for more information. Some courses may have specific requirements and instructions you need to follow in order to register for the course. Please read each course description carefully.

Some seminars may have a selection process due to limited seating. If you’re unable to register for a seminar through the Course Schedule, reach out to the Student Coordinator(s) for assistance.

The UBC Okanagan Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is currently developing a Student Directed Seminars course for its students. For further information, please email fasscurriculum.ubco@ubc.ca.

UBC Vancouver Winter Term 2 courses

ASTU 400K-001: Biochemical Pathways of Human Emotions

  • Student Coordinator: Lillian Pernitsky 
  • Student Coordinator email: lpernits@student.ubc.ca
  • Faculty Sponsor: Eden Fussner-Dupas

This seminar is scheduled for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 2 to 3 pm. You can view this seminar on the Workday Course Schedule.

Biochemical Pathways of Human Emotions explores how emotions such as fear, bonding, and happiness arise from molecular signaling networks, neurochemical pathways, and endocrine systems. Students will analyze the biochemistry and neurophysiology of emotional states through scientific literature, pharmacological case studies, and interactive peer learning. Designed for students with a background in biochemistry, biology, or neuroscience, this seminar offers a rigorous, interdisciplinary investigation into the molecular basis of what we feel and why. 

ISCI 490-202: The Neuroscience of Free Will

This seminar is scheduled for Wednesdays from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. You can view this seminar on the Workday Course Schedule.

This course will explore free will, a controversial topic that lies at the interface between philosophy and neuroscience. Starting from the foundational philosophical arguments, students will be encouraged to share their own conceptions of free will, which will then be challenged through classical and contemporary neuroscientific experiments; from lesion case studies to priming effects to the neural underpinnings of decision-making. Additionally, the implications of free will will be explored at the individual and societal levels with particular emphasis placed on the criminal justice system. In this way, the seminar will uniquely approach a traditional philosophical topic from a neuroscience perspective, underscoring the capacity for neuroscience to inform philosophical discourse.

ASTU 400J-001: The Brain in Balance: Exploring Wellness Through a Neuroscientific Lens

  • Student Coordinator: David Roberts
  • Student Coordinator email: drober05@student.ubc.ca
  • Faculty Sponsor: Todd Handy

This seminar is scheduled for Mondays and Wednesdays from 4 to 5:30 pm. You can view this seminar on the Workday Course Schedule.

The Brain in Balance: Exploring Wellness Through a Neuroscientific Lens is a student-directed seminar that investigates the intersection of neuroscience, wellness, and technology. It explores how neuroscience informs understandings of mental health, resilience, and healing, focusing on neuroplasticity, stress regulation, and the mind-body connection. Attention is given to digital culture—particularly social media—examining both risks (e.g., digital addiction, cyberbullying) and emerging wellness tools (e.g., mindfulness apps, biofeedback, virtual therapy). 

ASTU 400E-001: Neuroaesthetics: Your Brain on Art

This seminar is scheduled for Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:00 to 6:30 pm. You can view this seminar on the Workday Course Schedule.

What makes something beautiful? How universal is the experience of beauty? This SDS will explore the field of neuroaesthetics – scientific study of the neural mechanisms of hedonic valuation, artistic creation, and aesthetic appreciation – allowing students to explore how their brains perceive and experience art (visual art, music, architecture, film, literature, etc.), and how art can affect their brain. The proposed SDS will include student-led discussions, multimodal generative assignments and in-class activities (e.g., visual art, reflective writing—both solo and collaborative), and visits by guest speakers. 

ASTU 400L-001: Biopsychosocial Model in Medicine: Integrating Mind, Body, and Society

  • Student Coordinator: Lavleen Walia
  • Student Coordinator email: lavleenw28@gmail.com
  • Faculty Sponsor: Benjamin Cheung

This seminar is scheduled for Mondays and Wednesdays from 12:30 pm to 2:00 pm. You can view this seminar on the Workday Course Schedule. 

