Doctor of Philosophy in Neuroscience (PhD)

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Overview

The objectives of the Program are to educate graduate students as neuroscientists with intensive experience in at least one area of research, and to ensure that students in the Program develop a broadly based knowledge of the neurosciences. The Program aims for flexibility so that the individual needs and background of each student can, as quickly as possible, be accommodated. The core program of courses offered to entering students consists of Neuroanatomy, Neurophysiology, Neurochemistry, Psychobiology, Molecular Neurobiology, and Neuropharmacology. Additional related courses are available for selection by the student and his/her Supervisory Committee. The Program is research oriented: students are expected to engage in research from the start of their studies. Research is undertaken in individual departments, over a wide range of basic and clinical Neuroscience topics.

 

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What makes the program unique?

The Graduate Program in Neuroscience is a multidisciplinary program of the Faculty of Graduate Studies. It is administered by the Chairman of the Neuroscience Advisory Committee, and comprises some 60 faculty members representing 13 departments from the Faculties of Medicine, Science and Arts at the University of British Columbia. Laboratory and teaching areas are located across the UBC campus and at the University Hospital and the Vancouver Hospital, according to the teaching and research affiliations of the Neuroscience faculty members.

Quick Facts

Degree
Doctor of Philosophy
Subject
Life Sciences
Mode of delivery
On campus
Registration options
Full-time
Specialization
Neuroscience
Program Components
Dissertation
Faculty
Faculty of Medicine

Requirements

TOEFL (ibT) Overall Score Requirement

100
22
21
22
21

IELTS Overall Score Requirement

7.0
6.5
6.5
6.5
6.5

GRE required?

Required by some applicants (check program website)

Funding Sources

All full-time students who begin a UBC-Vancouver PhD program in September 2018 or later will be provided with a funding package of at least $18,000 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. Please note that many graduate programs provide funding packages that are substantially greater than $18,000 per year. Please check with your prospective graduate program for specific details of the funding provided to its PhD students.

Career Outcomes

92 students graduated between 2005 and 2013: 2 are in non-salaried situations; for 6 we have no data (based on research conducted between Feb-May 2016). For the remaining 84 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 British Columbia (12)
University of Toronto (3)
China Medical University (2)
University of Nevada - Las Vegas (2)
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (2)
Western Washington University (2)
University of Ottawa (2)
Simon Fraser University (2)
University of Calgary (2)
Carleton University
Sample Employers Outside Higher Education
STEMCELL Technologies (3)
Hospital for Sick Children (2)
Johnson and Johnson Inc.
DynaLIFE
Synchronous ERP Inc.
AstraZeneca
Eli Lilly and Company
Focus Eyecare Centre
Allen Institute for Brain Science
Vancouver Coastal Health
Sample Job Titles Outside Higher Education
Postdoctoral Fellow (6)
Medical Science Liaison (2)
Senior Applications Biologist
Program Manager for PLDP
Neurologist
Medical Liaisons
Director of Technology and Product Development
Audiologist
Senior Software Engineer
Data Scientist
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.

Alumni on Success

Tamara Bodnar

Job Title
Postdoctoral Fellow
Employer
The University of British Columbia

Rochelle Hines

Job Title
Assistant Professor
Employer
University of Nevada Las Vegas

Carmen Chan

Job Title
Postdoctoral Researcher ("Research Scientist")
Employer
RIKEN Brain Science Institute
All Alumni Profiles

Tuition / Program Costs

FeesCanadian Citizen / Permanent Resident / Refugee / DiplomatInternational
Application Fee$104.00$168.25
Tuition *
Installments per year33
Tuition per installment$1,632.61$2,868.22
Tuition per year$4,897.83$8,604.66
Int. Tuition Award (ITA) per year (if eligible) $3,200.00 (-)
Other Fees and Costs
Student Fees (yearly)$930.14 (approx.)
Costs of living (yearly)starting at $16,884.10 (check cost calculator)
* 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. In case of a discrepancy between this webpage and the UBC Calendar, the UBC Calendar entry will be held to be correct.

Statistical Data

Enrolment Data

 20172016201520142013
Applications3523302832
Offers1379815
New registrations1066712
Total enrolment7773788486

Completion Rates & Times

This program has a graduation rate of 62.86% based on 35 students admitted between 2005 - 2008. Based on 24 graduations between 2014 - 2017 the minimum time to completion is 3.33 years and the maximum time is 8.66 years with an average of 6.12 years of study. All calculations exclude leave times.
Disclaimer
Admissions data refer to all UBC Vancouver applications, offers, new registrants for each year, May to April [data updated: 9 March 2018]. Enrolment data are based on March 1 snapshots. Program completion data are only provided for datasets comprised of more than 4 individuals. 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 [data updated: 23 September 2018].

Research Supervisors

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.

