Aspiration PDFs third intake

Aspiration Post-doctoral Fellows program welcomes a new cohort of outstanding talent

March 13, 2025

Over the past year, UVic has welcomed five new early-career researchers in the third intake of Aspiration Postdoctoral Fellows. This VPRI initiative attracts outstanding postdoctoral fellows from around the world to conduct cutting-edge research at UVic. Aligned with Aspiration 2030, UVic’s Research and Creative Works Strategy, their funded projects will advance one or more of the five research impact areas. This investment extends our world-class training and commitments to developing the next generation of research leaders.

Meet the 2024 cohort:

Lauren Airth

Lead supervisor: Bruce Wallace
Impact area: Health and Wellness, Social justice and equity
Project title: Community-based learning to promote social justice and equity in harm reduction

Overdose is now the leading cause of death for people 10 to 59 years of age in BC. Lauren is researching how UVic students can meet their learning goals, contribute to substance use research and enhance the capacity of the harm reduction field to prevent harm from toxic drugs.

Lauren is a registered nurse with a BSc, MSc, and PhD, all in nursing, from the University of British Columbia. For her PhD, she conducted an implementation science study of a multisector (university – community – health authority) student-run harm reduction drug checking service that she co-founded and coordinated.

Grace Akingbade

Supervisor: Brian Christie
Impact area: Health and wellness
Project title: Effects of repeated mTBI on synaptic structure in the aging brain

The increasing incidence of brain injury is a major health concern, with 1.5 million Canadians affected by traumatic brain injury (TBI). Grace’s study will examine the sex-specific impact of repeated mild TBI, like those incurred with intimate partner violence, in the brain ultrastructure using high-powered microscopy and protein analysis.

Grace holds a BSc, MSc, and PhD in Anatomy from the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. Her doctoral research focused on the therapeutic effect of D-ribose-L-cysteine on neurodegenerative disorders. She completed part of this study at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, USA, where she acquired skills and techniques in electron microscopy.

Nathan Cassee

Lead supervisor: Margaret-Anne Storey
Impact area: Social justice and equity, Technology and the human experience
Project title: Generative AI and its impact on collaboration in software engineering

AI tools, like ChatGPT, are rapidly changing knowledge work. One profession at the forefront of this change is software engineering. In this project, we will study how these tools change how software developers work together and whether individuals’ reliance on AI changes dynamics in software engineering teams.

Nathan Cassee studied how software engineers use sentiment and emotions to communicate and obtained his PhD cum laude at Eindhoven University of Technology in 2024. His research interest is the human and social aspects of software engineering.

Blake Ledger

Lead supervisor: Sara Ellison
Impact area: Fundamental research and inquiry
Project title: A universal law for star formation in galaxies

Blake uses observations from international telescope facilities to investigate how galaxies, collections of stars, gas, dust, and dark matter, evolve and change over time. His work explores how the content of galaxies changes when they collide and merge with other galaxies.

Blake obtained an Honours BSc in Physics and Astrophysics from the University of Calgary and completed his PhD in Astronomy at McMaster University, where he managed the William J. McCallion Planetarium. Blake is passionate about science communication and making astronomy accessible and engaging in the broader community.

Emily Wordley

Lead supervisor: Brad Buckham
Impact area: Climate, environmental change and sustainability; Social justice and equity
Project title: Marine Renewable Energy and island community engagement

Emily’s postdoctoral research focuses on the meaningful engagement of island communities in energy decision-making processes. Key focus areas include public values, cultural history, trust, fairness, power dynamics, and science communication. Using the Community Voice Method, she integrates film and visual storytelling to amplify community voices and foster meaningful dialogue through participatory research approaches.

Emily undertook her PhD in Community Engagement and Marine Renewable Energy at the University of Huddersfield. She received a Turing Scholarship to work with the Pacific Regional Institute for Marine Energy Discovery, �Թ��, in 2023. She completed her MSc in Marine Environmental Management at the University of York and BSc in Ecology and Environmental Biology at the University of Leeds.

Aspiration PDFs 2025

The next round of Aspiration fellowships will open in Fall 2025.

More information on the program.

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