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Overview

Mathematicians use theoretical and computational methods to solve a wide range of problems from the most abstract to the very applied. UBC's mathematics graduate students work in many branches of pure and applied mathematics. The PhD program trains students to operate as research mathematicians. The focus of the program is on substantial mathematical research leading to the PhD dissertation. Students also develop their skills in presenting and teaching mathematics and its applications.

What makes the program unique?

UBC has one of the largest and most vigorous departments of mathematics in Canada. Our faculty routinely win national and international awards for their research and teaching achievements. We have an engaged and sociable cohort of graduate students who are essential members of a broad selection of active research groups. Each group holds a variety of seminars and events that allow graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, visitors and faculty to enjoy regular interaction.

UBC is the headquarters for the Pacific Institute of Mathematical Sciences (PIMS). PIMS hosts a plethora of mathematical events such as conferences and summer schools, greatly enriching the scientific environment in the quantitative sciences at UBC. Our mathematics students are also regular participants at the nearby Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery. Finally, our Institute for Applied Mathematics provides options for interdisciplinary studies for PhD students who wish to work in applied and computational mathematics.

 

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Program Enquiries

Still have questions after reviewing this page thoroughly?
Contact the program

Admission Information & Requirements

1) Check Eligibility

Minimum Academic Requirements

The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies establishes the minimum admission requirements common to all applicants, usually a minimum overall average in the B+ range (76% at UBC). The graduate program that you are applying to may have additional requirements. Please review the specific requirements for applicants with credentials from institutions in:

Each program may set higher academic minimum requirements. Please review the program website carefully to understand the program requirements. Meeting the minimum requirements does not guarantee admission as it is a competitive process.

English Language Test

Applicants from a university outside Canada in which English is not the primary language of instruction must provide results of an English language proficiency examination as part of their application. Tests must have been taken within the last 24 months at the time of submission of your application.

Minimum requirements for the two most common English language proficiency tests to apply to this program are listed below:

TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language - internet-based

Overall score requirement: 100

Reading

22

Writing

21

Speaking

21

Listening

22

IELTS: International English Language Testing System

Overall score requirement: 7.0

Reading

6.5

Writing

6.5

Speaking

6.5

Listening

6.5

Other Test Scores

Some programs require additional test scores such as the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or the Graduate Management Test (GMAT). The requirements for this program are:

The GRE is not required.

2) Meet Deadlines

September 2025 Intake

Application Open Date
01 October 2024
Canadian Applicants
Application Deadline: 31 December 2024
Transcript Deadline: 21 February 2025
Referee Deadline: 21 February 2025
International Applicants
Application Deadline: 31 December 2024
Transcript Deadline: 21 February 2025
Referee Deadline: 21 February 2025

3) Prepare Application

Transcripts

All applicants have to submit transcripts from all past post-secondary study. Document submission requirements depend on whether your institution of study is within Canada or outside of Canada.

Letters of Reference

A minimum of three references are required for application to graduate programs at UBC. References should be requested from individuals who are prepared to provide a report on your academic ability and qualifications.

Statement of Interest

Many programs require a statement of interest, sometimes called a "statement of intent", "description of research interests" or something similar.

Supervision

Students in research-based programs usually require a faculty member to function as their thesis supervisor. Please follow the instructions provided by each program whether applicants should contact faculty members.

Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD)
Applicants should browse faculty profiles and indicate in their application who they are interested in working with. No commitment from a supervisor prior to applying is necessary, but contacting faculty members is encouraged.

Citizenship Verification

Permanent Residents of Canada must provide a clear photocopy of both sides of the Permanent Resident card.

4) Apply Online

All applicants must complete an online application form and pay the application fee to be considered for admission to UBC.

