Timothy Allan
I am a PhD student in Anthropology at the University of Alberta. My Thesis project is focusing on pre-colonial archaeology in Alberta's Rocky Mountains and understanding how oral histories, traditional knowledge and the archaeological record can elevate our understanding of the past. My interests include lithic technology, geoarchaeology, analysis of stone tools and material types, pre-contact Indigenous land-use, pre-contact Indigenous trade, and Indigenous place names.
Portia Attivor
I am a graduate student in Socio-Cultural Anthropology examining how Ghanaian immigrant mothers navigate mental wellbeing within Canadian contexts. My ethnographic research explores the social, cultural, and structural dimensions of mental health, investigating how immigration experiences, family responsibilities, community networks, and systemic barriers shape maternal mental health and coping strategies among Ghanaian women.
Kristal Barrywood
Kristal is a PhD student specializing in Sociocultural Anthropology. Her research in Paganism began at the University of Chicago where she became an expert on environmentalism within pagan rituals through her Master's thesis. At the University of Alberta, her dissertation research focuses on the emergence of Western Paganism in Japan. Kristal is one of only a handful of academics in North America studying Paganism.
Helen Kwan Yee Cheung
Helen has a diverse professional background in social services, personnel, and inter-governmental relations having worked in various provincial and federal government departments. She has served as a community volunteer for close to three decades in various leadership capacities. She is a recipient of the University of Alberta Alumni Centenary Award in 2015. Believing in lifelong learning, Helen continued to pursue further education after retirement and currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology.
Zhangzhuoran Dai
Zhangzhuoran Dai (she/her), or Zhuoran, is a PhD student in biological anthropology under the supervision of Dr. Sandra Garvie-Lok. She obtained her Bachelor's degree in anthropology at Sun Yat-sen University (China) and her MSc degree at the University of Oxford (UK). Her research focuses on past living experiences reflected in human skeletal remains in ancient China. Her research interests include paleopathology, dental anthropology, stress, dietary analysis, children, and childhood.
Hajar Ghorbani
I am a Ph.D. candidate in sociocultural anthropology at the University of Alberta, and a recipient of the Killam Scholarship and the SSHRC Vanier Scholarship. My doctoral research centers on death studies in the Middle East, examining how urban spaces, ritual practices, and material culture shape experiences of mortality while engaging with broader anthropological debates on materiality and more-than-human agency. I use qualitative, arts-based methodologies (integrating visual ethnography and creative practice into my fieldwork) to enrich cultural understanding and representation. I am also committed to decolonizing anthropology by challenging Western-centric paradigms and prioritizing inclusive, collaborative approaches to knowledge production. As the ambassador of ASDS, I strive to bridge Western and non-Western scholarly perspectives on death. By exploring the agency of the dead (recognizing how even inanimate remains can act as social agents in mortuary contexts) my work highlights the voices and influences of the material world in human society, offering new insights into both Iranian contexts and global conversations on mortality.
Hande Gür
Hande Gür (she/her) is a PhD candidate at the Department of Anthropology with a specialization in the anthropology of religion, spirituality, gender, and religious and social movements. Her doctoral research is an ethnographic study of the rise of Sufi—or mystical Islamic— practices among mainly young, middle-class women of Turkish origin living both in Türkiye and in the West. Gür brings to this research a solid record of academic research and publishing. She published her first solo article on this research in the Journal of Empirical Theology in 2020 and co-wrote a Turkish book based on a nation wide research, entitled “Spiritual Seeking in Türkiye” (Türkiye’de Spiritüel Arayışlar) in 2021.https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hande-Guer-3
https://ualberta.academia.edu/Handeg%C3%BCr
Cody Hemmingsen
Cody is a second-year master’s student working under the guidance of Dr. Kisha Supernant. His research examines lithic tools from historic Métis hivernant settlements in Alberta and Saskatchewan, exploring how stone tool production and use reflect relational practices, including economics, mobility, and lifeways during the nineteenth century.
Christine Hymanyk
Christine Hymanyk (she/her) is a Masters student in Biological Anthropology with an interest in bioarchaeology. Her current research focuses on the health of individuals, particularly children, during the British Industrial Revolution. She is also an enthusiastic reader of fantasy novels and consumer of sugary caffeinated drinks.
