Assistant Professor
T325 – 2211 Wesbrook Mall
Vancouver, BC, V6T 2B5
Office: T-111 Koerner
Tel: 604-822-7165 Fax: 604-822-7624
Profile-Research-Teaching-Memberships-Publications
Occupational Profile
Julia received her doctoral degree in Sociology from the University of Alberta where she learned through experience that an inter-disciplinary health research team environment effectively enables her meaningful professional occupations as an educator and researcher of inequalities of healthy aging. She continued her training as a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Gerontology and Health Care Research at Brown University and with colleagues from the Yale School of Public Health has engaged in the collaborative project focused on researching economic insecurity across the lifecourse and its impact on support for public policies in the domain of healthcare. Julia aspires to bridge the academic networks of British Columbia in Canada and New England in the United States to foster the development of research and training opportunities around issues of social exclusion in later life. She serves as a board member of the Canadian Society of Occupational Scientists and finds balance through enjoying Zumba and belly dancing classes interspersed with Yoga that helps her to stretch her mind as well as her body.
Research Interests and Specialization
Julia’s research interests revolve around inequalities of healthy aging and focus on two main areas:
- Representations and discourses of aging and health in the media, as well as underlying cultural processes that lead to sustaining inequality of access to meaningful occupations in later life.
- Barriers and constraints of choices for social engagement among groups of older adults disadvantaged in the context of market economy, and ways in which various social institutions, including both the family and the welfare state, mitigate against risks and vulnerabilities associated with later life.
At the University of British Columbia Julia collaborates with Dr. Laura Hurd-Clarke from the School of Human Kinetics to develop a program of research into the role of online dating as a mechanism for alleviating loneliness and social isolation in later life. Julia collaborates with interdisciplinary research teams across Canada and North America to identify research questions that bring together social scientists, clinicians, and health scholars to produce evidence-based approaches for the development of a society where there is a choice of meaningful roles for individuals of all ages.
Teaching Interests
Julia’s principal teaching expertise is in methods of qualitative research and cultures of aging. With Dr. Tal Jarus she participated in redesigning the Research Evidence for Practice RSOT547 course in the context of the Master of Occupational Therapy program to facilitate students’ experiential learning of conducting, evaluating, and applying research that benefits clients, clinicians, communities, and healthcare organizations.
Julia is involved in mentoring graduate students whose work focuses on issues related to aging and later life and MOT students conducting small-scale research projects (with Drs. Melinda Suto and Lyn Jongbloed).
Activities and Memberships
International Sociological Association, Research Committee 10 on Social Participation (ISA, RC10) (Secretary, board member)
Canadian Society of Occupational Scientists (CSOS) – board member
Selected Publications
Rozanova, J. (2010) Discourse of successful aging in The Globe & Mail: Insights from critical gerontology. Journal of Aging Studies, 24, 213-222.
Rozanova, J., Dosman, D., & De Jong Gierveld, J. (2008). Participation in rural contexts: Community matters. In N. Keating (Ed.), A good place to grow old? Critical perspectives on rural ageing (pp. 75-86). Bristol, UK: Policy Press.
Rozanova, J. (2006). Newspaper portrayals of health and illness among Canadian seniors: Who ages healthily and at what cost? International Journal of Aging and Later Life, 1(2), 111–139. Available at: http://www.ep.liu.se/ej/ijal/2006/v1/i2/a6/ijal06v1i2a6.pdf
Rozanova, J., Northcott, H., & McDaniel, S. (2006). Seniors and portrayals of intra-generational and inter-generational inequality in The Globe and Mail. Canadian Journal on Aging, 25(4), 373-386.
