Applicants to Master’s and Doctoral degrees are not affected by the recently announced cap on study permits. Review more details
Our researchers are studying everything from climate change and storm water management to the relationship between food, nutrition, diet and health. The research discoveries being made here have the potential to reach across borders for world-wide applications.
We are also sharing what we’ve learned with the next generation of scientists - our students. They come to us with a strong sense of global responsibility, passionate about creating positive and lasting change on issues of importance. We believe that by providing them with the opportunity to learn outside the traditional classroom - taking part in a community-based experiential learning project or studying overseas - we can enhance their education and help them develop to their full potential.
The Faculty of Land and Food Systems offers unique hands-on learning sites for graduate students, in addition to traditional labs where food science, food processing, and nutrition and health research take place.
UBC Farm is 24-hectare site on UBC Vancouver campus, which is a living laboratory that contains agricultural, forest, and transitional landscape areas for interdisciplinary field research. The Centre for Sustainable Food Systems (CSFS) located at UBC Farm is a unique research centre that aims to understand and fundamentally transform local and global food systems towards a more sustainable, food secure future.
The Dairy Education and Research Centre, located a 2-hour drive from UBC Vancouver campus, is an internationally recognized dairy cattle research centre supporting the development and adaptation of new technologies for the dairy industry in British Columbia and beyond. The Centre has a large research herd that can provide sufficient numbers of experimental animals at a given physiological stage to meet most research requirements. These features support a vibrant critical mass of students, postdoctoral fellows, staff, visiting scientists, and faculty. A 10,800 square-foot student residence building opened in September 2015, which allows students and researchers to live on-site at the Agassiz, B.C. research station, and more closely monitor their research projects in dairy cattle welfare, animal reproduction, and resource recovery.
The Wine Research Centre has sites at both UBC Vancouver and UBC Okanagan campuses, with modern and fully equipped laboratories. Researchers in the Wine Research Centre also have access to the outstanding research facilities in the Michael Smith Laboratories (MSL) which is conveniently located adjacent to the Centre. The MSL has established itself as a force in the global biotechnology research community. Research areas include grapes, vineyards, and soils; wine and fermentation; winery performance and sustainability; and wine territory competitiveness.
In the Faculty of Land and Food Systems, our researchers are focused on finding viable solutions to pressing global crises and are known worldwide for their innovation and leadership in areas such as food science, dairy reproduction and animal welfare, sustainable agriculture, and community health and nutrition.
Our researchers have attracted millions of dollars in research funding from sources including Genome Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Michael Smith Scholar, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
Our experts are conducting ground-breaking research in many areas including:
This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems.
| Year | Citation | Program |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Dr. Grenz showed how reclaiming an Indigenous Ecology redefines how we approach land and water healing. She has created a values-based decision-making tool that will help lead us toward ecological reconciliation. Her work provides a path forward for scientists to unleash the potential of an Indigenous worldview to illuminate new paths of inquiry. | Doctor of Philosophy in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Padda explored the role of nitrogen-fixing bacteria in supporting the regeneration of lodgepole pine trees at abandoned gravel mining pits. Her research showed that pine trees associate with these beneficial bacteria as a survival strategy to thrive on such degraded sites, offering the potential to be used as a sustainable reclamation tool. | Doctor of Philosophy in Soil Science (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Puri studied plant-beneficial bacteria living inside the tissues of boreal forest trees growing on disturbed, nutrient-poor soils. His work indicated that these bacteria can enhance tree growth via nutrient acquisition, plant hormone modulation and pathogen regulation, thereby suggesting their use as biofertilizers for boreal forest trees. | Doctor of Philosophy in Soil Science (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Dupuis used computer simulations to better understand how an antimicrobial potato protein interacts with model cell membranes, and the role of its disulfide bonds. His research highlighted regions of the protein most likely to mediate membrane interactions, and that the disulfide bonds may aid in membrane targeting specificity. | Doctor of Philosophy in Food Science (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Burnett studied the role of automated activity monitors in the reproductive management of dairy cows. Her findings show the correlation between increased estrous expression and improved fertility. This research demonstrates the importance of estrous expression in breeding decisions and provides alternatives for reducing hormonal interventions. | Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Animal Biology (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Fong worked on understanding Salmonella, a foodborne pathogen, and bacteriophages, the viruses that predate these bacteria. She identified several bacteriophages with high efficacy in controlling Salmonella that would be of high value to the food industry. Her research sheds insight into mitigation of this human pathogen in the food chain. | Doctor of Philosophy in Food Science (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Stephens studied the climate trends, carbon, and water use of two forests in central Canada for the past two decades. This study helps to quantify the carbon uptake potential of these forests in the future under further climate change. | Doctor of Philosophy in Soil Science (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Jones studied how various plastic films impact soil and crop micro-climate when they are used as soil mulch covers or on greenhouses. Using data that he collected through field experiments, he developed models to help crop producers around the world make informed decisions when they use plastic films to extend a crop's growing season. | Doctor of Philosophy in Soil Science (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Modi investigated the effects of stumping and tree species composition on the soil microbial communities in the interior cedar-hemlock zone of British Columbia. She observed that stumping can have positive impacts on soil microbial communities when performed along with planting mixtures of tree species such as Douglas-fir with paper birch. | Doctor of Philosophy in Soil Science (PhD) |
| 2020 | Dr. Beetch studied how natural compounds derived from diet, namely a class of polyphenols found in grapes and blueberries, can reverse aberrant DNA methylation patterns that underlie cancer. Her findings show that these compounds exert anti-cancer effects through epigenetic gene regulation, which can be used in cancer prevention and therapy. | Doctor of Philosophy in Human Nutrition (PhD) |