UNews - Cambridge ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ

5 Questions with Dr. Paul Vasey

trevor.kenney — Tue, 10 Sep 2013 22:22:42 +0000

Dr. Paul Vasey is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge. He conducts cross-species and cross-cultural research to answer the question: If reproduction is the engine that drives evolution, why engage in non-conceptive sex? For the past decade he has done research on the development and evolution of female homosexual behavior in free-ranging Japanese monkeys at various sites in Japan. He also studies the development and evolution of male same-sex sexual attraction in humans at field sites in Samoa, Japan and Canada. Since 2003, he has worked in Samoa with members of the fa’afafine community – biological males who live “in the manner of a woman.”

Vasey currently holds both a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada grant in addition to various grants from private funding agencies.

Dr. Paul Vasey of the Department of Psychology.

What first piqued your interest in your research discipline?

As a kid, I was always interested in nature documentaries. I remember when I was 13 or 14 watching one documentary on the evolution of iguanas and tortoises on the Galapagos Islands and it fascinated me. So, from a very early age, I was interested in understanding the world from an evolutionary perspective. I’m also gay, and same-sex sexuality doesn’t make a lot of sense, at least at first glance, from an evolutionary perspective. This led me to search for literature on the evolution of homosexuality. What I found was a lot of speculation but virtually no data. It seemed that everyone had an opinion on the topic, but no one wanted to do the work of hypothesis testing.

So, for my doctoral research I studied female homosexual behavior in Japanese monkeys and after graduating from the Université de Montréal, I expanded this line of research by conducting fieldwork in Japan, which continues to this day with my Post-Doctoral Fellows, Drs. Jean-Baptiste Leca and Nöelle Gunst.

How is your research applicable in “the real world?”

There is an enormous amount of public debate about the nature of sexual and gender diversity. Is it “natural”? Is it “normal”? Should it be socially tolerated? Should members of sexual and gender minorities have human rights that are equal to those of the heterosexual majority?

So often these discussions occur in an information vacuum that is driven by personal politics and morals but divorced from any actual evidence. I go out into the real world and collect data about many of the issues that are being debated publically. In doing so, my research generates information about phenomenon related to sexual and gender diversity and furnishes a basis upon which an evidence-based understanding of these topics can be situated.

What is the greatest honour you have received in your career?

The greatest honour I have received in my career is having internationally renowned sex researchers, whose work I hold in the highest esteem, state that they consider my body of work to be of exceptional quality and importance. I’m talking about people like J. Michael Bailey, Anne Lawrence, Alice Dreger, and Alan Dixson, among others. I don’t think there is any greater honour than having the researchers you hold in such high esteem indicate that they consider your work a significant contribution to the field.

How important are students to your research endeavours?

I’d say most students in my lab have been foundational to my research efforts. The lab could never be as productive as it is were it not for the fact that I work with an extraordinary team of undergraduate students, graduate students and Post-Doctoral Fellows. Some of my former students have gone on to become medical doctors, take up post-doctoral fellowships at hospitals, pursue further graduate work in clinical psychology programs or undertake further research at places like Cambridge ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. It’s been a privilege to work with all of them.

If you had unlimited funds, which areas of research would you invest?

I would like to build a Kinsey-style Sexuality Research Institute in Canada – one that does not downplay the importance of biology in human sexuality, yet at the same time does not ignore the importance of culture. Part of my goal in building such a research institute would be to help create jobs for young sex researchers in Canada.

It has been said that Canada packs a punch far above its weight internationally in terms of the number of renowned sex researchers who make this country their home. Moreover, Canada has a political and social climate that is far more amenable to sex research than most other countries. Further, Canada has the funding systems in place to support such research and it has been demonstrated time and time again that sex research attracts large amounts of funding from multiple agencies when it is done properly.

For a look at the entire catalog of 5 Questions With . . . features, check out the Office of Research Services website at www.uleth.ca/research/research_profiles. If you’d like to be featured, contact Penny Pickles at pickpj@uleth.ca.

Professor Emeritus Spinks passes away

trevor.kenney — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 21:34:57 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community expresses its most sincere condolences to the family, friends, former students and colleagues of the late David Spinks, a Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Fine Arts (Theatre and Dramatic Arts) who passed away at his home in England at age 81 after a brief illness.

He is survived by his wife, Jo, and daughter Elisabeth. A memorial service is scheduled to take place July 4 beginning at 3 p.m. near Martlesham Heath at the Seven Hills Crematorium in Nacton, UK.