Tuition & Financial Support

Tuition

FeesCanadian Citizen / Permanent Resident / Refugee / DiplomatInternational
Application Fee$116.25$168.25
Tuition *
Installments per year33
Tuition per installment$1,875.34$3,294.66
Tuition per year
(plus annual increase, usually 2%-5%)
$5,626.02$9,883.98
Int. Tuition Award (ITA) per year (if eligible) $3,200.00 (-)
Other Fees and Costs
Student Fees (yearly)$1,116.60 (approx.)
Costs of livingEstimate your costs of living with our interactive tool in order to start developing a financial plan for your graduate studies.
* Regular, full-time tuition. For on-leave, extension, continuing or part time (if applicable) fees see UBC Calendar.
All fees for the year are subject to adjustment and UBC reserves the right to change any fees without notice at any time, including tuition and student fees. Tuition fees are reviewed annually by the UBC Board of Governors. In recent years, tuition increases have been 2% for continuing domestic students and between 2% and 5% for continuing international students. New students may see higher increases in tuition. Admitted students who defer their admission are subject to the potentially higher tuition fees for incoming students effective at the later program start date. In case of a discrepancy between this webpage and the UBC Calendar, the UBC Calendar entry will be held to be correct.

Financial Support

Applicants to UBC have access to a variety of funding options, including merit-based (i.e. based on your academic performance) and need-based (i.e. based on your financial situation) opportunities.

Program Funding Packages

All full-time students who begin a UBC-Vancouver PhD Mathematics program in September 2018 or later will be provided with a funding package of at least $24,256 for each of the first four years of their PhD. The funding package may consist of any combination of internal or external awards, teaching-related work, research assistantships, and graduate academic assistantships.

Average Funding
Based on the criteria outlined below, 54 students within this program were included in this study because they received funding through UBC in the form of teaching, research, academic assistantships or internal or external awards averaging $38,952.
  • 52 students received Teaching Assistantships. Average TA funding based on 52 students was $13,784.
  • 48 students received Research Assistantships. Average RA funding based on 48 students was $11,580.
  • 3 students received Academic Assistantships. Average AA funding based on 3 students was $1,814.
  • 54 students received internal awards. Average internal award funding based on 54 students was $13,279.
  • 4 students received external awards. Average external award funding based on 4 students was $27,083.

Study Period: Sep 2022 to Aug 2023 - average funding for full-time PhD students enrolled in three terms per academic year in this program across years 1-4, the period covered by UBC's Minimum Funding Guarantee. Averages might mask variability in sources and amounts of funding received by individual students. Beyond year 4, funding packages become even more individualized.
Review methodology
Scholarships & awards (merit-based funding)

All applicants are encouraged to review the awards listing to identify potential opportunities to fund their graduate education. The database lists merit-based scholarships and awards and allows for filtering by various criteria, such as domestic vs. international or degree level.

Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA)

Many professors are able to provide Research Assistantships (GRA) from their research grants to support full-time graduate students studying under their supervision. The duties constitute part of the student's graduate degree requirements. A Graduate Research Assistantship is considered a form of fellowship for a period of graduate study and is therefore not covered by a collective agreement. Stipends vary widely, and are dependent on the field of study and the type of research grant from which the assistantship is being funded.

Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTA)

Graduate programs may have Teaching Assistantships available for registered full-time graduate students. Full teaching assistantships involve 12 hours work per week in preparation, lecturing, or laboratory instruction although many graduate programs offer partial TA appointments at less than 12 hours per week. Teaching assistantship rates are set by collective bargaining between the University and the Teaching Assistants' Union.

Graduate Academic Assistantships (GAA)

Academic Assistantships are employment opportunities to perform work that is relevant to the university or to an individual faculty member, but not to support the student’s graduate research and thesis. Wages are considered regular earnings and when paid monthly, include vacation pay.

Financial aid (need-based funding)

Canadian and US applicants may qualify for governmental loans to finance their studies. Please review eligibility and types of loans.

All students may be able to access private sector or bank loans.

Foreign government scholarships

Many foreign governments provide support to their citizens in pursuing education abroad. International applicants should check the various governmental resources in their home country, such as the Department of Education, for available scholarships.

