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The Faculty of Arts at UBC brings together the best of quantitative research, humanistic inquiry, and artistic expression to advance a better world. Graduate students in the Faculty of Arts create and disseminate knowledge in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Creative and Performing Arts through teaching, research, professional practice, artistic production, and performance.

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.

 

Research Facilities

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.
 

Research Highlights

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.

Graduate Degree Programs

Research Supervisors in Faculty

or browse the list of faculty members in various academic units. You may click each unit to view faculty members appointed in that unit. View the full faculty member directory for more search and filter options.
Name Academic Unit(s) Research Interests
Bergmann, Luke Department of Geography Social and economic geography; Geomatics; Globalization
Berryman, Sylvia Department of Philosophy Philosophy; Ancient Greek natural philosophy; Aristotle's ethics; ethics and global poverty; Philosophy, History and Comparative Studies
Biesanz, Jeremy Department of Psychology personality, Personality, interpersonal perception, accuracy, personality coherence, quantitative methods
Birch, Susan Department of Psychology Social perspective taking, social learning, social cognition, imitation, nonverbal behavior, confidence, communication, decision-making, impression formation, child development My primary area of expertise is the study of children and adults’ social perspective taking abilities (i.e., their abilities to reason about other peoples’ mental states–their intentions, knowledge, and beliefs) and how their abilities to take another person’s perspective impacts how they form impressions of others, learn from others, communicate with others, and informs a range of socials. Of particular interest is a) how children make inferences about what is credible information to learn (e.g., how they decide whether someone is a credible source of information based on how confident that person seems) and b) how a widespread bias in perspective taking referred to as ‘the curse of knowledge bias’ (a difficulty reasoning about a more naive perspective as the result of being biased by one’s current knowledge) can impair communication (both written and in person) and decision-making across a range of fields (politics, law, education, economics, medicine, etc.)., Development of language, learning, and social understanding in infants and children
Blackburn, Carole Department of Anthropology relationship between Indigenous peoples and settler states; how Indigenous nations assert their rights and sovereignty in struggles over land and political recognition, and the consequences for Indigenous people of engaging states in legal and political arenas.
Bloch, Alexia Department of Anthropology Social sciences; migration; Gender; Eurasia; Russia; ethnography
Bloemraad, Irene Department of Political Science Political science; Sociology; migration & mobilities - politics, law, social movements; immigrants and refugees - integration & incorporation; comparative research design & mixed methods
Boccassini, Daniela Department of French, Hispanic & Italian Studies Italian Verbal and visual arts, mediterranean cultural exchanges
Bochnak, Ryan Department of Linguistics Linguistics; Semantics; linguistic fieldwork
Booker, Courtney Department of History Early medieval europe, histiography, rhetoric, narrative, hermeneutics, literary and textual critcism, latin philology, codicology, transmission of texts, and intertextuality, drama and performativity, politcal theology and l'augustinisme politique, medievalism
Borwein, Sophie Department of Political Science intersection of political economy, political behaviour, and public policy
Bostanci, Gorkem Vancouver School of Economics Macroeconomics (including monetary and fiscal theory); Industry economics and industrial organization; Firm Dynamics; Input Allocation and Productivity; Labor Demand; intellectual property
Bouchard, Marie-Eve Department of French, Hispanic & Italian Studies Humanities and the arts; Sociolinguistics; Linguistic Anthropology; ethnography; language ideologies; Language and identity; migration; Language variation and change; Language contact; Creole languages
Bourges, Antoine Department of Theatre & Film Film Production
Bowers, Katherine Department of Central, Eastern & Northern European Studies Literature and literary studies; Arts, Literature and Subjectivity; Arts and Cultural Traditions; Arts and Technologies; Arts and Literary Policies; Dostoevsky; genre; gothic fiction; imagined geography; literary culture; narrative; Russian culture; Russian literature; the novel
Brain, Robert Department of History History of Science, Technology, and Medicine, Modern European Cultural and Intellectual History
Bratiotis, Christiana School of Social Work Social work; interventions in the context of hoarding; organizational processes involved in hoarding task forces; service utilization
Briggs, Marlene Department of English Language and Literatures war and conflict; cultural transmission and reception of the First World War (1914-1918) in modern and contemporary British literature
Britton, Dennis Department of English Language and Literatures early modern English literature; history of race; Critical Race Theory; Protestant theology; history of emotion
Brown, William Department of Theatre & Film film-philosophy, digital media, posthumanism, critical race theory
Brownlee, Kimberley Department of Philosophy Philosophy; Applied Ethics; Ethics and Fundamental Issues of Law and Justice; Ethics and Health; Human Rights and Liberties, Collective Rights; Social Aspects of Aging; Belonging; Civil Disobedience and Conscientious Objection; Loneliness; Philosophy of Punishment; Social Human Rights; Virtues and Vices
Bryce, Benjamin Department of History Historical studies; Argentina; Canada; Education; health; migration; Race and ethnicity; The Americas; Transnational history
Bullard, Julia School of Information Organization of information and knowledge resources; Library science and information studies; classification systems; subject indexing; Cultural Institutions (Museums, Libraries, etc.); Information Systems; metadata
Burgess, Miranda Department of English Language and Literatures English language; Arts, Literature and Subjectivity; British and Irish Romanticism; history of feeling (affect, emotion, sensation); history of literary form; history of media and mediation; poetics; riparian and oceanic studies
Byers, Michael Department of Political Science International relations; Public international law (except international trade law); international law; international relations; Outer Space; Arctic; Law of the Sea; Laws of War; International Human Rights; International Environmental Law

