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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Dr. Lee used novel techniques and various modelling approaches to evaluate impacts of nitrogen fertilization at a coastal forest and provide better estimates of photosynthesis and respiration. These results help us understand more about the role of temperate forests in climate change mitigation. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. O'Regan explored the notion of community in literature of the Hispanic Caribbean diasporas, focusing on authors who write communities that escape classification. No longer identifying by race, culture, class, gender, or sexuality, these collectivities privilege difference over identity for a creative relationality. | Doctor of Philosophy in Hispanic Studies (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Park found that parents' flexible thinking and problem solving skills are important in reducing the association between the experience of chronic stress and harsh parenting. Given that stress is such a common experience for parents, her study provides important implications for parenting interventions to support healthy child development. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Wynes examined how individual actions can be optimized to reduce the greenhouse gases that warm our planet. His interdisciplinary research included analysis of political and lifestyle choices. This study demonstrates that societal elites and motivated members of the public may be missing opportunities to fight climate change more effectively. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Mitra studied how the decline in labour union power led productivity to rise during recessions since the early 1980s in the US. His work also established a limited role for parents in determining income and consumption inequality among children. These findings have policy implications for temporary job-guarantee in recession and bequest tax. | Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Ho studied the link between physical activity and cognitive function. His research showed that physical activity is associated with improved performance on tasks such as university exams. He also developed a novel way to measure physical activity outdoors. These results have implications for the promotion and measurement of physical activity. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Zhang studied how individuals high in perfectionism form relationships in group psychotherapy. Her research elaborates on the mechanisms of how perfectionism may negatively impact the process of psychotherapy and informs intervention strategies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Hofman examined the relationship between privacy and transparency, finding that recordkeeping mediates that relationship. She developed a framework for records professionals making decisions weighing privacy, transparency, and secrecy based on archival principles. Her research can improve digital technology to better protect privacy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Library, Archival and Information Studies (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Mabi investigated the role of information and identity for African Immigrants seeking equitable employment in Vancouver. She demonstrated that the multifaceted identities of immigrants had a significant impact on access to settlement support and employment outcomes, highlighting the value of an intersectional approach to immigrant settlement. | Doctor of Philosophy in Library, Archival and Information Studies (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Standing presented a new historical interpretation of the early modern English Chancery's role in relocating moral obligation from a spiritual to a temporal jurisdiction. Arguing that this shift is registered in the period's drama, she has contributed to an important ongoing conversation about personal interiority, state values, and conscience. | Doctor of Philosophy in English (PhD) |