Department of Psychology - Okanagan Campus

05/29/2026

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MindFest is a curiosity-piquing event packed with fascinating psychology talks, great food, and, this year, magic! The event is free, fun, and for everyone.

Join us at Metro Community Hub for MindFest, a vibrant evening that brings cutting-edge psychology research at UBC Okanagan to life! Discover how our faculty and students are advancing well-being through engaging, interactive presentations made for everyone—no science degree needed.

Enjoy talks on hot topics ranging from substance use to mental health, human behaviour, and creativity! We would love to see attendees come and ask questions and get involved in real research. Then, unwind with a live magic performance by the award-winning magician Ryan Michael, free catered food by TJ’s Grazing, and meaningful conversation with our presenters and organizers.

Location: Metro Hub: 1265 Ellis St, Kelowna, BC V1Y 1Z7
Date: June 25, 2026
Time: 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm

Attendees have the opportunity to vote for their favourite presentation, and raffle prizes for local Okanagan companies are up for grabs as well!

RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1988862220440?aff=oddtdtcreator

05/29/2026

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02/24/2026

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On March 2, 2026 (12:00–1:00 PM PST), Dr. Lesley Lutes (CORE Lab) at UBCO is hosting Psychologist Advocacy 101: Change Beyond the Therapy Room, as part of our Advocacy Speaker Series focused on mental and behavioural health policy.

The timing of this session is particularly important given the ongoing mental health crisis across Canada and the growing need for psychologists to engage in policy and system-level advocacy. Provinces are at a policy crossroads as they consider how psychologists and other specialized mental health providers are funded and integrated into publicly funded healthcare systems. It’s increasingly important that trainees and early-career professionals are equipped with the skills to participate in these conversations.

We are pleased to welcome Steve Vanderwall, Founder of Rocky Point Public Affairs and former senior political advisor to three British Columbia Ministers of Health. Steve will lead a practical and engaging discussion on how psychologists, trainees, researchers, and system leaders can meaningfully engage in advocacy to drive system-level change.

The session will focus on:

Understanding the role of psychologists as advocates
Applying key principles of effective advocacy
Preparing for and conducting meetings with policymakers
Amplifying professional and collective messages for greater impact

This webinar is designed to be accessible and relevant to undergraduate and graduate trainees, practicing clinicians and researchers, and decision-makers alike, with a focus on empowering the profession to engage constructively in policy conversations.

Please register using this RSVP link:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScGJS1PEr3PZlJyhkznpmwuepp_6o7HpL7ZKodPpP2itLr1_g/viewform

02/11/2026

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UBCO STREAM EVENT: From Bias to Belonging: Building a More Inclusive Health and Fitness Workforce Through EDI Training

More information and registration here:https://ubc.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ePtJOLE7vO4Ry9U

Health and fitness professionals play a vital role in supporting the well‑being of diverse communities, yet few receive training in cultural safety, inclusivity, or recognizing systemic power imbalances. Dr. Mary Jung’s research addresses this gap by developing and evaluating online EDI learning platforms designed for both current practitioners and future healthcare providers. By targeting stereotypes and biases related to weight, ethnicity, and gender early in academic and professional pathways, this work aims to create more inclusive health programming and reduce longstanding inequities in access and care.

In this talk, Dr. Mary Jung will share insights from the development and evaluation of an online Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) learning platform tailored for health and fitness professionals as well as students in health‑related disciplines. Attendees will learn how these tools challenge persistent stereotypes, and how integrating EDI training early can meaningfully reduce health inequities.

This is a UBCO STREAM (Science, Technology, Research, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) Event. STREAM is a multi-pronged initiative, aiming to enhance the appreciation of impactful equity-based and historically, persistently, and systemically marginalized (HPSM)-produced scholarly work at UBCO and beyond. STREAM’s overarching philosophy is to demonstrate to students, staff, and faculty that there is much to learn from marginalized voices in scholarly research.

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01/30/2026

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The PCU is excited to announce that PCU hoodies are now on sale! Hoodies are available now following the link below to pre order them. With any questions or inquiries please contact: [email protected] or check out the PCU Canvas for more details.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdMsPDfcZlj88mEhg0BkuqJJ1VddFT9o4e7C8h6nSxSAAd3Mw/viewform?usp=publish-editor

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01/13/2026

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10/01/2025

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Friday, Oct 3rd, from 5-6:30pm in ART 367.

The Rationalism-Empiricism Debate in the Twenty-First Century

A key foundational idea in the cognitive revolution was that cognitive science can work with philosophy to reinvigorate the classical debate over innate ideas. In recent years, however, there has been a widespread tendency to think that we should just give up on this rationalism-empiricism debate on the grounds that it is fundamentally misguided. It's widely thought that rationalists and empiricists must be disagreeing about which is more important to development, genes or the environment, and that this makes the debate obsolete because genes and the environment are equally important. In this talk, I will argue that competing rationalist and empiricist views aren't and never have been about genes vs. the environment—that this is an important misunderstanding—and that, far from being obsolete, the rationalism-empiricism debate remains central to understanding how the mind works.