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Recent Publications

This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Arts.

 

Publication: Journal of Classical Sociology
UBC Author(s): Thomas Kemple (Central, Eastern & Northern European Studies / Faculty of Arts)
ISSN: 1468795X
Volume: 24
Page Range: 330-346
Publication Date: November 2024

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Publication: Journal of Classical Sociology
UBC Author(s): Thomas Kemple (Central, Eastern & Northern European Studies / Faculty of Arts)
ISSN: 1468795X
Volume: 24
Page Range: 307-315
Publication Date: November 2024

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Publication: Psychoneuroendocrinology
UBC Author(s): Joelle LeMoult (Psychology / Faculty of Arts)
ISSN: 03064530
Volume: 169
Publication Date: November 2024

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Publication: American Journal of Public Health
UBC Author(s): Neda Maghbouleh (Sociology / Faculty of Arts)
ISSN: 00900036
Volume: 114
Page Range: 1158-1160
Publication Date: November 2024

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Publication: Legislative Studies Quarterly
UBC Author(s): Gyung-Ho Jeong (Political Science / Faculty of Arts)
ISSN: 03629805
Volume: 49
Page Range: 801-814
Publication Date: November 2024

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Publication: Sensitization in the Nervous System
UBC Author(s): Catharine Rankin (Psychology / Faculty of Arts)
Page Range: 1-25
Publication Date: 1 November 2024

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Publication: Nature Geoscience
UBC Author(s): Marysa Lague (Geography / Faculty of Arts)
ISSN: 17520894
Volume: 17
Page Range: 1079-1086
Publication Date: November 2024

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Publication: PLoS ONE
UBC Author(s): Alan Forbes Kingstone (Psychology / Faculty of Arts)
Volume: 19
Publication Date: November 2024

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Publication: International Journal of Drug Policy
UBC Author(s): Hannah Kia (Social Work / Faculty of Arts)
ISSN: 09553959
Volume: 133
Publication Date: November 2024

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Publication: Psychological Research
UBC Author(s): Daniela Palombo (Psychology / Faculty of Arts), Connor Kerns (Psychology / Faculty of Arts), James Enns (Psychology / Faculty of Arts)
ISSN: 03400727
Volume: 88
Page Range: 2221-2233
Publication Date: November 2024

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Publication: Social Science and Medicine
UBC Author(s): Hannah Kia (Social Work / Faculty of Arts)
ISSN: 02779536
Volume: 360
Publication Date: November 2024

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Publication: Trends in Cognitive Sciences
UBC Author(s): Evan Thompson (Philosophy / Faculty of Arts)
ISSN: 13646613
Volume: 28
Page Range: 963-964
Publication Date: November 2024

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Publication: International Journal of Law and Psychiatry
UBC Author(s): Deborah O'Connor (Social Work / Faculty of Arts)
ISSN: 01602527
Volume: 97
Publication Date: 1 November 2024

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Publication: Water Resources Research
UBC Author(s): Marwan Hassan (Geography / Faculty of Arts)
ISSN: 00431397
Volume: 60
Publication Date: November 2024

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Publication: Obesity Reviews
UBC Author(s): Gerry Veenstra (Sociology / Faculty of Arts)
ISSN: 14677881
Volume: 25
Publication Date: November 2024

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Publication: Nature
UBC Author(s): Patrick Baylis (Economics / Faculty of Arts)
ISSN: 00280836
Volume: 634
Page Range: 1050-1052
Publication Date: 31 October 2024