  • Accili, Eric (molecular mechanisms responsible for cellular pacemaking behavior )
  • Allan, Douglas (Nervous system)
  • Auld, Vanessa (development, nervous system, permeability barriers, glia , cell biology , genetics, in vivo imaging, epithelia)
  • Austin, Jehannine (Genetics, genomics, genetic counseling, psychiatric illness, mental illness, mental health, psychiatry, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, postpartum depression, perinatal mental health, Mood & Anxiety Disorders, Schizophrenia)
  • Bamji, Shernaz (synapse biology, primary neuronal cultures, transgenic mouse models, neurodevelopmental disease)
  • Barr, Alasdair (Mental health and addictions, with a particular emphasis on psychosis and the medications used in its treatment, Anesthesiology )
  • Barton, Jason (face perception, object recognition, eye movements, higher visual function, Human vision and eye movement)
  • Beasley, Clare Louise (identify changes in the brains of individuals with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder that may elucidate the etiology of these disorders and provide clues to novel treatments; white matter pathology and inflammation; effects of antipsychotic medications on the brain)
  • Bhagavatula, Sastry (Age-related research, Anesthesiology, plasticity of synaptic transmission, mammalian central nervous system)
  • Boyd, Lara (Motor learning, Plasticity / Neuronal Regeneration , Motor System, Learning, Neurophysiology)
  • Brotto, Lori (sexual dysfunction, mindfulness, sexual desire)
  • Cairns, Brian (pain mechanisms, headache, temporomandibular disorders, sex-related differences, peripheral analgesics)
  • Cashman, Neil (prion disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, protein misfolding diseases, Alzheimer's)
  • Christoff, Kalina (brain, cognitive neuroscience, psychology, prefronal cortex, fMRI, neuroimaging, neuropsychology, executive functions, problem solving, reasoning, thinking, mind-wandering, attention, consciousness, real-time fMRI, trauma and PTSD, Cognitive and neural basis of human thought, reasoning and problem solving)
  • Clark, Luke (Gambling, Problem Gambling, Addiction, Decision-Making, Reward, Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognitive and neurobiological mechanisms involved in gambling behaviour and disordered gambling)
  • Craig, Ann Marie (Excitatory and inhibitory synapses, Synapse development and plasticity, Synapse organizing proteins, Neurotransmitter receptors, Autism and schizophrenia)
  • Cynader, Max (eye diseases; glaucoma; dyslexia; stroke; neurotrauma; memory; vision; learning disabilities; hearing development; recovery after brain damage; ischemia; gene therapy, Alzheimer's)
  • Diamond, Adele (executive functions , prefrontal cortex, dopamine, working memory, self-control, self-regulation, cognition, COMT gene, sex differences, stress, ACEs, resilience, social determinants of health, ADHD, depression, PTSD, physical activity, the arts, mindfulness)
  • Doudet, Doris (Brain imaging, mood disorders, stimulation therapies, Parkinson's disease)
  • Eich, Eric (Mood congruence and mood dependence in learning and remembering, memory impairments associated with bipolar affective illness, the cognitive correlates of dissociative identity disorder, and subjective, behavioral, and neural differences between field (first-person perspective) and observer (third-person perspective) memories)
  • Eng, Janice (Neurorehabilitation, spinal cord, brain)
  • Enns, James (attention, action kinematics, social perception)
  • Farrer, Matthew (Parkinson's disease, Dementia, Epilepsy)
  • Fedida, David (How the heart generates, maintains and regulates electrical activity, Anesthesiology)
  • Floresco, Stanley Bogdan (Neural circuits subserving learning and executive functions, behavioural and electrophysiological analyses of limbic-cortical-striatal interactions involved in decision making and behavioural flexibility, animal models of schizophrenia and drug addiction)

Pages

Recent Doctoral Citations

  • Dr. Fidel Vila-Rodriguez
    "Dr. Vila investigated the role of the apoliprotein E gene in schizophrenia patients. He demonstrated that this gene has both positive and negative effects in the presentation of schizophrenia, highlighting the complexity of genetic influences. These studies expand our understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of schizophrenia." (November 2018)
  • Dr. Rebecca Ko
    "Dr. Ko studied brain cells known as astrocytes, and identified a novel protein that mediates calcium signals in them. Findings revealed that the protein is activated by mechanical force, raising interesting possibilities for the role of astrocytes in conditions such as stroke and traumatic brain injury." (November 2018)
  • Dr. Vivian Yin Yin Lam
    "Dr. Lam studied the neurobiological basis of mental health problems associated with prenatal alcohol exposure. She found that alcohol exposure increased vulnerability to stress by changing how the brain and endocrine systems regulate emotion and respond to stress. Her work contributes to understanding the connection between early alcohol exposure and mental health." (November 2018)
  • Dr. Donovan Mervyn Ashby
    "Dr. Ashby studied the synaptic and cellular mechanisms that contribute to memory formation. Through his research he described a new role for the weakening of connections between brain cells during the memory formation process." (November 2018)
  • Dr. Beibei Song
    "Dr. Song studied why individuals with Down syndrome inevitably develop Alzheimer's diseases. She discovered a gene overexpressed in Down syndrome that promotes neurodegeneration and supresses neurogenesis. This work provides insights for the development of potential interventions to treat Alzheimer's in Down syndrome by targeting the USP25 gene." (November 2018)

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