Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

The Faculty of Art & Social Sciences focuses on developing engaged citizens primed to shape and be involved in their communities. The faculty is home to a range of highly ranked programs across 16 departments and schools, as well as a language institute.

Academic Units

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Learn more about their programs and how to apply. Contact graduate program assistants for program and application inquiries.

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Featured Graduate Student

  • Kaya is a Global Humanities Master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Ecological grief; relationality; imagination (British Columbia Graduate Scholarship)

  • Williams is a French master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Identity, Migration, Belongingness

  • Benjamin is a Linguistics Master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Speech variation, language ideologies, dialectology (SSHRC CGS-M, departmental Graduate Fellowships)

  • Ellen is a Graduate Liberal Studies Master's student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences engaging in critical conversations about some of the most pressing issues of our time.

  • Nikola's research is focused on children's memory for events, and researching best practices for interviewing children. (BC Graduate Scholarship)

  • Francis is a master's student in Graduate Liberal Studies.

  • Leah is a Urban Studies master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: reconciliation in city planning, arts advocacy, community engagement (BC Graduate Scholarship Award and an Indigenous Entrance Scholarship)

  • Shreemouna is a PhD student studying Gerontology with the goal of learning more about interdisciplinary approaches, qualitative method, and knowledge translation.

  • Shawna is a doctoral student of gerontology and a recipient of the SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship. Shawna currently studies the impact of social isolation on the health of older adults, especially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Boah is a Gerontology Doctoral student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences whose main research interest is community-based integrated care for older adults with complex needs. (Graduate Dean Entrance Scholarship)

  • Samantha is a Gerontology PhD studentresearching social care when facing grief and technological mediation as new ideas of mourning and funerary practices.

  • Tanaya is a International Studies master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords of research are Race relations, domestic work, Kenya. (Simons Foundation Canada Graduate Fellowship in International Studies)

  • Nikita Mitra is a Gender, Sexuality & Women's Studies master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and a recipient of the Grace Woodsworth MacInnis Graduate Award. (Grace Woodsworth MacInnis Grad Award)

  • Leslie is a Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies Doctoral student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences whose research seeks to shed light on the sexual harassment of women lawyers by male lawyers. (Graduate Dean Entrance Scholarship)

  • Kathleen is researching how trans youth in BC connect to support and resources online, including how they handle privacy issues and misinformation. (SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship)

  • Mathew is a Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies PhD building bridges between feminist STS and the work of Indigenous theorists on multispecies governance (Dean's Graduate Fellowship, the BC Graduate Scholarship, the Margaret & Claude Mitchell Graduate Award, the National Council of Jewish Women Scholarship, and Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC))

  • Shanny is a Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies Doctoral student undertaking community-engaged research on practicing Tai Chi as self-care during COVID-19 and and it's effect on immigrant women during the pandemic (Grace Woodsworth MacInnis Graduate Entrance Scholarship)

  • Lena is a Political Science master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords of research are Community-engaged; critical; intersectional (SSHRC CGSM)

  • Ayesha-Jade is a Political Science Master student. Three research keywords: Empowerment, justice, and equity

  • Rachel is a Political Science Master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Political Behaviour, Conflict, Comparative Politics (SSHRC-CGSM)

  • Alexandra is a Political Science Doctoral student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences whose research examines how different generations view security and defense issues. (CTEF Graduate Fellowship)

  • Collyn is a Economics MA student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: macroeconomic policy; development economics; economic growth. (British Columbia Graduate Scholarship Award)

  • Hung Truong is a economics doctorate student who explores the interaction between human behaviour and economic modeling. (Special Graduate Entrance Scholarship)

  • Dian is a Ph.D. student in Economics. His research focuses on auction theory and mechanism design. (Special Graduate Entrance Scholarship)

  • Timothé is a Public Policy master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. He studies MPP program which trains future policy analysts and policy makers to develop consequential policies in a whole range of domains.

