MEET THE TEAM
LAB MEMBERS
KIRAN DOGRA, BA (HONS.)
Lab Manager
Kiran graduated from Kwantlen Polytechnic University in 2020 with an honours degree in Psychology and a minor in Counseling Psychology. Her honours thesis investigated the relationship between Virtual Reality and Memory. Along with her involvement as Lab Manager with the VR Lab, Kiran is currently working as a research assistant in Dr. Daniel Bernstein’s Lifespan Cognition Lab, which examines how thinking develops across the Lifespan. Kiran is also a founder and reviewer for the Kwantlen Psychology Student Journal, where she edits undergraduate submissions (analytical and empirical) for publication. See Kiran's publications
In her free time, Kiran can be found outdoors hiking, reading her collection of novels in the shade, cooking her favourite comfort foods, or binge-watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
ZERLINDA CHAU, BA
Assistant Lab Manager
Zerlinda completed her BA in Psychology, Minor in Counselling in 2016. Zerlinda is obsessed with the psychology of design. She believes the most important aspect of design is leveraging psychology to create human-centred products, organizations and experiences. Her interest in extended reality technologies includes the design of VR/AR environments and their application in education and professional development.
Beyond the lab, Zerlinda works in international youth education as an event coordinator and leadership coach. She is a foodie, an urban adventurer, an athlete, a car lover, a gamer, a musician, a photographer.
SIMI DHALIWAL
Technology Development and Marketing Manager
Simi is a Bachelor of Science student majoring in Psychology. Her research would focus on helping to expand virtual reality in education. She also works for course analytics and mental health projects along with Dr. Levente Orban.
Simi enjoys going on coffee dates with her friends in old-school cafés, hiking the Grouse Grind, running the Crescent beach stretch, reading murder mystery novels, and listening to Amrinder Gill and Dua Lipa.
KAYLA GARVIN
Research Assistant | Social Media Coordinator
Kayla is a fourth year Psychology student with a history in Philosophy, Linguistics, and Computer Science. Her research focuses on how the emerging media and technology of today can be used to help better the experiences of everyone. On top of her work at the Bee Cognition Lab and the Kwantlen Psychology Society, Kayla also serves as a student representative on several committees.
With interests ranging from Human Geography all the way to UX Design, her multifaceted talents are a perfect fit for the VR Lab.
DAVID MURRAY, BA
Research Assistant | Graphic Designer
David graduated from KPU in 2017 with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and Minor in Counselling. His research interests in the VR Lab involve applications of virtual reality related to disgust sensitivity. Aside from research David is also the VR Lab’s resident graphic designer.
For fun, David enjoys distance running, going to the gym and cooking savoury food.
JASMINE CHEN, B.Sc. (HONS.)
Research Assistant | Web Administrator
Jasmine has earned an honours degree in Health Sciences from Kwantlen Polytechnic University in 2020. She is passionate in public health research. She is interested in researching and exploring more applications of virtual reality targeting nutritional health and general public health with the hope to integrate them into various public settings to promote health and well-being.
In spare time, Jasmine enjoys trying new restaurants, traveling around the world, and playing badminton.
CALVIN CAMPBELL
Research Assistant | XR Podcast Outreach
Calvin is a fourth year student seeking to receive his Bachelors in Applied Arts Psychology with Minors in Counseling. Though he seeks following his bachelors to work as a counselor, his time in school has taught him the importance of quantitative research for retaining a realistic image of the world. His research interests lie in social justice, emergent media and its impact on social psychology, and human communication.
Calvin spends what free time he has painting, playing video games, reading sociology books and fantasy novels, and facilitating a frankly irresponsible amount of Dungeons & Dragons.
YU-HSIN (SOPHY) LIN
Research Assistant
Sophy is a fourth year Health Science student with a minor in Counselling. Her previous research experience focused on investigating the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health and cardiovascular health of various populations. Her research interests include using virtual reality technology for health promotion, rehabilitation, and psychotherapy.
Sophy enjoys volunteering, practicing calligraphy, trying out new recipes, and learning about cat behaviour in her free time.
JOSEPHINE STEEVES
Research Assistant | XR Podcast Producer & Host
Josephine is a fourth year Bachelor of Science student majoring in Psychology and minoring in Philosophy. Her research interests include the psychology of design, aesthetics, cognition, and communication. She believes that we live in a world that we have designed for ourselves. So, with technology rapidly advancing we should strive to use this technology to design our environments to cater to our cognitive needs, along with our physical needs. She is curious to see how VR/AR can be used to facilitate these advances. She also works as a research assistant for Dr. Levente Orban on mental health projects, for Dr. Chartier at the CONEC lab in Ottawa, and for Dr. Tarry researching the impact of Covid-19 on education.
In what little free time she has, Josephine can be found at band practice playing the drums, working in her garden, writing screen plays for her amateur film making career, and playing dungeons and dragons with her friends.
ANDREI BUNICI
Research Assistant | XR Podcast Co-Host & Editor
Andrei is a first-year student pursuing a degree in psychology and a minor in philosophy, with the goal of becoming a counsellor. He is very fun-loving and naturally curious about his immediate surroundings and has a deep interest in altered states of consciousness and the mystical. Andrei is also a very avid gamer and has a deep connection to the ever-growing field of XR, and with this is more than excited to help where he is able and lead where he is passionate. Andrei is on his way to becoming a research assistant in the lab and has been working with the Lab's XR podcast team as an editor and co-host.
PREVIOUS LAB MEMBERS
LAB COLLABORATORS
DR. KAREN DAVISON
Lab Collaborator
Dr. Karen Davison is an award-winning scholar who is currently the Director of the Nutrition Informatics Research Group and Faculty Member in the Faculty of Science and Horticulture and cross-appointed to the Faculty of Health at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Her investigative interests are aimed at food and nutrition practices, interventions, and policies that will foster the generational transmission of physical, mental, and cognitive health in diverse populations. She is currently an Associate Editor for BMC Public Health and Academic Editor for PLoS One. She has been awarded Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) fellowships, Dietitians of Canada Peer Recognition Award, and Popular Science’s Magazine Clinical Leader Recognition Award. She is the first Canadian registered dietitian to be a recipient of a Fulbright Canada Research Chair award, to be inducted as New Scholar to the Royal Society of Canada (2019-2026), and to be a Fellow of the North American Primary Care Research Group. She has co-authored more than 100 scientific and professional publications that have been featured on the cover of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health and across more than 50 international media outlets including ABC, CTV, and MSN News. Her research has been supported by the Tri-Council Agencies, National Research Council, and Canadian Foundation for Innovation. Recently, she was grateful to receive a Canada Research Chair and is looking forward to conducting research examining the determinants of health and their association with physical, mental, and cognitive conditions.
Interested in joining the VR Lab to pursue additional research opportunities?
Consider the following:
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I have a foundational understanding of research methods and statistics (i.e., PSYC 2300, PSYC 2400)
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I have completed the TCPS Tutorial on Research Ethics
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I am dedicated and willing to commit a few hours per week on any current projects in the lab