Program Overview

Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies

The Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies (IGS) program invites students to think and work across disciplinary boundaries. The program is organized into Themes that ensure students learn together in a cohort and enjoy a coherent program of study.

Program Structure

The program offers a unique set of graduate courses alongside a Professionalization Seminar that brings all the Themes together. Faculty members from across the Okanagan campus collaborate within the Themes to provide a rigorous, wide-ranging, and intellectually productive graduate education.

Themes

The following Themes are available:

• Community Engagement, Social Change, Equity
• Global Studies
• Power Conflict and Ideas
• Sustainability
• Indigenous Studies
• Digital Arts and Humanities

Degrees Offered

The IGS program offers the following degrees:

• Masters of Arts (MA)
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Research Areas

Students in the IGS program can pursue research in a variety of areas, including:

• Experiential and artistic responses to local flora and fauna
• Cultural narratives of the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh
• Trauma, memory, and affect in the Global South
• Digital Humanities and Social Network Analysis
• Eco-art activism and regenerative culture
• Wolf creative narrative and digital painting

Student Profiles

The IGS program has a diverse range of students, including:

• Meg Yamamoto, PhD: researching experiential and artistic responses to local flora and fauna
• Anika Saba, PhD: examining cultural narratives of the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh
• Ahlam Bavi, PhD: exploring digital sculpture and industrial design
• Melissa Hart, PhD: working on a creative research project about wolves and humans in British Columbia's Southern Interior Rainforest
• Yasaman Lotfizadeh, MA: applying Digital Humanity theories and tools to 16th-century Persian illustrated manuscripts
• Heather Magusin, MA: analyzing the influence of public discourse on responses to complex social-environmental phenomena
• Sepideh Saffari, PhD: pursuing research in Digital Arts and Humanities

Faculty and Research Centers

The IGS program is supported by faculty members from across the Okanagan campus, and is affiliated with research centers such as the AMP lab and the Centre for Culture and Technology.