  • Madison is a Master of Public Policy student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: youth sexual exploitation, foster care, child welfare (British Columbia Graduate Scholarship)

  • Jayme is a History master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords of research are early modern England; visual culture; manuscripts (William & Ruth Baldwin Graduate Scholarship, Graduate Fellowship)

  • Jan is a History Master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Early Modern England; Wills and Manuscripts/Parish Records; Death and Commemoration. ( two Graduate Fellowships, a History Department Research Travel Grant (TARA), a SHHRC-CGMS award, and a bursary from the Institute of Historical Research (University of London))

  • Olivia is a History Master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: British Columbia, Racism, 20th century (SSHRC-CGSM)

  • Catriona is a History Master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Sport-fishing; resource management; colonial policy (SSHRC-CGSM)

  • Aso Javaheri is a History doctoral student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three Research Keywords: Class, Movements, Kurdistan

  • Naz is researching the Greek-Orthodox Carnival celebrations in the Ottoman Empire, Greece, Balkans and Modern Turkey. (Graduate Entrance Scholarship)

  • Dana Graham Lai is a English doctoral student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and a recipient of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) Doctoral award (2023) and SSHRC-funded M.A. (CGSM) in Interdisciplinary Humanities at Trinity Western University (2022).

  • Geoffrey Nilson is an English doctoral student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three Research Keywords: poetry; decolonialism; historical materialism

  • Garin is an English master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Internet, Culture, Preservation (SSHRC-CGSM)

  • Yelani is English master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Intersectionality, popular fiction, romances (SSHRC-CGSM)

  • Alexander is an English Master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: ‘settler-colonialism,’ ‘contemporary autobiography,’ and ‘Indigenous identity.’ (SSHRC-CGSM)

  • Mackenzie is an English PhD student researching poetry, Indigenous literature, and urban spaces. (Edward M.W. Gibson Fellowship in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)

  • Rawia is a PhD student exploring how individual and group fantasies are embedded in cultural objects that reproduce the Palestinian-Israeli context. (BC Graduate Scholarship)

  • Sarah is an Sociology master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords of research: neoliberalism; affect theory; living with crisis (SSHRC CGSM)

  • Morgaine is an Anthropology master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Multispecies studies, Experimental documentary, Affect theory (SSHRC CGSM, Departmental Graduate Fellowship, FASS Travel Award, GSS Professional Development Grant)

  • Ty is an Anthropology master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Diaspora; Indigenous-Asian relationalities; settlerhood (Indigenous Grad Entrance Scholarship (IGES))

  • Regina is Sociology & Anthropology master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Place-Making; Migrant Labour; Latin America (SSHRC-CGSM)

  • Mary is a Sociology master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Chronic Illness Identity, Qualitative, Community-Based Research (graduate dean's entrance scholarship (GDES), SSHRC CGS-M)

  • Steffanie is a Sociology Master's student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences focusing on national agendas and extractivism in the international area of contemporary art. (BC Graduate Scholarship, Dean's Graduate Fellowship)

  • Elizabeth is an Anthropology Master's student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences working to provide culturally safe access to healthcare and decolonizing it globally. (Graduate Fellowship)

  • Madelyn research looks at makers to understand what contributes to their making practices and products. (SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship)

  • Abu is a Sociology and Anthropology Doctoral student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences studying Hazara refugees in time and across space to see how memories and forgetting of the past are implicated in their migration trajectory and settlement desires and practices, social mobility, and political work. (Graduate Dean's Entrance Scholarship; Community Trust Endowment Fellowship)

  • Tyler is a Criminology master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Crime radiation; crime at bars; place management. (SSHRC CGSM)

  • Matheus is a Economics doctoral student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Political Economy, Development Economics, Applied Microeconomics. (Graduate Dean Entrance Scholarship, Terry Heaps Outstanding Assistant Award, Lang Wong Memorial Scholarship, Peter Kennedy Memorial graduate Fellowship)

  • August Skrudland is a Criminology master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and a recipient of the SSHRC CGSM Award.