Working while studying

The possibility to pursue work to supplement income may depend on the demands the program has on students. It should be carefully weighed if work leads to prolonged program durations or whether work placements can be meaningfully embedded into a program.

International students enrolled as full-time students with a valid study permit can work on campus for unlimited hours and work off-campus for no more than 20 hours a week.

A good starting point to explore student jobs is the UBC Work Learn program or a Co-Op placement.

Tax credits and RRSP withdrawals

Students with taxable income in Canada may be able to claim federal or provincial tax credits.

Canadian residents with RRSP accounts may be able to use the Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP) which allows students to withdraw amounts from their registered retirement savings plan (RRSPs) to finance full-time training or education for themselves or their partner.

Please review Filing taxes in Canada on the student services website for more information.

Cost Estimator

Applicants have access to the cost estimator to develop a financial plan that takes into account various income sources and expenses.

Career Outcomes

88 students graduated between 2005 and 2013: 1 is in a non-salaried situation; for 19 we have no data (based on research conducted between Feb-May 2016). For the remaining 68 graduates:


RI (Research-Intensive) Faculty: typically tenure-track faculty positions (equivalent of the North American Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, and Professor positions) in PhD-granting institutions
TI (Teaching-Intensive) Faculty: typically full-time faculty positions in colleges or in institutions not granting PhDs, and teaching faculty at PhD-granting institutions
Term Faculty: faculty in term appointments (e.g. sessional lecturers, visiting assistant professors, etc.)
Sample Employers in Higher Education
University of Oregon (3)
University of British Columbia (2)
University of Notre Dame (2)
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor (2)
University of Manitoba (2)
University of Kansas (2)
Harvard University (2)
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (2)
Autonomous University of Yucatan
King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals
Sample Employers Outside Higher Education
Google (3)
Sanoma B.V.
Centre for Human Drug Research
Futurice GmbH
Contact Energy Ltd.
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB)
Contextual Genomics
MDA Corp.
Amazon
Facebook
Sample Job Titles Outside Higher Education
Data Scientist (3)
Software Engineer (2)
Actuarial Analyst
Lead Software Creator
Quantitative Analyst
Senior Analyst
Applied Research Mathematician
Education Specialist
Programmer
Senior Software Engineer
PhD Career Outcome Survey
You may view the full report on career outcomes of UBC PhD graduates on outcomes.grad.ubc.ca.
Disclaimer
These data represent historical employment information and do not guarantee future employment prospects for graduates of this program. They are for informational purposes only. Data were collected through either alumni surveys or internet research.
Career Options

A great majority of our PhD graduates move on to postdoctoral fellowships and faculty positions at universities and research institutes in North America and around the world. However, a significant fraction of students move into careers in industry. Students considering non-academic careers are encouraged to complete an industrial internship (for instance through the Mitacs Accelerate program - headquartered at UBC) during their studies.

Enrolment, Duration & Other Stats

These statistics show data for the Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD). Data are separated for each degree program combination. You may view data for other degree options in the respective program profile.

ENROLMENT DATA

 20232022202120202019
Applications155167176176114
Offers3021272922
New Registrations1211171317
Total Enrolment7268646572

Completion Rates & Times

This program has a graduation rate of 86% based on 67 students admitted between 2011 - 2014. Based on 46 graduations between 2020 - 2023 the minimum time to completion is 3.28 years and the maximum time is 8.88 years with an average of 4.97 years of study. All calculations exclude leave times.
Disclaimer
Admissions data refer to all UBC Vancouver applications, offers, new registrants for each registration year, May to April, e.g. data for 2022 refers to programs starting in 2022 Summer and 2022 Winter session, i.e. May 1, 2022 to April 30, 2023. Data on total enrolment reflects enrolment in Winter Session Term 1 and are based on snapshots taken on November 1 of each registration year. Program completion data are only provided for datasets comprised of more than 4 individuals. Graduation rates exclude students who transfer out of their programs. Rates and times of completion depend on a number of variables (e.g. curriculum requirements, student funding), some of which may have changed in recent years for some programs.

