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. Graham examined the pedagogical benefits of learning and performing a musical genre known as complexism - a style that has received much criticism over the years. He presented interviews with well-known performers, analysis of his own experience, and highlighted the benefits the musician will see as a result of an experience with this genre. | Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Instrument (DMA) |
| 2020 | Dr. Hofer found that a romantic partner may improve health even when not physically present. Olfactory cues from a romantic partner improved people's ability to cope with stress and the likelihood of a good night's sleep. Her work suggests simple strategies that promote health and can be readily applied to a range of people and situations. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Khadka explored the exclusions based on race, gender, class, and linguistic and cultural competence that shape the experience of labour market negotiations among Bhutanese refugees in Canada. His research recommends inclusive labour policies to promote successful refugee resettlement. | Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Boltokova examined processes of language change among the Sakha, an Indigenous People in northeastern Russia. She shows that disagreements between older and younger Sakha about how their language should be spoken is a key driver of linguistic change. Her study strengthens our understanding of Indigenous language revitalization. | Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Osa Gomez del Campo focused on how Spanish speakers use discourse markers to coordinate conversations. She proposes a dynamic model of interaction that shows how speakers use these words to coordinate, and sometimes impose, knowledge and intentions. Her work is relevant for models of interaction, and the comparison and teaching of languages. | Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Blundon showed that hearing may be one of the last senses to remain active before death. Some hospice patients may still be able to hear sounds, especially music, when they become unresponsive just before they pass away. These results broaden our understanding of what happens to us as we die and how best to care for our dying loved ones. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Munawar designed an intersectional and de-colonial Islamic ethic of care by weaving her mother and father's experiences into the stories of Hajar, Yunus, and Maryam in the Islamic tradition. Her findings centre the epistemic authority of disabled Muslims and care-givers as knowers of the 'Islamic' and care-based modes of knowing Islam. | Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Marpeau studied the reception of Madame Bovary by Flaubert over time, according to various interpretive communities. Her research contributes to the field of cultural studies in the sense that it uses interdisciplinary academic approaches to understand a cultural object and its effects on its readers. | Doctor of Philosophy in French (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Brothers investigated Roman spectacles as a medium for dynastic promotion in the Severan age. She discovered that during this tumultuous period, spectacles offered an opportunity for the emperor to demonstrate his benefaction, to create a positive public image for himself, and to associate himself with the great emperors of the past. | Doctor of Philosophy in Classics (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Varao-Sousa examined whether studies of mind wandering in the lab reflect mind wandering in real life. Her research provides evidence that rates of inattention are affected by both the task and the naturalness of the setting, a conclusion which has profound implications for theories of human attention. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |