Five UBC Arts professors have been announced by the Royal Society of Canada (RSC) as new Fellows and Members of the College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists.
The fellowship of the RSC is comprised of over 2,500 Canadian scholars, artists, and scientists, who are peer-selected as the best in their field. These are individuals from all branches of learning who have made remarkable contributions in the arts, humanities, and sciences, as well as in Canadian public life.
The College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists is Canada’s first national system of multidisciplinary recognition for the emerging generation of Canadian intellectual leadership.
Fellows
Dr. Barbara Dancygier
Dr. Barbara Dancygier
Dr. Dancygier is a Distinguished University Scholar and professor at the Department of English Language and Literatures (ENGL). Her primary research interests lie in two related disciplines: cognitive linguistics and cognitive poetics. She focuses on uncovering meaning-emergence processes in grammatical systems, but also discourse types, including literary language. Her current work focuses on the application of cognitive theories to digital and creative multimodal artifacts. She is also completing a project on the role of emotional attitudes in the form and impact of contemporary media, especially so-called post-truth phenomena. Dancygier’s published books include five monographs and a number of edited collections (books and special journal issues).
Dr. Edward Slingerland
Dr. Edward Slingerland
Dr. Slingerland is a Distinguished University Scholar, professor at the Department of Philosophy, and director of the Database of Religious History (DRH). His research and teaching focus on Warring States Chinese thought, religious studies, cognitive linguistics, virtue ethics, evolutionary psychology, digital humanities, and science-humanities integration. Slingerland is the author of several academic monographs and edited volumes, a major translation of the Analects of Confucius, two trade books, and approximately fifty book chapters, reviews, and articles in top academic journals in a wide range of fields.
Members
Dr. Dylan Robinson
Dr. Dylan Robinson
Dr. Robinson is a xwélmexw (Stó:lō/Skwah First Nation) artist, curator, and writer. He is an associate professor for the UBC School of Music and the acting Associate Dean, Equity, (2024-2025) in the Faculty of Arts. His work includes co-curating the international touring exhibition Soundings, and leading a SSHRC-funded project Caring for Our Ancestors to reconnect Indigenous artists with ancestors and belongings held by museums. Robinson’s book, Hungry Listening (2020), explores Indigenous and settler colonial listening practices and has won multiple awards, including the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association’s award for best book.
Dr. Azim Shariff
Dr. Azim Shariff
Dr. Shariff is a social psychologist and professor at the Department of Psychology specializing in the intersection of morality and religion, culture, economics, and technology. His research has produced influential publications on topics such as religious prosociality, attitudes towards punishment, and the ethics of automation. Shariff has been recognized with numerous awards, has been named a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science, a Kavli Fellow for the National Academy of Sciences, and received the Canada 150 Research Chair.
Dr. Shariff is also a recipient of the Kitty Newman Memorial Award for his outstanding contributions as an emerging scholar in the field of philosophy.
Dr. Heidi J.S. Tworek
Dr. Heidi J.S. Tworek
Dr. Tworek is a Canada Research Chair and professor in the Department of History and School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Additionally, she is the director of the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions. Her research focuses on the history and policy of communications, particularly the impact of new media technologies on democracy. An accomplished scholar, she has published extensively on media, global history, and digital and health communications. Tworek is also a senior fellow at several prominent institutions and has advised policymakers globally on media and digital economy issues. She is the author of the award-winning book News from Germany and contributes regularly to major international publications.
