Erica Machulak, PhD

Founder and Lead Instructor

Erica founded Hikma to help clients bring complex ideas to new contexts. She has a decade of experience designing and teaching courses and workshops for students, faculty, and other professionals. Erica has a PhD in English and has held several roles in the Vice-President, Research and Innovation Office at the University of British Columbia.

University of Notre Dame (PhD)

University of Oxford (MSt)

University of Pennsylvania (BA)

she/her/hers

Ai Mizuta, PhD

Business Operations Manager

Ai is passionate about bridging academic insight and real-world impact. She  strives to integrate her extensive program management background with her scholarly expertise in education. Her journey has taken her from global institutions like the Asia-Pacific Cultural Centre for UNESCO to the Consulate General of Japan in Vancouver. These experiences have honed Ai's skill in navigating diverse stakeholder interests, fostering cross-cultural collaboration, and designing innovative programs. Ai's  mission lies in making knowledge accessible and impactful for everyone.

University of British Columbia (PhD)

University of Toronto (MA)

Keio University (BA)

she/her/hers

Heidi Rennert

Research Development Specialist

Heidi is an editor and humanities scholar completing a PhD in English at the University of British Columbia, where she focuses on science, technology, and domesticity in nineteenth-century literature and culture. She is passionate about the relationships between research, storytelling, and its many publics, which she brings to her work in communications and grants development with Hikma.

University of British Columbia (PhD in Progress)
University of Victoria (MA)

Clarissa Han

Digital Storytelling Coordinator 

Clarissa is an upcoming senior at the University of Pennsylvania, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing and East Asian Studies. She is passionate about blending storytelling, research, and history in ways that are both impactful and accessible. This passion fuels her enthusiasm for fiction writing and content creation on social media, where she aims to engage diverse audiences through creative storytelling.

Alexandra Lamb

Learning Designer

Collaborative Cohort Project
UBC Arts Amplifier

Alexandra Lamb is a freelance writer and digital storytelling specialist with over ten years of experience. She is currently completing her Master's degree in English Literature at the University of British Columbia, where her research focuses on the relationship between the human body and digital media.

University of British Columbia (MA, In Progress)

University of British Columbia (BA HONS)

Ali Watson

Learning Designer

Collaborative Cohort Project
UBC Arts Amplifier

Ali is a current MA student in Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice at the University of British Columbia, where she focuses on the relationship between fatness and constructed understandings of health. With a background in non-profit work at the intersection of gender, digital media, and education, she is passionate about creative and accessible knowledge translation.

University of British Columbia (MA, in progress)

Queen’s University (BA HONS)

she/her/hers

Sophia van Hees, PhD

Consultant, Creative Design

Since joining Hikma as our first Artist in Residence in 2021, Sophia has helped shape our community and expand our services. She works with clients to develop compelling diagrams and other digital assets. She also oversees Hikma branding and works with Hikma Collective members to tell their stories visually.

Sophia is a multi-passionate creative with a background ranging from fine art to cognitive neuroscience. She takes an experimental approach to her business and design work, weaving together threads of ideas to discover new and unpredictable connections along the way. As owner of Brave Snail Designs, she also embraces fearless creativity mixed with slow and meaningful growth.

University of Queensland (BSpPath and PhD)

she/her/hers

Kevin Gallin, PhD

Editor and Grants Consultant

Kevin is a professional editor, researcher, and grants consultant based in Chicago. He holds a PhD in English from Duke University, where his research focused on contemporary media and how it can teach us to live well in our international, multicultural world.

As an editor, he has a passion for helping writers find the core of what excites them about their projects and bringing that enthusiasm onto the page with clarity and precision. As a researcher and grants consultant, he does much the same, helping organizations distill down what makes their programming distinct, exciting, and effective.

Hikma's clients drive complex projects; Kevin translates those moving pieces into direct and persuasive communications for grantmakers and foundations.

Omar Swei, PhD

Technical Advisor

Omar is an Assistant Professor in Civil Engineering at the University of British Columbia. His research aims to improve the design, delivery, and maintenance of critical infrastructure systems. Towards this goal, he develops algorithmic and analytical strategies with strong theoretical foundations to enhance the decision-making process for infrastructure investments.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (SM and PhD)

University of Massachusetts, Amherst (BS)

he/him/his