Research Supervisors

Supervision

Students in research-based programs usually require a faculty member to function as their thesis supervisor. Please follow the instructions provided by each program whether applicants should contact faculty members.

Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for Doctor of Philosophy in Mathematics (PhD)
Applicants should browse faculty profiles and indicate in their application who they are interested in working with. No commitment from a supervisor prior to applying is necessary, but contacting faculty members is encouraged.
 
Advice and insights from UBC Faculty on reaching out to supervisors

These videos contain some general advice from faculty across UBC on finding and reaching out to a supervisor. They are not program specific.

 

This list shows faculty members with full supervisory privileges who are affiliated with this program. It is not a comprehensive list of all potential supervisors as faculty from other programs or faculty members without full supervisory privileges can request approvals to supervise graduate students in this program.

  • Adem, Alejandro (Cohomology of finite groups, orbifolds, stringy topology, algebra, sporadic simple group, group actions, arithmetic groups, K-theory, homotopy theory, spaces of homomorphisms)
  • Alacaoglu, Ahmet (Mathematical optimization; Machine learning; Mathematical operations research; Numerical optimization; Machine Learning; Stochastic algorithms; Min-max games; Monotone operator theory)
  • Angel, Omer (Probability theory, percolation, random graphs, random walks, particle processes, scaling limits)
  • Bachmann, Sven (Mathematics and statistics; Mathematical Analysis; quantum phenomena; Mathematical physics; Quantum statistical physics; Topological states of matter)
  • Balmforth, Neil (Fluid mechanics, nonlinear dynamics and applied partial differential equations)
  • Behrend, Kai (Moduli spaces, Gromov-Witten invariants, string theory, Donaldson-Thomas invariants, Euler characteristics, categorification)
  • Bennett, Michael (Number Theory, Diophantine Approximation and Classical Analysis)
  • Bryan, Jim (Algebraic and differential geometry; Algebraic geometry, moduli spaces, enumerative invariants related to theoretical physics.)
  • Cautis, Sabin (Mathematics and statistics; Geometry)
  • Chau, Albert (Differential Geometry and Partial Differential Equations)
  • Chen, Jingyi (Algebraic and differential geometry; Differential Geometry, Partial Differential Equations)
  • Colliander, James (hamiltonian dynamical systems; partial differential equations; harmonic analysis)
  • Coombs, Daniel (Mathematical biology; Cellular immunology; Complex physical systems; Epidemiology (except nutritional and veterinary epidemiology); Cell Signaling and Infectious and Immune Diseases; Cell biophysics; Disease models; Epidemiology; Immune cell signalling; Mathematics)
  • Cytrynbaum, Eric (Bacterial cell division, Microtubule and cellular organization, Wave propagation in excitable media)
  • Dao Duc, Khanh (Genomics; Mathematical biology; Neurocognitive patterns and neural networks; Agricultural spatial analysis and modelling; combine mathematical,computational and statistical tools to study fundamental biological processes; regulation and determinants of gene expression and translation; Machine Learning for Biological Imaging and Microscopy; Database development and management; Biological and Artificial Neural Networks for geometric representation)
  • Doebeli, Michael Walter (Mathematical ecology and evolution, evolution of diversity, adaptive speciation, evolution of cooperation, game theory, experimental evolution in microorganisms)
  • Feng, James (Chemical engineering; Mathematics and statistics; Biophysics; Complex fluids; Fluid mechanics; Mathematical biology)
  • Fraser, Ailana (Differential Geometry, Geometric Analysis)
  • Friedlander, Michael (numerical optimization, numerical linear algebra, scientific computing, Scientific computing)
  • Frigaard, Ian (Fluid mechanics (visco-plastic fluids))
  • Ghioca, Dragos (Drinfeld modules, isotrivial semiabelian varieties, Lehmer inequality)
  • Gordon, Julia Yulia (Representation theory of p-adic groups and motivic integration; Trace Formula and its applications)
  • Gustafson, Stephen James (Partial and ordinary differential equations; Mathematical physics; Nonlinear partial differential equations; Nonlinear waves; Solitons; Topological solitons; Mathematics of quantum systems; Mathematics of magnetism; Mathematical fluid mechanics)
  • Hauert, Christoph (Mathematics and statistics; Modelization and Simulation; Evolution and Phylogenesis; Biological Behavior; dynamical systems; evolution; game theory; social dilemmas; stochastic processes)