Spinks arrived from England in 1971 as the first regular faculty member in Dramatic Arts. He had distinguished himself in drama and education in England, teaching for Cambridge ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and producing plays for children, youth and adults throughout Cambridgeshire.

His knowledge of, and passion for, theatre combined with his boundless enthusiasm and charismatic personality propelled the department forward at lightning speed. He drafted the first curriculum, integrating it into Arts and Science and hired the first faculty members. Spinks also worked closely with the architects to design the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Centre for the Arts theatre spaces, including an experimental theatre which was later named the David Spinks Theatre in his honour.

He was promoted to full professor in 1988 and retired in 1990, in the process earning the respect and love of his students and one of the first Distinguished Teaching Awards.

Dean Emeritus Ches Skinner recalls Spinks as a mentor and friend.

"He had an unrivalled passion for teaching and excelled at helping students find their own voices and then enabled them to find the confidence to use them," says Skinner. "Students flocked to his classes and through David's inimitable style shared in his passion for theatre and particularly that aimed at children and young audiences.

"Whereas David sometimes directed scripted work (plays written by others as found in the library etc.), he was exceptional at encouraging students to find the drama in their own lives and then creating shows that were meaningful to the performers and audiences alike. He left some of his magic behind...I know it continues via his students and teaching colleagues."

"David Spinks was a gentleman of good humour, intelligence and extraordinary generosity," says long-time colleague Richard Epp. "His leadership as a teacher and his encouragement of colleagues permitted the arts to play a major role on this campus in its formative years. I am privileged to have known David and to have worked with him in the dramatic arts."

Species discovery

trevor.kenney — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:04:37 +0000

It's not every day that you get to make a definitive decision on a new species. But after a number of years of review, research submitted for peer review in 2008 by Dr. Theresa Burg and then-undergraduate student Derek Raines has been recognized as being a key factor in distinctly defining a group of endangered albatrosses located on remote Amsterdam Island in the South Indian Ocean.

"When it was first discovered in 1984, researchers described it as a new species because its plumage resembled a juvenile wandering albatross, which was a darker colour and in other groups whitens as it matures," says Burg. "They have a different breeding date and are smaller, and they have juvenile plumage. That gave me the idea they were different, but some research had lumped them in with other species. There had been research done on more slowly evolving genes, and there was no difference found. We looked at the other groups and found there were three other groups separated by seven to nine (genetic) differences."

Dr. Theresa Burg cradles a young albatross. Photo by Scott Schaffer, San Jose State ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

Burg argued that the longer the time that there has been a separation of genetic information, the better the chance the birds were distinct – and her peers agreed.

The challenge of physically getting the research done can be daunting, because as Burg describes it, the island is in the 'middle of nowhere' near Antarctica.

Getting there would typically involve a plane trip to the Falkland Islands off the coast of Argentina, a long boat ride courtesy of the British Navy and either a helicopter ride or, more typically, being cast into the freezing water in a small boat to reach the island.

The upside? E-mail through a satellite phone.

The downside? Aside from the trip and weather, dodging cranky fur seals that, despite their slow 'look' can outrun a person, head-high clumps of grass and a long turnaround time to return samples to a lab – sometimes weeks, depending on passing mail boats.

A pair of albatrosses announce their presence.

Her doctoral research began at Cambridge ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in the UK where as part of her program she was researching fur seals near the Falkland Islands. She was approached to work on albatrosses because there was less research available and the opportunity seemed unique.

The challenge now is to look for more opportunities to protect the species, since albatrosses are a threatened group of birds.

"Of the 22 different known species, 75 per cent are threatened, and this population in particular is critically endangered," says Burg. "They are a small population to begin with because of a breeding cycle that produces a single egg every two years and they face further challenges from rats introduced from whaling ships which eat the egg, and death by long-line fishing."

Burg's research these days is less distant and more accessible. She is focusing on genetic markers in chickadees, woodpeckers and jays, where her research is showing evidence of the evolutionary changes in these birds since the last ice age.

"There appears to be higher levels of variation in the species in areas that were not covered in ice, versus areas that were," Burg said. "Understanding this can help us to determine what process led to the creation of species of birds."

This story first appeared in the Legend. For a look at the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - Cambridge ��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ

5 Questions with Dr. Paul Vasey

Related Topics

Professor Emeritus Spinks passes away

Related Topics

Species discovery

Related Topics

UNews - Cambridge ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