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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Dr. Chadha examined the role played by economic changes in recent political developments in India, including the emergence of peasant and ethnic parties. This research highlights the important role played by economic imperatives in either dampening or amplifying social divisions existing in societies. | Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Nelson examined the ways in which social workers help urban Aboriginal children in foster care maintain connections to their culture, family, and community. This research illuminated the complexity of balancing permanency needs with cultural rights and the ongoing importance of family and culture for Aboriginal children in out-of-home care. | Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Roth examined the Northwest Coast artware industry, which reproduces Aboriginal designs on everyday objects. She showed that, pressured by its Aboriginal stakeholders, this capitalist market is being shaped by an obligation to "give back" typical of potlatch societies, where status is gained not by wealth but through public acts of redistribution. | Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Markwei investigated the everyday-life, information-seeking behaviour of urban homeless youth in Accra, Ghana. The findings highlight their everyday life needs, information seeking behaviours, the importance of their social network of friends in meeting their needs, and the policy and practical changes that would improve the lives of the youth. | Doctor of Philosophy in Library, Archival and Information Studies (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Sullivan explored ways in which queer students engage with the UBC campus. She created a mapping method to reveal how these students use spatial cues to identify where they might encounter homophobia, transphobia and the privileging of heterosexuality. This research shows that queer students identify risky spaces and create queer spaces on campus. | Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Bower examined global compliance with the ban on antipersonnel landmines and the International Criminal Court. He showed that these treaties can re-shape state policies even when they are opposed by powerful actors. This research sheds light on how diplomacy without the great powers can succeed and holds implications for a wide range of issues. | Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Matthews examined intellectual, literary, and scientific approaches to understanding nature in 19th-century Canada. She studied the language types and scientific systems that women used to describe the environment. Drawing on meteorology, botany, zoology and ornithology, Dr. Matthews rethinks both nature writing and women's writing in Canada. | Doctor of Philosophy in English (PhD) |
| 2013 | Dr. Zhang studied the determinants of corporate leasing. She found that uncertainty and financial constraints play important roles in understanding corporate leasing decisions. Her research also suggested that leasing is less used in countries with weak legal environments. | Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. Satin demonstrated that yoga practitioners and runners show similar advantages over inactive individuals on both physical and psychological determinants of cardiovascular health. Her research suggests that yoga has the potential for significant health benefits and deserves additional rigorous research. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2012 | Dr. Madokoro explored ways in which settler societies of the British Commonwealth responded to refugees from the People's Republic of China between 1949 and 1989. She demonstrated how Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa resisted humanitarian appeals to assist refugees and instead, forced migrants to overcome persistent barriers to entry. | Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD) |