Pages

Doctoral Citations

A doctoral citation summarizes the nature of the independent research, provides a high-level overview of the study, states the significance of the work and says who will benefit from the findings in clear, non-specialized language, so that members of a lay audience will understand it.
Year Citation
2024 Dr. Oliveira studied a new class of surfaces of interest to researchers in different areas of mathematics and provided many previously unknown examples. His research contributes to an understanding of the deeper relationships between seemingly separate subjects.
2024 Dr. Gheorghiu has made a contribution to algebra. One of the simplest algebraic structures are groups. Cohomology is an algebraic tool that can discern geometric objects by looking at their "holes". Then group cohomology is a tool that can discern different groups. Dr. Gheorghiu has developed a generalization of a specific form of group cohomology.
2024 Dr. Hamidi studied elliptic curves over quadratic imaginary fields. Using a new and robust technique, Dr. Hamidi proved significant results about the vanishing and bounding of certain invariants. His results could have applications in number theory, cryptography, and other areas of mathematics.
2024 Dr. Bajpai made theoretical and algorithmic contributions to the study of integer solutions to polynomial equations. He developed methods to resolve several new families of such equations, and applied these methods to prove novel results on approximations to complex numbers.
2023 Dr. Huet developed numerical tools that allow fast and accurate simulations of complex fluid systems, ranging from rockfall dynamics to cell-resolved biological flows. His open-source software contributions can be used to better design microfluidic cell-sorting devices, thus speeding up many labour intensive tasks in biotechnology research.
2023 Dr. Zhang developed the gluing method to construct the bubble tower of the ancient solutions and infinite time blow-up solutions for the critical heat equations, and finite time blow-up solutions simultaneously at any prescribed N points for the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation.
2023 Dr. Jana rigorously investigated algebraic invariants of two spaces: Classifying space for commutativity and Unordered flag manifolds. Their research explored algebraic topology, employing algebraic methods to analyze shapes. The core of the research lies in the pursuit of simplification through decomposition, marking its fundamental significance.
2023 Dr. Michta studied how phase transitions occur in finite volume for some classical models from statistical physics. This work contributes to a better and rigorous understanding of finite-size scaling theory in high dimensions. This is useful to the wide spectrum of people working at the interface between physics and mathematics.
2023 Counting sums and differences between sets is a central part of many questions in additive combinatorics. Dr. White developed a new technique combining harmonic analysis and optimization to nearly resolve a longstanding question in this field. He expects that his new method can be extended to other problems in additive combinatorics.
2023 Dr. Lawrence unified elements from reinforcement learning and control theory to solve industrially relevant problems. His framework enables learning stable control policies directly from data. This ensures that maintaining controllers in an industrial setting is efficient, safe, and automated.

Pages

Further Information

Specialization

Mathematicians use theoretical and computational methods to solve a wide range of problems from the most abstract to the very applied. UBC's mathematics graduate students work in many branches of pure and applied mathematics.

Faculty Overview

Program Identifier

VGDPHD-PO
 

Apply Now

If you don't have a UBC Campus-Wide Login (CWL) please create an account first.
 

September 2025 Intake

Application Open Date
01 October 2024
Canadian Applicant Deadline
31 December 2024
International Applicant Deadline
31 December 2024
 
Supervisor Search
 

Departments/Programs may update graduate degree program details through the Faculty & Staff portal. To update contact details for application inquiries, please use this form.

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