Master of Science in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (MSc)

Admission Information & Requirements

Research Information

Research Highlights

The Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems programs provide opportunities for students to broaden their knowledge base and gain more advanced research experiences. ISLFS students work on diverse and often interdisciplinary research areas
that address priority food systems questions and challenges ranging in scope from food production, processing, distribution, access, consumption and dietary practices, to the management of food waste. Applied research projects in ISLFS often address sustainable solutions to food systems challenges that may address environmental, economic and social dimensions of food systems.

Program Components

Master’s students will complete and present their research proposal along with most of their courses within the first year of their program. Normally they will be expected to defend their dissertation at the end of their second year.

The minimum course requirements for master’s degrees are 30 credits, of which at least 18 must be numbered 500 and above. A maximum of 6 credits at the undergraduate level in courses numbered 300 to 499 may be counted toward the requirements of a master’s degree. The MSc research thesis (LFS 549) is 12 credits.

Coursework, selected in consultation with the student’s supervisory committee, includes graduate courses in Land and Food Systems and from other areas relevant to each student’s research. Please consult the UBC Calendar for course timetable details. Outline of the program for typical students (details of the required courses can be found here):

Integrated Studies in Land & Food Systems (MSc, PhD) - Faculty of Land and Food Systems (ubc.ca)

MSc

LFS 500 (3)
electives (15) in consultation with the student’s advisory committee
LFS 549 (12)
Total Credits 30

Facilities

Campus partners

UBC Sustainability Initiative (USI)
Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm
The Orchard Garden
Think & EatGreen@School

Community partners

British Columbia Ministry of Agriculture
The Vancouver Fruit Tree Project
Vancouver Food Policy Council (VFPC)
Canadian Association for Food Studies
Bits and Bytes
Farm Folk/City Folk
BC Food Systems Network
Food Secure Canada

Tuition & Financial Support

Tuition

Fees	Canadian Citizen / Permanent Resident / Refugee / Diplomat	International
Application Fee	$118.50	$168.25
Tuition *
Installments per year	3	3
Tuition per installment	$1,912.84	$3,360.55
Tuition per year (plus annual increase, usually 2%-5%)	$5,738.52	$10,081.65
Int. Tuition Award (ITA) per year (for eligible individuals)		$3,200.00 (-)
Other Fees and Costs
Student Fees (yearly)	$1,203.20 (approx.)
Costs of living	Estimate your costs of living with our interactive tool in order to start developing a financial plan for your graduate studies.

* Regular, full-time tuition. For on-leave, extension, continuing or part time (if applicable) fees see UBC Calendar.
All fees for the year are subject to adjustment and UBC reserves the right to change any fees without notice at any time, including tuition and student fees. Tuition fees are reviewed annually by the UBC Board of Governors. In recent years, tuition increases have been 2% for continuing domestic students and between 2% and 5% for continuing international students. New students may see higher increases in tuition. Admitted students who defer their admission are subject to the potentially higher tuition fees for incoming students effective at the later program start date. In case of a discrepancy between this webpage and the UBC Calendar, the UBC Calendar entry will be held to be correct.

Financial Support

Applicants to UBC have access to a variety of funding options, including merit-based (i.e. based on your academic performance) and need-based (i.e. based on your financial situation) opportunities.

Program Funding Packages

Financial support for graduate students within LFS typically comes from one or more of four basic sources:

merit-based awards administered by the Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies (including Affiliated Fellowships and LFS Departmental Awards),
teaching and research assistantships,
need-based awards and
direct awards from external agencies such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Effective January 1, 2016, all newly admitted graduate students in research-based MSc and PhD program will be supported by a minimum funding package at $16,000/year for 2 years for M.Sc. students and $18,000/year for 4 years for Ph.D. students provided they maintain good academic standing.

Funding Statistics

Based on the criteria outlined below, 4 students within this program were included in this study because they received funding through UBC in the form of teaching, research, academic assistantships or internal or external awards with a mean of $18,247 and a median of $17,766.

