Students in the UBC AMS Nest. Photo: Jamil Rhajiak / UBC Brand & Marketing
Our department, faculty and students navigated the past year with perseverance and success. Below are some highlights of our COVID-19 research, online learning, and virtual celebrations.
COVID-19 Research
Despite lab closures, our researchers responded by studying the cultural and social impact of the global pandemic—as well as mental health and wellbeing during COVID-19.
At the start of the pandemic, Dr. Anita DeLongis and Dr. Nancy Sin launched a global study to explore the psychological effects of COVID-19. And with Patrick Klaiber and Jin Wen, Drs. DeLongis and Sin found that older adults coped with the pandemic best.
Dr. Susan Birch is exploring social emotional health—and how the coronavirus pandemic may be affecting families. Dr. Christiane Hoppmann is looking at how social relationships and family can promote health and wellbeing during the pandemic. Dr. Janet Werker is leading an interdisciplinary team to study how literacy is changing in a digital, multicultural, and covid-hit, world.
In addition, there are a number of UBC Psychology COVID 19- studies underway:
- Dr. Frances Chen: COVID-19 and prosocial coping: writing about daily events
Collaborator: Yeeun Lee - Dr. Elizabeth Dunn: COVID-19 social connection project: current events and social behaviour
Collaborator: Dunigan Folk - Dr. Elizabeth Dunn: Digital communications study
Collaborators: Ryan Dwyer, Dunigan Folk, Iris Lok, Yu Luo, Dr. Jaiying Zhao - Dr. James Enns: Checking in and emotional wellbeing
Collaborator: Pavel Kozik - Dr. Steven Heine: Anxiety in international politics during COVID-19
Collaborator: Rachele Benjamin - Dr. Paul Hewitt: COVID-19 research on perfectionism and personality dysfunction: Influence of social isolation
Collaborators: Sabrina Ge, Shannon Reid, Martin Smith, Abigail Yuen - Dr. Christiane Hoppmann: COVID-19 research on allies in health: social support health behaviours and combating loneliness
Collaborators: Drs. Maureen Ashe, Kenneth Madden, Rachel Murphy - Dr. Joelle LeMoult: COVID-19 and wellbeing
- Dr. Rebecca Todd: Microvalence acquisition during COVID-19; valence of everyday objects
Collaborators: Veronika Dudarev, Dr. James Enns, Joey Manaligod - Dr. Azim Shariff: Belief regulation; values, beliefs and behaviours
Collaborators: William Jettinghoff, Dr. Kristin Laurin - Dr. Azim Shariff: COVID-19 ethical questions
Collaborator: Nick Kay - Dr. Jiaying Zhao: Face masks: exploring social norm during the COVID-19 pandemic
Collaborator: Rocio Lopez de la Lama
Do you have COVID-19 research project underway that’s not included here? Email comm.web@psych.ubc.ca.
The virtual classroom
In March 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic changed education. UBC transitioned to virtual learning and the department’s sudden shift to online learning has been a monumental task for faculty and staff.
To welcome new and returning students, the department hosted an Ask Me Anything (AMA) on Reddit and delivered its orientation through Canvas.
Dr. Benjamin Cheung explored the intersection of culture and race with individual and community wellbeing through the delivery of the course ACAM 320B: Health Among the Asian Diaspora in Canada.
Graduating virtually
On June 17, 2020, over 550 psychology students officially graduated. While we couldn’t celebrate in person, we celebrated our students virtually.
On November 25, 2020, a number of psychology master’s and doctoral students graduated. From developing parenting interventions to support child development—to showing that hearing persists at the end of life, these early career researchers are addressing some of the critical challenges facing our society today.
COVID-19 research in the news
Below is a snapshot of just some of the expert opinions of our faculty featured in the media.
- The Tyee: Can empathy help beat a pandemic?
- BBC: The fear of coronavirus is changing our psychology
- CTV: Some coping better than others with COVID-19, research suggests
- The Vancouver Sun: COVID-19 unemployment could trigger more than 2,000 suicides in Canada
- CBC: Demand for online learning services soars during pandemic
- Huffington Post: Burnout is a hidden COVID-19 crisis, and you might have it
- The Atlantic: A failure of empathy led to 200,000 deaths. It has deep roots.
- The Globe and Mail: Psychology research during the pandemic: The upside of being online
- Elle Canada: What if we responded to climate change like we have to coronavirus?
- The Ubyssey: When students are stressed, they turn to games: UBC professor explains psychology behind gaming
- Scientific American: Masks can be detrimental to babies’ speech and language development
- New York Times: Travel and the art of anticipation
