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Overview

Interdepartmental and inter-faculty groupings are usually able to guide students in setting up disciplinary programs. Where no established degree program exists, a student may request admission into a special individual interdisciplinary program administered by a supervisory committee representing the various disciplines involved. In the program as it now exists, the prospective student has to bring together three or four qualified faculty from different departments or units. Because there are no constraints on which fields are brought together, there are virtually no two students in the same subfield. Research topics in this program have included, for example:

  • Nisga'a Architecture and Landscapes: Ecological Wisdom and Community-led Design (involving the Schools/Departments of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Forest Ecology, Environmental Studies, Ethnobotany, and Nisga'a House of Wisdom
  • Matters of Life and Death in the Neonatal Intensive Care Nursery: Decision Making for the Not Yet Competent (involving the Departments of Pediatrics, Comparative Religion, Medical Anthropology, and Bioethics)
  • Red Rhetorics: Politics, Polemics and the Marx-Machine (involving the Departments of English, Germanic Studies, and Philosophy)
  • Multicultural Practices of Canadian Immigrant Youth: 'A Work in Progress' (involving the Departments of Educational Studies, English, and Anthropology)

Interdisciplinary Studies, in collaboration with the Media and Graphics Interdisciplinary Centre, offers a specialization in Human-Computer Interaction.

What makes the program unique?

The Interdisciplinary Studies Graduate Program (ISGP) at the University of British Columbia was established in 1971, the first of its kind in Canada. It is one of the only Canadian programs to offer doctoral degrees in interdisciplinary studies, and is possibly one of the largest of its kind in North America.

The main purpose of the ISGP is to enable qualified graduate students to pursue advanced interdisciplinary research exceeding the provisions of existing departmental programs. There are no restrictions regarding the topic and in many cases the student draws upon expertise from several distinct faculties. The prospective student has to bring together three or four qualified faculty from different departments or units. Because there are no constraints on which fields are brought together, there are virtually no two students in the same sub-field. The ISGP is designed only for a highly motivated and superb student who can steer an independent course.

ISGP gives you the opportunity to:

  • pursue interdisciplinary research that is individually designed by the student
  • select courses and research supervisors from every department at UBC
  • participate in interdisciplinary lectures, workshops and seminars
  • apply for funding for exceptional students

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