This results in a net balance (any funding provided to the student minus tuition and fees) mean of $10,265 and median of $10,864.

1 student received Teaching Assistantships valued at $7,205.
3 students received Research Assistantships. Median RA funding based on 3 students was $7,500.
2 students received internal awards. Median internal award funding based on 2 students was $5,163.
1 student received external awards valued at $17,500.

Study Period: Sep 2023 to Aug 2024 - funding for full-time Thesis-Required Master's students enrolled in three terms per academic year in this program across years 1-2. Mean and median values might mask variability in sources and amounts of funding received by individual students. Beyond year 2, funding packages become even more individualized.
Review methodology

Scholarships & awards (merit-based funding)

All applicants are encouraged to review the awards listing to identify potential opportunities to fund their graduate education. The database lists merit-based scholarships and awards and allows for filtering by various criteria, such as domestic vs. international or degree level.

Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA)

Many professors are able to provide Research Assistantships (GRA) from their research grants to support full-time graduate students studying under their supervision. The duties constitute part of the student's graduate degree requirements. A Graduate Research Assistantship is considered a form of fellowship for a period of graduate study and is therefore not covered by a collective agreement. Stipends vary widely, and are dependent on the field of study and the type of research grant from which the assistantship is being funded.

Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTA)

Graduate programs may have Teaching Assistantships available for registered full-time graduate students. Full teaching assistantships involve 12 hours work per week in preparation, lecturing, or laboratory instruction although many graduate programs offer partial TA appointments at less than 12 hours per week. Teaching assistantship rates are set by collective bargaining between the University and the Teaching Assistants' Union.

Graduate Academic Assistantships (GAA)

Academic Assistantships are employment opportunities to perform work that is relevant to the university or to an individual faculty member, but not to support the student’s graduate research and thesis. Wages are considered regular earnings and when paid monthly, include vacation pay.

Financial aid (need-based funding)

Canadian and US applicants may qualify for governmental loans to finance their studies. Please review eligibility and types of loans.

All students may be able to access private sector or bank loans.

UBC has a working agreement with Windmill Microlending - an organization providing loans to skilled immigrants.

Foreign government scholarships

Many foreign governments provide support to their citizens in pursuing education abroad. International applicants should check the various governmental resources in their home country, such as the Department of Education, for available scholarships.

Working while studying

The possibility to pursue work to supplement income may depend on the demands the program has on students. It should be carefully weighed if work leads to prolonged program durations or whether work placements can be meaningfully embedded into a program.

International students enrolled as full-time students with a valid study permit can work on campus for unlimited hours and work off-campus for no more than 24 hours a week during academic sessions.

A good starting point to explore student jobs is the UBC Work Learn program or a Co-Op placement.

Tax credits and RRSP withdrawals

Students with taxable income in Canada may be able to claim federal or provincial tax credits.

Canadian residents with RRSP accounts may be able to use the Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP) which allows students to withdraw amounts from their registered retirement savings plan (RRSPs) to finance full-time training or education for themselves or their partner.

Please review Filing taxes in Canada on the student services website for more information.

Cost Estimator

Applicants have access to the cost estimator to develop a financial plan that takes into account various income sources and expenses.

	2025	2024	2023	2022	2021
Applications	3	7	9	12	8
Offers	1	3	1	4	3
New Registrations	1	3	1	4	3
Total Enrolment	6	9	8	10	12

Research Supervisors

Supervision

Students in research-based programs usually require a faculty member to function as their thesis supervisor. Please follow the instructions provided by each program whether applicants should contact faculty members.

Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for this program

All applicants need firm commitment from a supervisor prior to applying.

Advice and insights from UBC Faculty on reaching out to supervisors

These videos contain some general advice from faculty across UBC on finding and reaching out to a supervisor. They are not program specific.

This list shows faculty members with full supervisory privileges who are affiliated with this program. It is not a comprehensive list of all potential supervisors as faculty from other programs or faculty members without full supervisory privileges can request approvals to supervise graduate students in this program.

