Meet our staff
Listed below you will find our full and part-time staff, including post-doctoral scholars. Staff in the IO program fulfill a variety of functions within the program, often working within a research lab as non-faculty researchers, and/or performing a variety of administrative functions. All staff are listed in alphabetical order by surname.
These are separate employment arrangements and positions from those overseen directly by the Department of Psychology, or other University of Calgary Administration.
Samantha Jones, Postdoctoral Associate
Samantha completed her BA First Class Honours in Psychology with a minor in Management at the University of Alberta Augustana Campus in 2016. She began her graduate studies in I/O at the University of Calgary the same year, graduating in 2018 with an MSc and in 2025 with a PhD. She now works as a Postdoctoral Associate in the ITP Lab, and her research interests include team effectiveness, with a more recent emphasis on the psychosocial factors that contribute to serious injuries and fatalities (SIFs) in high-risk industries. In her free time, she enjoys reading, dancing, bike riding, sewing, and crocheting.
Hometown: Lethbridge, AB
E: samantha.jones1@ucalgary.ca
McKenna Sperry, High-performance team development specialist
McKenna completed her MSc in the University of Calgary's I-O program in 2025. She has extensive facilitation experience and supports collaborative efforts between the Individual and Team Performance Lab and the Schulich School of Engineering to help students develop essential teamwork skills. Her research interests include team processes and the impact of team interventions, as well as equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility. Outside of her work, McKenna enjoys spending time outdoors with her pups and checking out local coffee shops.
Hometown: Calgary, AB
E: mckenna.sperry@ucalgary.ca
Jessica Wilkins, Human Factors and Scientific Mobilization Specialist
Jess is a Human Factors and Scientific Mobilization Specialist in the Individual and Team Performance Lab. She completed her MSc in January 2025 at the University of Calgary. Her interests are in how people interact with their environments and creating tools with user-centred designs informed by user feedback, especially in the workplace. She cares about making sure workers are performing their duties safely so everyone can go home at the end of the day, and she's passionate about learning how and why workplace injuries happen, in order to help prevent them.
Hometown: Calgary, AB
E: jessica.wilkins@ucalgary.ca
Azita Zahiriharsini, Postdoctoral Associate
Azita Zahiriharsini is a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Calgary. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Industrial and Organizational Psychology and a PhD in Health Education and Health Promotion. Her doctoral research focused on designing and evaluating an occupational health and safety training program to identify factors influencing safe work behaviours among petrochemical workers, using a mixed-methods approach in collaboration with supervisors in Iran and Australia. She has previously held research fellowships at the Université du Québec à Rimouski and the University of Alberta. Azita’s research focuses on preventing workplace injuries and fatalities and advancing occupational health and safety through innovative psychological approaches and human–AI teaming.
Outside of research, Azita enjoys spending time with her husband, hiking, travelling, and swimming.
E: azita.zahiriharsini@ucalgary.ca