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Publication: Journal of Children's Services
UBC Author(s): Grant Charles (Social Work / Faculty of Arts)
ISSN: 17466660
Volume: 19
Page Range: 158-172
Publication Date: 30 October 2024

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Publication: Journal of the American Academy of Audiology
ISSN: 10500545
Volume: 34
Page Range: 153-158
Publication Date: 28 October 2024

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Publication: Globalization and health
UBC Author(s): Veena Sriram (School of Public Policy / Faculty of Arts)
Volume: 20
Page Range: 76
Publication Date: 24 October 2024

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Publication: Science (New York, N.Y.)
UBC Author(s): Azim Shariff (Psychology / Faculty of Arts)
Volume: 386
Page Range: eadh4764
Publication Date: 18 October 2024

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Publication: NeuroImage
UBC Author(s): Noah Silverberg (Psychology / Faculty of Arts)
ISSN: 10538119
Volume: 300
Publication Date: 15 October 2024

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Publication: International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
UBC Author(s): Sara Shneiderman (Anthropology / Faculty of Arts)
ISSN: 22124209
Volume: 113
Publication Date: 15 October 2024

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Publication: BMJ Neurology Open
UBC Author(s): Noah Silverberg (Psychology / Faculty of Arts), Joelle LeMoult (Psychology / Faculty of Arts)
Volume: 6
Publication Date: 11 October 2024

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Publication: American journal of epidemiology
UBC Author(s): Eric Kim (Psychology / Faculty of Arts)
Volume: 193
Page Range: 1497-1498
Publication Date: 7 October 2024

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Recent Thesis Submissions

Doctoral Citations

A doctoral citation summarizes the nature of the independent research, provides a high-level overview of the study, states the significance of the work and says who will benefit from the findings in clear, non-specialized language, so that members of a lay audience will understand it.
Year Citation Program
2024 Dr. Jiang's concise teaching guide for early Chinese National opera is easily accessible for non-Chinese speaking opera singers. Through this guide, singers can rapidly acquire the skills needed to perform early Chinese national opera works. This study paves the way for non-Chinese opera singers to interpret early Chinese national opera works. Doctor of Musical Arts in Voice (DMA)
2024 Dr. Jerowsky compared the efficacy of VR, AR, and outdoor field trips when promoting the critical environmental education of children who have different levels of walking access to quality green space. His findings suggest that immersive media can help to address a lack of access while promoting environmental literacy and a diverse range of knowledges. Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD)
2024 Dr. Sacchi de Carvalho researched how labour markets function, focusing on how wages are determined, and the roles of firms and employees in production. His results will help policymakers and the public understand wage inequality and labour market dynamics. Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD)
2024 Parent-adolescent disputes tend to be seen through a lens of child noncompliance and parental control. Dr. Ji's studies challenge this view by examining resistance in parent-adolescent interactions at the dyadic level of analysis. He then tested a training he developed showing that social work students can be trained to see conflict complexly. Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work (PhD)
2024 Dr. De Souza developed a theoretical framework locating allyship as a social phenomenon. In several empirical studies, Dr. De Souza compared reactive and proactive efforts to improve women's workplace experiences, illustrating the importance of a multiple-dimensional view of allyship that prioritizes the desires of disadvantaged group members. Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD)
2024 Dr. Amburgey explores the interconnections between labor migration, environmental change, and disaster recovery in the Mustang region of Nepal's Himalaya. She argues that anthropology can contribute to policies and research on climate change to include local ecological knowledge. Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD)
2024 Dr. Moraes examined how to prepare and perform trumpet auditions for professional Canadian orchestras. He interviewed some of the top Canadian trumpet performers and pedagogues on best practices for selected excerpts. His research will assist prospective orchestral musicians with audition preparation. Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Instrument (DMA)
2024 Dr. Hurtado Lozada's four mixed-method studies on party formation failure in Peru demonstrate that social organizations can replace traditional parties, involving disloyal voters and populist politicians. The absence of parties, then, contributes to a gradual but steady weakening of democracy. Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (PhD)
2024 Why volunteer to help others fix items that are easy to replace? Dr. Kaczmarek explored the motivations and aspirations of volunteers at community repair events, as well as the impact of COVID-19 on their activities. Her research reveals the social and material value of repair through the stories of those involved. Doctor of Philosophy in Library, Archival and Information Studies (PhD)
2024 Dr. Lacelle-Webster studied the work and experience of hope in democratic politics. Drawing on Hannah Arendt and contemporary democratic theory, he proposes a theoretical account of democratic hope that depends on and deepens political practices and spaces, empowering political agents to define possibility as an open, shared, and worldly phenomenon. Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (PhD)

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