The Doctoral Colloquium in the Department of Educational Studies is a student-led initiative designed to provide a collegial and convivial space for doctoral students and candidates to present their research. Meeting monthly, the Colloquium invites doctoral students and candidates in EDST, as well as students and candidates affiliated with the department, to present, share, and discuss their research in a supportive and constructive atmosphere; generate meaningful discussions on their work with students, faculty and staff; and develop robust understandings of the research done by students in the department.
We invite doctoral students and candidates to participate both as speakers and participants, and welcome the support of research supervisors to encourage doctoral students to present their work at the Colloquium at least twice throughout their PhD or EdD studies. Students can present at any stage of their research. This could be the final stages of a well-researched dissertation in close proximity to a doctoral defense, the early stages of grappling with theory or methodologies, or anything in between. Following a 20-30 minute presentation of research, attendees are invited to share questions and comments in a productive and supportive exchange. Colloquia are arranged by the Colloquium Coordinator, a graduate student position within the department, who works with speakers to ensure the Colloquium is conducted in a collaborative, comfortable and productive environment. You can read more about previous Colloquia at the EDST Blog.
Speaker testimonials
Since its inception in 2023, almost 20 doctoral students have spoken at the EDST Doctoral Colloquium. Below, four students share their experience of presenting at the Colloquium.
Naomi Skel7áw̓s Narcisse
“These conversations have dialogue and folks are asking you questions about your research and it really builds that confidence within you.”
Naomi Skel7áw̓s Narcisse is a leader in sharing innovative pathways while maintaining her deep-rooted education from her home territories. Naomi fosters an environment of encouragement while nurturing holistic spaces. She is guided by her Mentors, Matriarchs, Ancestors, tmicw (land) and Nxekmenlhkálha múta7 nt’ákmenlhkalha (traditional laws and way of life). Naomi shares from a St’át’imc and Secwépemc women’s perspective, on the interconnection of traditional laws, education, lands, and language through oral stories. Naomi has studied at Nicola Valley Institute of Technology, Simon Fraser University, and the University of British Columbia.
Play the video below to hear Naomi’s experience of speaking at the Doctoral Colloquium.
Keenan Manning
Keenan Daniel Manning, is a doctoral student in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia. He has a masters degree in Education (Higher Education) from the University of Hong Kong where his thesis was a comparative study of international student decision-making in Hong Kong and Taiwan. His current research focus is on identity, belonging, and citizenship among minorities in Hong Kong. He has also researched and written on: higher education policy; inclusion, international student mobility; and, internationalisation of higher education.
“I did my colloquium presentation in January 2025, focusing on part of my Ph.D research looking at the history of ethnic minorities and higher education in Hong Kong.
I think that the Doctoral Colloquium is an interesting and useful way for EDST students to share what they’re doing with other people in the Department and get visibility and develop connections with other people. You not only see what other people are working on, but you can maybe see some of the crossovers between someone’s project and what you’re doing so there might also be opportunities to collaborate. There might be questions that you have, if someone else is a little bit further ahead of you in their project. There might also be something like an issue that you think you’re going to run into that they’ve already dealt with.
So, there are a lot of different benefits of doing this talk at various stages and I would say that one of the things that students can definitely consider doing is presenting early on and then you’ve still got the option of doing it again later.”
Yotam Ronen
“It was a great way of sharing my research in a non-judgemental arena where I could share what I was thinking, what I’m working on, and getting really good feedback that I could then use to improve my work.”
Yotam Ronen is a PhD candidate in the Department of Educational Studies. His research focuses on the global history of education during the early twentieth century, and he is particularly interested in how students, teachers, and families advocate for themselves and work to create learning spaces that fit their needs.
Play the video below to hear Yotam’s experience of speaking at the Doctoral Colloquium.
Jafar Iqbal
“The Doctoral Colloquium became a turning point, transforming confusion into clarity and giving direction to my research.”
Thomas Hood’s poem “Song of the Shirt” (1843) echoed the cries of a garment worker trapped in the dehumanization of labor and despair. Nearly two centuries later, those echoes resound in Bangladesh’s garment industry, where 4.1 million workers—mostly women—endure similar conditions. Jafar’s research listens to these resonances and asks: how might education, emerging from workers’ collective praxis, become a path toward understanding oppression and reclaiming agency for change?
Before joining UBC, Jafar studied sociology at the University of Dhaka and adult education at Penn State University. Over the past decade, Jafar has worked in research, policy, and advocacy with international organizations, including the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the State University of New York. As a sessional lecturer at EDST and a UBC Public Scholar, Jafar is committed to fostering dialogical pedagogy, where learning becomes a collective act of transformation.
“I arrived at the Doctoral Colloquium with deep uncertainty. Having just completed my comprehensive exam, I was beginning to craft my proposal but struggled with whether global ethnography (Burawoy et al., 2000), born in sociology, could capture the complexities of workers’ education in Bangladesh’s global garment industry. More fundamentally, I questioned how to bring together method, theory, and context into a coherent whole.
In the meantime, my supervisor encouraged me to share my work with the scholarly community. I came to see the Doctoral Colloquium as more than a formal event—it is a scholarly community where researchers listen, challenge, and care. Presenting my research on the global ethnography of workers’ education, I encountered a space of intellectual generosity and critical engagement. The feedback I received helped me confront my uncertainties, deepen my thinking on the ethics of social justice research, and refine my methodological choices in coherence with my theoretical framework. What once felt fragmented began to take shape. The Doctoral Colloquium became a turning point, transforming confusion into clarity and giving direction to my research.”
Are you interested in speaking at the Doctoral Colloquium?
If you are interested, please email Charlotte Milner at colloquium.edst@ubc.ca with your name, the title or topic of your research, and a brief outline of where you are in your PhD or EdD studies. The Colloquium Coordinator will then be in touch to arrange a suitable date for you to present your research.