Through case studies, reflective writing, and dialogue with peers and community voices, students will explore how biological, psychological, and social factors intersect in health and illness, with particular attention to the experiences of marginalized communities. The course fosters collaborative learning, respectful discussion, and the development of patient-centered, integrative approaches to care. Although the biopsychosocial model is widely recognized in theory, its application in healthcare often falls short, with biomedical approaches dominating diagnosis and treatment. This student-led seminar critically examines the gap between theory and practice, drawing on psychology, biology, sociology, cultural studies, and medical ethics.

ASTU 400C-001: Contemporary Feminism in Chinese Media

This seminar is scheduled for Mondays and Wednesdays from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm. You can view this seminar on the Workday Course Schedule.

What is the state of feminism in today’s China? How shall one interpret its complex development and (increasingly) sensitive associations in a media context? In this seminar, we will engage with the most raw, compelling, and fascinating aspects of contemporary Chinese feminism through hands-on examinations of women’s experiences as depicted and reflected in many facets of popular media. Topics covered range from the creation and reception of feminist filmmaking, TV, literature, and video games to how feminism in China navigates media censorship, expressions of sexuality, queer cultures, and more. We aim to gather a nuanced understanding of how Chinese women today pursue social justice. Anyone interested is welcome to the discussion, regardless of prior knowledge of the Chinese languages. 

ASTU 400F-001: Postcolonial Considerations of Literature from the Caucasus and Central Asia

  • Student Coordinator: Selin Berktas
  • Student Coordinator email: selinberktash9@gmail.com
  • Faculty Sponsor: Katherine Bowers

This seminar is scheduled for Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:00 to 5:30 pm. You can view this seminar on the Workday Course Schedule.

This seminar considers Central Asian and Caucasian literature, as readily available resources to self-map and understand from the inside, through a postcolonial lens. It utilizes a postcolonial approach to center the so-called periphery. Specific themes include citizenship, identity, empire, and how they construct one another. How does literature inform or mirror these concepts? How does literary form build narratives, break them, and simultaneously revise them? Taking note of collective knowledge, literature acts as resistance through tangible practices of observation, note-taking, and documenting. How can we use literature in the field to map various texts out contrapuntally, as sums of a whole, moving beyond the “insularity and provincialism” of literature as stated by Edward Said? 

ASTU 400H-001: Understanding Loss and Grief: An Interdisciplinary Approach 

  • Student Coordinator: Atrina Shadgan
  • Student Coordinator email: atrinashadgan@gmail.com
  • Faculty Sponsor: Sunaina Assanand

This seminar is scheduled for Wednesdays from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm. You can view this seminar on the Workday Course Schedule.

What happens when we lose someone or something important to us? How do such painful losses shape our lives and communities? Grief is a complex and multidimensional response to many different forms of loss- not just death. In this seminar, we will explore the psychological, sociocultural, and neurobiological dimensions of grief, while considering how individual experiences of grief are shaped by broader systemic forces and contexts. Through engagement with diverse models of grief, in-class discussions, and interdisciplinary projects, students will develop a deep understanding of how loss and grief are experienced, expressed, and supported across different individuals and communities. 

ENGL 336A-001: Unhidden Currents: Media, Propaganda and the Architecture of Influence

This seminar is scheduled for Mondays from 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm. You can view this seminar on the Workday Course Schedule.

How can cognitive autonomy survive under the attention economy? In an age of increasing technocracy and polarization, how might we mitigate widening ideological gaps, confront social atomization and question our own media consumption habits? These are pertinent questions discussed in popular culture, yet the societal and psychological effects of media in the digital age remain understudied in academia. This seminar aims to bridge that gap through an interdisciplinary inquiry into the often-invisible infrastructures of propaganda and persuasion in contemporary Western culture. Assignments involve critical readings, field research, and a collaborative digital humanities project.

Additional resources

If you have questions

Please contact student.seminars@ubc.ca for more information.