Uthman Khan
Uthman Khan’s research examines affective resonance as a dynamic relation between sound, body, and institution. Drawing on art, affect theory, and anthropological approaches to emotion, his work explores how resonance and dissonance circulate through musical, bureaucratic, and digital systems to shape collective feeling and social power.
Serafina King
Serafina is a second-year master's student in religious anthropology working under the supervision of Dr. Joseph Hill.
Benjamin Kucher
Benjamin Kucher is a Masters student in the Department of Anthropology with research interests in Indigenous Archaeology, Métis cultural practices, and trade networks. His current research focuses on analyzing trade beads to explore the significance of material culture in defining and understanding Métis identity. Benjamin is dedicated to integrating social justice and community-based approaches within archaeological practices to support Indigenous sovereignty and cultural preservation. In addition to his research he serves at the Graduate Students' Association Vice President Student Life and Co-President of the Indigenous Graduate Students' Association.
Oleksandra Kushnir
Oleksandra Kushnir is a Master's student in Sociocultural Anthropology working under the supervision of Marko Zivkovic. She completed her BA in International Relations and European Studies at Coventry (UK) and Lazarski (Poland) Universities with honours. She obtained her MA degree with distinction in Culture, Media and Society from the Polish Academy of Science and Lancaster University (joint degree). Her academic interest resides in exploring political, historical and social processes in Central and Eastern Europe, specifically in Russia and Ukraine. Currently, in her MA research, Oleksandra applies the lens of sociocultural anthropology and cultural psychology to examine historical “Great Patriotic War” narratives in the Kremlin-originated propaganda, providing it with a broader cultural and social context.
Jennifer Laughton
Jennifer (she/elle/она) is a PhD student specializing in biological anthropology. She is a member of the Baikal Archaeology Project (BAP) and is supervised by Dr. A. Weber. Her research focuses on the dental anthropology and odontometrics of Neolithic and Bronze Age hunter-gatherers of the Cis-Baikal region of Siberia, Russia.
Sara LeFurgey
Sara is a first-year anthropology master’s student born and raised in British Columbia. She attended the University of Toronto, where she obtained her honours Bachelor of Science in forensic anthropology. Today, Sara is a part of the Institute for Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology, where she researches new methods in minimally invasive unmarked grave detection with Dr. Kisha Supernant. Through collaboration, Sara strives to help everyone find a voice, leaving her immensely honoured to conduct this research.
Sarah Mann
Sarah Mann (she/her) is a Francophone first year graduate student. She completed her Bachelors in Anthropology from the University of Alberta in 2023. Her research interests include Michif, language inclusion in archaeology, and Métis history. She is also a proud plant mom.
Etner Mathiba
Etner Mathiba is a thesis-based graduate student in Anthropology at the University of Alberta. Her research focuses on human osteology and bioarchaeology, exploring how skeletal evidence reveals insights into health, diet, and identity in past populations. She is passionate about forensic anthropology and the ethical study of human remains.
Tristan Mula
Tristan Mula is completing an MA in Biological Anthropology at the University of Alberta, focusing on how burning affects kerf mark integrity and forensic interpretation. She earned a BSc in Biological Sciences with an anthropology minor and are dedicated to advancing methodological standards in forensic and biological anthropology.
Ridwan Mustapha
I hold bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Islamic Studies from the University of Ibadan and am currently a doctoral student at the University of Alberta under the supervision of Joseph Hill. My research explores Islamic exorcism (ruqyah), spirituality, ethics, and mental health, examining how Islamic healing engages with contemporary therapeutic practices.
Séamus Rudden
Séamus is a first year graduate student, pursuing his Master’s in Anthropology. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in Anthropology from the University of Alberta in 2025. His work explores how oral history and narrative storytelling can be used to document aspects of tangible and intangible heritage to better understand the histories and the care items received as part of the Bryan/Gruhn Archaeology and Ethnographic Collections cared for by the Department of Anthropology.
Blanka Stepankova
Blanka is a current Master's student focusing on Canadian fur trade zooarchaeology for her thesis within a parklands context. Her other interests when time allows includes Czech archaeology and forensic anthropology.
Dawn Wambold
Born and raised between the Bow and Clearwater Rivers, and within sight of the Rocky Mountains, Dawn continues to live in the same lands that her Métis and Cree family were connected to. As a scholar at the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology, she aims to tell the stories of her ancestors’ connections to Southern Alberta using archaeology. She is married to Robert and together they have a daughter named Cassidy who is an undergraduate student in the anthropology department.