  • Serena is a Criminology Doctoral student. Three research keywords: Intimate partner violence, animal abuse, non-anthropocentrism (SSHRC CGS-M and Ken Lepin Graduate Student Award)

  • Courtney is Criminology master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Social network analysis, policing, organized-crime (SSHRC-CGSM)

  • Leo is a Criminology master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Young Offenders; Offender Risk Assessment; Birth Cohort Effects (SSHRC CGSM)

  • Caitlin is a Criminology doctoral student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords of research are Terrorism, extremism, violence

  • Steff is a Criminology Doctoral student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences whose research aims at creating inclusive practices conducted for missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and Two-Spirit death investigations in North America. (GPS Graduate Fellowship, Graduate Dean Entrance Scholarship)

  • Soraya is a Criminology Doctoral student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences whose work focuses on advocacy, learning about why people confess and/or plead guilty to crimes that they did not commit - despite being factually innocent. (Graduate Fellowship)

  • Ashley is a master's student in the School of Criminology studying offender risk assessment, with research focused on overrepresentation of Indigenous Peoples in the justice system.

  • Samantha is a doctoral student in the School of Criminology and a recipient of the SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship. Samantha's research is focused on wildlife criminology.

  • Britny is focused on the decomposition of human remains underwater and the use of novel underwater detection techniques to assist recovery and identification of missing people. (BC Graduate Scholarship)

  • Michaela is a School of Criminology PhD student examining the importance of belonging, justice, and injustice by analyzing decolonization, belonging, resurgence and self-governance. (Graduate Dean's Entrance Award, SSHRC CGSM, SSHRC Vanier)

  • Vienna's research on aquatic bone decomposition has earned her international recognition as the Forensic Science Foundation and CRC Press 2019 top student travel award winner.

  • Payten is a Criminology Master's student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences whose research focuses on arson and wrongful convictions. (SSHRC CGS Masters Scholarship)

  • Manéh is a Master of Arts in Criminology student.

  • Fiza is a Experimental Psychology and Law master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords of her research are false memory; interviewing techniques; children's memory.

  • Camryn is a Experimental Psychology and Law master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords of research are Face matching, Identification, Surveillance (SSHRC CGSM, Special Graduate Entrance Scholarship, Graduate Fellowship)

  • Kristina is a Psychology master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Friendships, Prosociality, Happiness (SSHRC CGSM)

  • Jourdan is a Clinical Forensic Psychology doctoral student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords of research are school violence, school safety, school threat assessment

  • Laura is a Clinical Psychology Master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords of research are emotion regulation; reflective functioning; parent-adolescent relationships 

  • Ishani is a Psychology Master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Mindfulness, Autism, Parenting (Special Graduate Entrance Scholarship, the Graduate Fellowship, DIVERT Mental Health Fellowship)

  • Jade is a Psychology Master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords:Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Biological Correlates of Social Behaviour, and Social Attention (CIHR CGS-M)

  • Victoria is a Social Psychology Master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Relational psychology, Attachment theory, and Interpersonal dynamics. (SSHRC CGSM Award)

  • Samantha is Clinical Psychology, Forensics master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: assessment (forensic personality, threat, fitness to stand trial, mentally disordered offenders), psychopathology, forensic intervention (SSHRC-CGSM)

  • Elyse is a Social Psychology Master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Environmental justice, Social change, pro-environmental psychology (SSHRC-CGSM)

  • Stephanie is a Psychology doctoral student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Circadian rhythms, Alzheimer’s disease, Sleep (Simons Foundation Doctoral Entrance Fellowship)

  • Eva is a Doctoral student in Law and Forensic Psychology. Previously, she was working as a Research Associate in England. Eva's research is focused on the reliability of witnesses in court and the causes of false eyewitness identification.

  • Daniel is a doctoral student in Psychology (Cognitive & Neural Sciences), studying neuro-cognitive processes through noninvasive recordings of brain electricity to see how people pay attention to their visual environment.

  • Samuel is a master's student in the Clinical Psychology program, and his research focuses on psychopathy, violence, and risk assessment.

  • Medha is a clinical psychology student and a recipient of the CGS Master's Scholarship. Medha's current research focuses on examining factors contributing to the development of persistent post-concussion symptoms.

