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- Individualized Interdisciplinary Studies in Graduate Studies
Whether you are pursuing your Master’s or your Doctoral degree, the INS program tailors a path to your academic and research interests.
INS Guidelines for graduate students
Featured Graduate Student
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Lucy Bell, a PhD student in Individualized Interdisciplinary Studies, is interviewed on BC Museums Association Podcast.
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Individualized Interdisciplinary doctoral candidate, Jennifer Chutter, writes an article about housing affordability and the federal election, and is featured in The Conversation.
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Lucy Bell in INS studied repatriation and restitution in Chile.
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Edited by SFU INS PhD student, Katherine Nichols; SFU Archaeology PhD student, Chelsea Meloche; and, SFU Archeology PhD graduate, Dr. Laure Spake.
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Guerin is dedicated to revitalizing hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓, the downriver dialect of the Halkomelem language spoken by the Musqueam people.
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Spencer Greening has a gift for balancing traditional Indigenous knowledge, research, language and culture with Western scholarship, politics and activism.
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Sdahl K’awaas is the recipient of Simon Fraser University’s 2021 Nora and Ted Sterling Prize in Support of Controversy for her bravery in calling out racism in the heritage field and advocating for change.
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Individualized Interdisciplinary doctoral candidate, Jennifer Chutter, is interviewed on Spice Radio about housing affordability and the federal election.
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Lucy Bell in INS travelled to Haida Gwaii to begin her dissertation research.
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Robert is a poet, artist, and curator who works with Jewish histories as a medium for a context and site-dependent practice.
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Jennifer's research looks at the concept of housing being more than a shelter or economic commodity, exploring how attachment to a dwelling creates a sense of home.
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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.
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Katherine is studying forensic search and recovery methods in residential schools in Canada.
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Matthew is a PhD student studying the history of small music venues in BC.
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Alice is a PhD student in Individualized Interdisciplinary Studies in the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology examining how journalists use preprints - studies that have not yet gone through the peer review process - and what this means for the publics who rely on their reporting. (SSHRC CGS Doctoral Scholarship, Michael Stevenson Grad Scholar)
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Laurence is studying autofiction in postmodernism and performance theories.
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Steve is a PhD student in Individualized Interdisciplinary Studies studying wildfire forecasting.
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Asura is studying the infrastructure of scholarly communication in the 21st century.
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Spencer is a PhD student studying Indigenous knowledge and land stewardship.
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Hasheem is studying multimodal queer-based pedagogy in French Immersion high school classrooms.
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Bryan is studying the role of media technologies in documenting Indigenous cultural heritage.
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Ethan is a Doctoral student in Individualized Interdisciplinary Studies whose research concerns ekphrases (i.e. descriptions) of the urban landscape of Constantinople and its monuments in eleventh and twelfth century Byzantine literature. (Graduate Dean Entrance Scholarship)
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Makhfirat is an Individualized Studies Doctoral student in the Faculty of Education whose research is focused on what factors emerge as the primary drivers of success and failure among Central Asian students at the University of Central Asia (UCA). (University of Central Asia Scholarship, Dean's Graduate Fellowship)
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Niloufar involves mathematics, computer science, and biology in her interdisciplinary studies as a PhD student.
Master's Degrees
There are three degree options for master's INS students:
- Master of Applied Science (MASc)
- Minimum 36 units elective course work from at least 2 different academic units
- Two graduate on-campus courses; Four additional graduate courses
- Thesis
- Minimum 36 units elective course work from at least 2 different academic units
- Master of Arts (MA)
- Minimum 36 units elective course work from at least 2 different academic units
- Two graduate on-campus courses; Four additional graduate courses
- Thesis
- Minimum 36 units elective course work from at least 2 different academic units
- Master of Science (MSc)
- Minimum 36 units elective course work from at least 2 different academic units
- Two graduate on-campus courses; Four additional graduate courses
- Thesis
- Minimum 36 units elective course work from at least 2 different academic units
INS Master's Degree Timeline
Terms 1–3 | Course work |
Term 4–6 | Thesis Course |
Term 6 | Thesis Defence |
Doctoral Degree
Successful completion of all the program requirements will result in a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree.
- Minimum of 30 units with course work from at least 2 different academic units
- Two graduate on-campus courses
- Two additional graduate courses
- Comprehensive Exam
- Thesis
INS Doctoral Degree Timeline
Terms 1–5 | Course work |
Term 6 | Comprehensive Exam |
Terms 7+ (up to maximum of 15 terms total) | Thesis + Thesis Defence |