Barichello, Richard (Agricultural economics; trade policy, evaluation of policy instruments, rural labour markets, agricultural development)
Black, Jennifer (Human nutrition and dietetics; Community Health / Public Health; food banks; food environments; Nutrition; Public health; school food environments; social determinants of health)
Carrillo, Juli (Plant-insect interactions; Agroecology; Invasive species; evolution; Ecology; community ecology; Environmental Change; Plant evolution; Population Ecology)
Cornelis, Jean Thomas (Earth and related environmental sciences; Pedology; Biogeochemistry; Soil-Plant Interactions)
Gantois, Joséphine (Environment and natural resources economics; Ecological applications; Sociology; Human Dimensions of Biodiversity Conservation; environmental economics; Applied Ecology; Rural Sociology; Causal inference; Applied Deep Learning)
Gulati, Sumeet (Agricultural economics; Wildlife and habitat management; Ecological policy; Economics of Human Wildlife Conflict; Economics of Urban Transportation; Effectiveness of Carbon Taxes; Effectiveness of Environmental Policy; International Trade and its Effect on the Environment; Political Economy of Environmental and Trade Policy)
Jovel Ayala, Eduardo (Ethnobotany, mycology, natural product chemistry and Aboriginal health)
Margulis, Matias (Global Governance; International Political Economy; United Nations; World Trade Organization; Food and Agriculture; Human Rights)
McAusland, Carol (Interactions between globalization and public good provision, impacts of trade liberalization on environmental politics, potential use of trade policy to stem damages from exotic species introductions and biological invasions Environmental impacts of international trade, implications of skilled labor migration for the global provision of public goods)
Noack, Frederik (Environment and natural resources economics; Economics of Biodiversity; Economics of Conservation; Fisheries Economics; economic development; Forests)
Proctor, Jonathan (Environment)
Riseman, Andrew (plant breeding; plant genetics; horticulture; roots; stress physiology, Plant breeding, intercrop interactions, nutrient use efficiency, root physiology, biotic/abtioic stressor)
Robin, Tabitha
Smukler, Sean (Natural sciences; Agricultural ecology; Soil health; Climate change adaptation and mitigation; Ecosystem services)
Wittman, Hannah (Sociology and related studies; Farming systems research; food sovereignty; Sustainable agriculture; socio-ecological systems; Agroecology)

Master of Science in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (MSc)

Overview

What makes the program unique?

Quick Facts

Meet a Representative

Land and Food Systems Research-Based Programs Info Session

Tuesday, 25 August 2026 8:30 – 10:00 am

Admission Information & Requirements

Program Instructions

1) Check Eligibility

Minimum Academic Requirements

English Language Test

TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language - internet-based

IELTS: International English Language Testing System

Other Test Scores

Prior degree, course and other requirements

2) Meet Deadlines

May 2027 Intake

Canadian Applicants

International Applicants

September 2027 Intake

Canadian Applicants

International Applicants

Deadline Explanations

3) Prepare Application

Transcripts

Letters of reference

Statement of Interest

Supervision

Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for this program

Citizenship Verification

4) Apply Online

Research Information

Research Highlights

Program Components

Facilities

Tuition & Financial Support

Tuition

Financial Support

Program Funding Packages

Funding Statistics

Scholarships & awards (merit-based funding)

Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA)

Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTA)

Graduate Academic Assistantships (GAA)

Financial aid (need-based funding)

Foreign government scholarships

Working while studying

Tax credits and RRSP withdrawals

Cost Estimator

Career Options

Enrolment, Duration & Other Stats

ENROLMENT DATA

Completion Rates and Times

Disclaimer

Research Supervisors

Supervision

Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for this program

Advice and insights from UBC Faculty on reaching out to supervisors

Sample Thesis Submissions

Related Programs

Same specialization

Same Academic Unit

Further Information

Specialization

UBC Calendar

Program Website

Faculty

Academic Unit

Program Identifier

Classification

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