  • Rashmi is a master’s student involved in Clinical Psychology research done in private practices and hospitals. (SSHRC CGS Masters Scholarship)

  • Annika is researching group processes and collective environmental action. (Special Entrance Graduate Scholarship)

  • Tiara is a graduate student in Social Psychology who is focusing on the intersections of life transitions and pro-social behaviors on well-being outcomes. (Special Graduate Entrance Scholarship, SSHRC Vanier)

  • Emily is a PhD student who is focusing on traumatic brain injury. (CIHR Doctoral Research Award)

  • Julia is a Clinical Psychology masters student expanding her previous work in adult risk-taking behaviours to focus on adolescents and the impact of close relationships in the future. (Graduate Dean Entrance Scholarship)

  • Emma's research looks at the influence that seeing social media profiles for potential suspects of a crime. (SSHRC CGS Masters Scholarship)

  • Adriana is a Psychology Master's student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences who uses an evolutionary approach to understand mental processes through evolution. (Special Graduate Entrance Scholarship)

  • Katherine is studying forensic search and recovery methods in residential schools in Canada.

  • Hailey-Thomas is a Gerontology Doctoral student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences exploring aging, including topics such as, health and the built environment. (SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship)

  • Timothy is a Political Science Doctoral student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences whose research focuses on right-wing Canadian/Albertan politics. (SSHRC Doctoral Scholarship, BC Graduate Scholarship, Dean's Graduate Fellowship)

  • Pavel is a sociology master's student who studies sociologically inclined theoretical perspectives on the collapse of the Soviet Union.

  • Maitland is a Psychology Doctoral student in the Faculty of Arts and Socials Sciences whose research focus is to understand when and why people will support acts that are committed by their own group and are intended to cause harm to another group. (Laurine Harrison Graduate Thesis Award)

  • Natalie is a Community Planner and a SFU Master of Urban Studies student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Sustainable Neighbourhood Design, Natural Hazards, Emergency Management (SSHRC CGSM)

  • Caitlin is a doctoral student in SFU’s Clinical Psychology researching mental health interventions for adults with persisting post-concussion symptoms. (SSHRC cgs-d; Kruger Products Bicultural entrance fellowship, BC graduate scholarship, and Dean's graduate fellowship)

  • Nathaniel is a Developmental Psychology Ph.D. student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords of research are Mindfulness, Mindful Parenting, Well-being across the lifespan. (CIHR CGSD)

  • Sharon is Master of Public Policy student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Planetary health, climate policy, health policy (SSHRC CGS-M, Special Entrance Scholarship, Graduate Fellowship)

  • Alie is a Urban Studies master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords of research are Housing, low-income, community. (BC Graduate Scholarship)

  • Jihanne is a Clinical Psychology Master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: Mindfulness, multicultural families, emotion regulation ( SSHRC CGS-M, NSERC USRA)

  • Thomasina is a Geography Master student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Three keywords: critical, hopeful, liberatory (Special Graduate Entrance Scholarship, Three Minute Thesis Prize, SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship Masters)

  • Tasnim is researching the use and diffusion of English language in non-native contexts, to explore the theoretical models of World Englishes. (Special Entrance Graduate Scholarship)

  • Ilvy is a Forensic Psychology & Law Doctoral student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences studying how to talk better about the findings following assessments for violence risk. (SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship)

  • Lucy is an Independent Interdisciplinary Studies Doctoral student in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences whose research is on Indigenous museology and Haida museum practice in particular.

Internal + Donor Funded Awards

Learn about Internal + Donor Funded awards at SFU.

View Awards

Department of Criminology

Program Credential Tuition Completion Pathway
Applied Legal Studies MA Specialty Course Work
Criminology MA Regular Thesis
Criminology PhD
(Minimum funding available)
Regular
Thesis
Visit the Department of Criminology to learn more about programs, how to apply, and for contact information.

Department of Economics

Program Credential Tuition Completion Pathway
Economics MA Regular Course Work; Extended Essay; Project; Thesis
Economics PhD
(Minimum funding available)
Regular
Thesis
Visit the Department of Economics to learn more about programs, how to apply, and for contact information.

