Student Directed Seminar courses

2024/25 Student Directed Seminars

If you’re a student interested in taking a Student Directed Seminar course in the 2024/25 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_V 400-R_001: Reimagining Academia: Anti-Colonial & Feminist Frameworks for Undergraduate Studies

  • Student Coordinator: Aatisha Avasthi
  • Student Coordinator email: avasthi.aatisha@gmail.com
  • Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Sunaina Assanand

This seminar is scheduled for Wednesdays from 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm. You can view this seminar on the Workday Course Schedule.

How does one create an anti-colonial and feminist career after graduating from colonial institutions? What is the responsibility of an intellectual graduating with an academic degree? This seminar will attempt to answer these questions by critiquing the colonial history of academia and offering design methodology to innovate an anti-colonial academic practice. Students will be introduced to feminist pedagogies, positive psychology, resilience-building, and design methodology, in an attempt to garner innovation in one’s academic discipline and practice.

ISCI_V 490-202: Your Position in Life Science

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

This course will explore the concepts of equity, diversity, inclusion, and Indigeneity as they apply to the life sciences. We will cycle through past, present, and future as we explore historical injustices and unethical experiments; the current landscape of progress and need for reform in science; and pragmatic practices that you can incorporate into your future education and/or career to promote equity in your spaces of influence. Particular emphasis will be placed on positionality and it’s role in shaping science, through reflection and discussion.

ASTU-400-T: Search for Meaning: Logotherapy as a Therapeutic Approach

  • Student Coordinator: Anna Mondragon
  • Student Coordinator email: monanna@student.ubc.ca
  • Faculty Sponsor: Jessica Tracy

This seminar is scheduled for Mondays and Wednesdays from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm. You can view this seminar on the Workday Course Schedule.

What is the meaning of life? Each of us has delved into existential thoughts that raise questions about human existence. In this seminar we will explore existential psychology with the main focus on Logotherapy: the profound therapeutic approach developed by Viktor Frankl. This seminar offers a deep dive into Frankl’s philosophy, which suggests that searching for meaning in life is the core of psychological well-being. Throughout the session, we will engage in discussions to help us examine how Logotherapy has influenced the field of psychology and how it can be applied in modern therapeutic practices. Come prepared to challenge your perspectives, share your thoughts and gain a deeper understanding of the quest for meaning in life.

ASTU_V 400-A_001: Decolonizing Academia

  • Student Coordinator: Scout Wasdell
  • Student Coordinator email: s.e.wasdell@gmail.com
  • Faculty Sponsor: Coll Thrush

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

The history of the word “decolonization” contains valuable information about academia’s relationship with the concept, its intended inclusions and exclusions, as well as the opportunity to look critically at the resources and information provided by colonial institutions. This seminar invites students to develop a position on the word “decolonization” in an academic space, empowering within students a critical approach to academia and the role it historically and continually plays in colonialism. We will co-construct a space beyond disciplinary learning to examine a multitude of research practices and paradigm shifts, prioritizing holistic analysis and praxis. Other themes include student-first academia, relationality, harm reduction, individualized praxis, and Indigenous futurity.

POLI 344Z-001: Political Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence

  • Student Coordinator: Tina Yong
  • Student Coordinator email: tinayong@mail.ubc.ca
  • Faculty Sponsor: Yves Tiberghien, Jeffrey Byrne

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

Could artificial intelligence spell out the end of democracy as we know it? What happens to processes and norms of deliberation, accountability, and justice with the incursion of intelligent agents capable of approximating reason — the very faculty Aristotle pointed to as that which makes us human? This seminar aims to answer these questions by approaching contemporary issues related to AI through the lens of political philosophy. Drawing from a rich body of literature encompassing the fields of political theory, computer science, and machine ethics, the seminar will highlight how rapid advancements in AI require a radical examination and reconfiguration of the social contracts, legal regimes, and core assumptions about moral agency which presently govern our societies.

GEOG 442 201: Palestine in the World

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

This seminar explores the social and historical production of Palestine as a geographical place embedded in and understood through a series of interlocking scales, including the body, the city, the nation, and the region. It interrogates the meanings of the spatial metaphors that have been used to describe Palestine and the Palestinian experience, including, for example, the meanings of “diaspora,” the Gaza “strip,” and even the charged and contested slogan “from the river to the sea.” The tradition of critical political economy will be used to interrogate the complex, colonial links between Palestine and its neighbors in the Middle East, and with the powerful states of Europe and North America, who have been involved in Palestine’s history, politics, and economy in various ways.

ISCI_V 490-201: Knowledge Translation in Scientific Research

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.

This seminar course offers an in-depth exploration of Knowledge Translation (KT), focusing on its critical role in bridging the gap between research and practical application within healthcare and policy contexts. Students will engage with various KT theories, models, and frameworks, learning to strategically design research that prioritizes real-world impact. Through collaborative projects, case studies, and guest lectures, participants will explore barriers to effective knowledge translation and develop strategies to overcome these challenges. The course is particularly suited for students interested in careers that integrate clinical practice with academic research, such as clinician-scientists and health policymakers.

POLI 308X-001: The Politics of Drug Policy

This seminar is scheduled for Mondays and Wednesdays from 2:00 pm to 3:30 pm. You can view this seminar on the Workday Course Schedule.

The Politics of Drug Policy critically examines the political forces and dynamics that shape drug regulation and policy enforcement across North America. While we are situated in B.C. – a region deeply affected by the ongoing opioid crisis – the course adopts a broader lens, analyzing drug policies in various jurisdictions. Through an exploration of ideological frameworks, electoral politics, social stigma, and community safety, students will gain a deeper understanding of the complex structures that influence drug policy. This course offers a unique academic experience by combining rigorous political analysis with perspectives on harm reduction, lived experiences, and the diverse impacts of these policies on communities.

ASTU_V 400-G_001: Gonzo Cinema

  • Student Coordinator: Kermodii Chen
  • Student Coordinator email: kermodii@student.ubc.ca
  • Faculty Sponsor: Mila Zuo

This seminar is scheduled for Wednesdays from 3:00 pm to 6:00 pm. You can view this seminar on the Workday Course Schedule.

Gonzo is the inevitable term someone brings up whenever the 1998 Gilliam flick Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is mentioned, narrowing down a “stoner buddy dark comedy road film” to simply “gonzo.” But what does it mean? This seminar attempts to answer this question by taking students through mind-bending ways of examining cinema in a world of affect, a world of infinite potentiality within seemingly crude, weird, nonsensical, or just plain “unwatchable” productions – what we might term as gonzo cinema. Under its guidance, students will come across multitudinous acts of deterritorialization alongside Indigenous survivance, and in turn begin to perceive the minor hidden within privatized margins, as “pure gonzo” takes hold.

Additional resources

If you have questions

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