Valentine’s Day 2026 – SFU experts available

If life is like a box of chocolates, so too, is love. As we tumble head-first into Valentine’s Day weekend, SFU experts are available to comment on all-things-relationships, from singlehood and how romance changes over time to love in the later years – and even romantic human-AI relationships.  

Relationships

LARA AKNIN, distinguished professor, psychology, director of the Helping and Happiness Lab 
lara_aknin@sfu.ca  
Expertise: prosocial behaviour (including Valentine’s Day gift-giving), relationships and well-being, happiness, social relationships, reaching out to old friends

YUTHIKA GIRME, associate professor, psychology 
ygirme@sfu.ca (only available Friday, Feb. 13 12:30 – 2:30 p.m., please email to arrange interview time) 
Expertise: romantic relationships, couples, singles and singlehood experiences, relationship insecurities and security, social support, relationship satisfaction, singlehood satisfaction, singlism and singlehood discrimination

REBECCA COBB, associate professor, psychology 
rcobb@sfu.ca  
Expertise: how romantic relationships change and develop over time, romantic relations and psychological health, attachment security and communication, sexual satisfaction, role of sexual communication in romantic relationships

Connection and health

KIFFER CARD, assistant professor, Blanche and Charlie Beckerman Scholar for Public Health Innovation, health sciences 
kcard@sfu.ca  
Expertise: developed national guidelines for social connection, which recommends that people prioritize strong relationships to combat chronic loneliness – a public health issue more harmful than obesity or smoking.

THERESA PAULY, assistant professor, gerontology, Canada Research Chair in Social Relationships, Health, and Aging 
theresa_pauly@sfu.ca  
Expertise: social relationships and health, love in the later years, health links in couples. Her research includes a study that looked at whether sharing a bad habit (like couples who smoke together, or share sedentary behaviour or unhealthy diets) led to feeling closer to each other the next day

Technology/AI in love

ZOHA KHAWAJA, research associate, health sciences 
zoha_khawaja@sfu.ca  
Expertise: human/AI relationships, chatbots, ethical therapeutic AI support, voice AI virtual conversational agents, digital mental healthcare

Contact

SAM SMITH, SFU Communications & Marketing   
236.880.3297 | samuel_smith@sfu.ca  

Simon Fraser University   
Communications & Marketing | SFU Media Experts Directory   
778.782.3210

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