Department of English

Program Credential Tuition Completion Pathway
English MA
(Minimum funding available)
Regular Course Work; Extended Essay or Project
English PhD
(Minimum funding available)
Regular
Thesis
Master of Arts for Teachers of English MATE Regular Thesis; Extended Essay or Project
Visit the Department of English to learn more about programs, how to apply, and for contact information.

Department of French

Program Credential Tuition Completion Pathway
French MA Regular Thesis; Extended Essays
Visit the Department of French to learn more about programs, how to apply, and for contact information.

Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies

Program Credential Tuition Completion Pathway
Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies MA Regular Thesis; Course Work
Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies PhD
(Minimum funding available)
Regular
Thesis
Visit the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies to learn more about programs, how to apply, and for contact information. 

Department of Gerontology

Program Credential Tuition Completion Pathway Work Experience
Gerontology MA Regular Thesis; Project Internship
Gerontology PhD
(Minimum funding available)
Regular
Thesis -
Visit the Department of Gerontology to learn more about programs, how to apply, and for contact information.

Department of Global Humanities

Program Credential Tuition Completion Pathway
Global Humanities MA Regular Thesis
Visit the Department of Global Humanities to learn more about programs, how to apply, and for contact information.

Graduate Liberal Studies Program

Program Credential Tuition Completion Pathway
Liberal Studies MA Specialty Course Work; Extended Essay; Project
Visit the Graduate Liberal Studies Program to learn more about programs, how to apply, and for contact information.

Department of History

Program Credential Tuition Completion Pathway
History Certificate Regular Course Work
History MA Regular Thesis
History PhD
(Minimum funding available)
Regular
Thesis
Visit the Department of History to learn more about programs, how to apply, and for contact information.

School for International Studies

Program Credential Tuition Completion Pathway
International Studies MA Regular Extended essays; Thesis
Visit the School for International Studies to learn more about programs, how to apply, and for contact information. 

Department of Linguistics

Program Credential Tuition Completion Pathway
Linguistics MA
(Minimum funding available)
Regular Thesis
Linguistics PhD
(Minimum funding available)
Regular Thesis
Indigenous Languages and Linguistics Certificate
Regular Course Work
Indigenous Languages and Linguistics MA Regular Course Work; Project; Thesis
Visit the Department of Linguistics to learn more about programs, how to apply, and for contact information.

Department of Philosophy

Program Credential Tuition Completion Pathway
Philosophy MA Regular Course Work; Thesis
Visit the Department of Philosophy to learn more about programs, how to apply, and for contact information.

Department of Political Science

Program Credential Tuition Completion Pathway
Political Science MA
(Minimum funding available)
Regular Course Work; Project; Thesis
Political Science PhD
(Minimum funding available)
Regular
Thesis
Visit the Department of Political Science to learn more about programs, how to apply, and for contact information.

Department of Psychology

Program Credential Tuition Completion Pathway Work Experience
Psychology MA Regular Thesis Practicum (Clinical Stream only)
Psychology PhD
(Minimum funding available)
Regular
Thesis Practicum (Clinical Stream only)
Visit the Department of Psychology to learn more about programs, how to apply, and for contact information.

School of Public Policy

Program Credential Tuition Completion Pathway Work Experience
Public Policy MPP Specialty Course Work Co-op
Visit the School of Public Policy to learn more about programs, how to apply, and for contact information. 

Department of Sociology and Anthropology

Program Credential Tuition Completion Pathway
Anthropology MA Regular Thesis
Anthropology PhD
(Minimum funding available)
Regular
Thesis
Sociology MA Regular Thesis
Sociology PhD
(Minimum funding available)
Regular
Thesis
Visit the Department of Sociology + Anthropology to learn more about programs, how to apply, and for contact information.

Urban Studies Program

Program Credential Tuition Completion Pathway
Urban Studies Diploma Specialty Course Work
Urban Studies Murb Specialty Project
Visit the Urban Studies Program to learn more about programs, how to apply, and for contact information.