Photo: Martin Dee
Applicants to Master’s and Doctoral degrees are not affected by the recently announced cap on study permits. Review more details
Arts has more than 25 academic departments, institutes, and schools as well as professional programs, more than 15 interdisciplinary programs, a gallery, a museum, theatres, concert venues, and a performing arts centre. Truly unique in its scope, the Faculty of Arts is a dynamic and thriving community of outstanding scholars – both faculty and students.
Here, our students explore cutting-edge ideas that deepen our understanding of humanity in an age of scientific and technological discovery. Whether Arts scholars work with local communities, or tackle issues such as climate change, world music, or international development, their research has a deep impact on the local and international stage.
The disciplinary and multi-disciplinary approaches in our classrooms, labs, and cultural venues inspire students to apply their knowledge both to and beyond their specialization. Using innovation and collaborative learning, our graduate students create rich pathways to knowledge and real connections to global thought leaders.
UBC Library has extensive collections, especially in Arts, and houses Canada’s greatest Asian language library. Arts graduate programs enjoy the use of state-of-the-art laboratories, the world-renowned Museum of Anthropology and the Belkin Contemporary Art Gallery (admission is free for our graduate students). World-class performance spaces include theatres, concert venues and a performing arts centre.
Since 2001, the Belkin Art Gallery has trained young curators at the graduate level in the Critical and Curatorial Studies program in the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory. The Master of Arts program addresses the growing need for curators and critics who have theoretical knowledge and practical experience in analyzing institutions, preparing displays and communicating about contemporary art.
The MOA Centre for Cultural Research (CCR) undertakes research on world arts and cultures, and supports research activities and collaborative partnerships through a number of spaces, including research rooms for collections-based research, an Ethnology Lab, a Conservation Lab, an Oral History and Language Lab supporting audio recording and digitization, a library, an archive, and a Community Lounge for groups engaged in research activities. The CCR includes virtual services supporting collections-based research through the MOA CAT Collections Online site that provides access to the Museum’s collection of approximately 40,000 objects and 80,000 object images, and the Reciprocal Research Network (RRN) that brings together 430,000 object records and associated images from 19 institutions.
The Faculty of Arts at UBC is internationally renowned for research in the social sciences, humanities, professional schools, and creative and performing arts.
As a research-intensive faculty, Arts is a leader in the creation and advancement of knowledge and understanding. Scholars in the Faculty of Arts form cross-disciplinary partnerships, engage in knowledge exchange, and apply their research locally and globally.
Arts faculty members have won Guggenheim Fellowships, Humboldt Fellowships, and major disciplinary awards. We have had 81 faculty members elected to the Royal Society of Canada, and several others win Killam Prizes, Killam Research Fellowships, Emmy Awards, and Order of Canada awards. In addition, Arts faculty members have won countless book prizes, national disciplinary awards, and international disciplinary awards.
External funding also signifies the research success of our faculty. In the 2020-2021 fiscal year, the Faculty of Arts received $34.6 million through over 900 research projects. Of seven UBC SSHRC Partnership Grants awarded to-date, six are located in Arts, with a combined investment of $15 million over the term of the grants.
Since the 2011 introduction of the SSHRC Insight Grants and SSHRC Insight Development Grants programs, our faculty’s success rate has remained highly stable, and is consistently higher than the national success rate.
This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Arts.
| Year | Citation | Program |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Dr. Angelbeck examined the archaeology and oral history of Coast Salish warfare. He found that, during the last sixteen hundred years, conflict intensified after periods of heightened social inequality. His research suggested that warfare among the Coast Salish served to resist concentrations of wealth and power among networks of powerful chiefs. | Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr Barrington-Leigh used geographic statistical analysis of survey data to measure the degree to which the well-being benefit we get from consumption and wealth lies in status comparisons with the wealth of our neighbours. His work helps to challenge the widespread assumption that pursuing economic growth will tend to make society happier. | Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Harker examined how different family practices, mobilities and home spaces create place in the village of Birzeit, Palestine. By focusing on the vibrant, dynamic and diverse nature of this place, his research promotes a range of affirmative connections between Palestine and a variety of other spaces and people. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr Huang's research asks whether a more responsive monetary policy can explain the fall in the volatility of US housing investments. He presents evidence that part of the change comes from a reduced capacity of supply in the housing market. The findings caution against attributing the stability to improvements of the policy or of the financing system. | Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Yoshida examined how 10-month-old infants learn to perceive the speech sounds of their native language. Her studies revealed that paying attention to the language sounds is an important part of infants' perceptual learning, counter to the automaticity previously assumed. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Park examined the populist political program led by a group of leftist intellectuals in Argentina during the 60s. She studied the relevance of poetic discourse in a political project for its fanciful and irrational practices. Her research indicates that the political vision informed by the group's novelistic discourse undermined the explicit political program. | Doctor of Philosophy in Hispanic Studies (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Zimmermann studied the structure of steep mountain streams and what forces mobilize the step-pool sequences that are commonly observed. He showed that the likelihood of the steps moving depends both on the stress exerted by the flowing water and the number of boulders spanning the channel. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Clift studied the Abusive Personality in women who use dating violence. The Abusive Personality is a consistent way of perceiving and thinking about events, and acting in intimate relationships, which was originally identified in intimately violent men. Dr. Clift showed that these traits are equally related to women's perpetration of intimate abuse. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2009 | Dr. Sirkia examined whether childhood abuse experiences, sub-clinical psychopathy, and emotional intelligence could predict relationship conflict in a community-based sample. She found that the best predictor is sub-clinical psychopathy, followed by childhood abuse experiences. Her research may have implications for community interventions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2008 | Dr Hommersen studied two common childhood disorders, Separation Anxiety and Oppositional Defiant Disorder, examining why these disorders are perceived to co-occur more often than expected. His work showed the effects of context-lacking questionnaire items and negative halo bias in increasing parent report of the co-occurrence of these disorders. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |