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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Dr. Miyamoto studied voluntary and market-based approaches to environmental regulation. He found that voluntary pollution abatement programs can sometimes yield better environmental outcomes than traditional regulation. His study also revealed some shortcomings of voluntary programs and will be useful in the design of better environmental policy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Smith investigated interactions between snowmelt processes, soil physics, and topography in controlling stream runoff in forested, mountainous watersheds. His findings help us to understand better the impacts of land-use changes on water supply and will lead to improved models for predicting river flooding. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Fiddler examined trust building in the Canadian blood system. She found that stakeholder engagement, particularly the inclusion of hemophilia patients, helps the blood operator re-build trust and organizational reputation. However, these stakeholders may also become an organizational risk if their interests are not reflected in blood policy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Carr studied the architecture of Indian Residential Schools to show how they were designed to subvert the cultural, economic and political life of Indigenous populations. Dr. Carr's research also suggests the need for sustained commemoration of residential school buildings and history, to improve relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. | Doctor of Philosophy in Art History (PhD) |
| 2011 | In her dissertation, Dr. Roy analyzed autobiographies written by individuals who were spied upon by the Stasi, the former East German secret police. She studied how these authors used their own Stasi files to write about their lives under surveillance and how these file-based autobiographies constitute a new autobiographical sub-genre. | Doctor of Philosophy in Germanic Studies (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Bosma explored the experiences of health care for culturally diverse persons living with a life-limiting illness. He found that individuals combine mainstream and minority cultural practices to meet their various needs. Dr. Bosma's work offers valuable direction to health care professionals for the provision of culturally appropriate end-of-life care. | Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Klein investigated, and found support for, the role of the endocannabinoid system in female sexual functioning. This research contributes to knowledge of the biological mechanisms underlying sexual functioning, and has implications for finding effective treatments for sexual dysfunctions in women. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Sherrell examined the housing outcomes of refugees in Winnipeg and Vancouver. The research explores the influence of legal status, provision of assistance, and federal and provincial immigration policies. Her findings underscore the effect of changing refugee policies on outcomes, and consider how housing influences long-term social inclusion. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Jones developed and studied a new concept called "Emotional Promiscuity," which assesses how easily and often individuals fall in love. Emotional promiscuity has consequences for both mental and physical health. In particular, emotional promiscuity predicts major life stressors and outcomes such as infidelity and unprotected sex. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2011 | Dr. Moseley-Giannelli developed and tested a model which shed light on the roles that Hope and Benefit-Finding play in the emotional adjustment of caregivers when children have cancer. This research offers new insights into how caregiver hope develops, how it can be screened for, and how it may be nurtured within a context of profound uncertainty. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |