Dr. Farhad Dastur
B.Sc. (UBC), M.Sc. (Dalhousie), PhD (Dalhousie)
My name is Dr. Farhad Dastur ("Dr. D"). How the mind works has always fascinated me. Do all people perceive the world the same way or are there differences? Why are some people so creative? How can we improve mental health and well-being? My curiosity led me to higher education: first a BSc in Psychology from UBC, then a Master’s and a PhD in Psychology from Dalhousie University. For my thesis, I investigated smell sensitivity during pregnancy. I was testing an evolutionary theory that proposed that morning sickness was a defense mechanism designed to protect the baby-to-be from toxins found in the mother’s diet. Finally, I was combining my interests in perception, experimental psychology, and evolution all in one study!
Today, I work as a faculty member and Principal Investigator of The Virtual Reality Lab. My research interests are in human factors, perception, evolutionary psychology, and virtual reality. On the education side, I am an advocate for open education and nature-based education. A peak experience was teaching a field school to the Amazon where students encountered the culture of Colombia and the biodiversity of the world’s greatest rainforest and river ecosystem. I am also passionate about communicating ideas to the public. Check out my talks at: www.farhaddastur.com
Courses taught
- PSYC 1100 - Introduction to Psychology: Basic Processes
- PSYC 1200 - Introduction to Psychology: Areas and Applications
- PSYC 2300 - Applied Statistics
- PSYC 2315 - Brain and Behaviour
- PSYC 2375 - Perception
- PSYC 2385 - Cognition
- PSYC 2400 - Research Methodology
- PSYC 3800 - Evolutionary Psychology
- PSYC 3950 - Cognitive Ergonomics
- PSYC 4200 - Human Factors and Ergonomics
- PSYC 4900/4995 - Honours Thesis
Areas of Interest
Virtual or Augmented Reality, Human Factors, Perception, Evolutionary Psychology.
"I am interested in supervising honours students."
Scholarly Work
- Carey, T., Dastur, F. & Karaush, I. (2019). Workplace innovations and practice futures. In J. Higgs, S. Cork & D. Horsfall (Eds.), Challenging future practice possibilities: Vol. 1. Practice futures (pp. 229-242). Rotterdam, The Netherlands: Brill-Sense Publishers.
- Jhangiani, R. S., Dastur, F. N., LeGrand, R., & Penner, K. (2018). As good or better than commercial textbooks: Students’ perceptions and outcomes from using open digital and open print textbooks. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 9(1).
- Dastur, F. (2017). How to open an academic department. In R. Jhangiani & R. Biswas- Diener (Eds.), Open: The philosophy and practices that are revolutionizing psychological science and education (pp. 163-178). London: Ubiquity Press.
- Aesoph, L.M, Daniels, C., Dastur, F., Harper, D., Kehoe, I., Morong, G., & Wright, l. (2016). Adoption guide. Victoria, BC: BCcampus.
- Dastur, F., Jhangiani, R., & Assanand, S. (2014). Introduction to the Special Issue: 4th Vancouver International Conference on the Teaching of Psychology Psychology Learning & Teaching, Special Issue, 13(2), 81-82.
- Sager, B., Yanko, M.R., Spalek, T.M., Froc, D.J., Bernstein, D.M., Dastur, F.N. (2014). Motorcyclist’s lane position as a factor in right-of-way violation collisions: A driving simulator study. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 72, 325-329.
- Orban, L., & Dastur, F. N. (2012). Shifts in colour discrimination during early pregnancy. Evolutionary Psychology 10(2):238-252.
- Dastur, F. (2007). A curious thing happened the other night. Transformative Dialogues: Teaching and Learning Journal.
- Dastur, F. N., McGregor, I. S., & Brown, R. E. (1999). Dopaminergic modulation of rat pup ultrasonic vocalizations. European Journal of Pharmacology, 382(2), 53-67.
- Brown, R.E., Dastur, F., Stanford, L., & Schellinck, H. (1998). Mouse IQ: Development of standardized test batteries for knockout and mutant mice. Developmental Psychobiology, 33, 368.
- McGregor, I. S., Dastur, F. N., McLellan, R. A., & Brown, R. E. (1996). Cannabinoid modulation of rat pup ultrasonic vocalizations. European Journal of Pharmacology, 313, 43-49.
- Pinel, J. P. J., Mumby, D. G., Dastur, F. N., & Pinel, G. J. (1994). Rat (Rattus norvegicus) defensive behaviour in total darkness: Risk assessment function of defensive burying. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 108(2), 140-147.
- Mumby, D. G., Pinel, J. P. J., & Dastur, F. N. (1993). Mediodorsal thalamic lesions and object recognition in rats. Psychobiology, 21(1), 27-36.