Doctor of Philosophy in Library, Archival and Information Studies (PhD)

Overview

UBC iSchool’s Ph.D. program is a four-year funded program that combines coursework with independent study and research. Students have access to faculty members and advisors and benefit from unique opportunities at a research-intensive university. The Ph.D. program is designed to provide advanced education for outstanding students who have already obtained a Master of Archival Studies (MAS) degree, a Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) or an equivalent related degree.

We are home to a community of researchers actively engaged in investigating questions of vital importance to society in the age of information. At the broadest level, we are concerned with recorded artifacts of human experience: their creation, collection, organization, preservation, and use. Increasingly, these artifacts - books, documents, images, data, etc.- are created and/or preserved in digital formats that can be widely disseminated and used. Our collective work aims to ensure that this legacy of human experience, housed in both traditional and newer digital forms, is preserved, shared and explored, so that individuals and communities can continue to draw upon it to deepen their understanding of themselves and their communities and make new discoveries about our world.

For specific program requirements, please refer to the departmental program website

$40,000

Minimum funding per year^*

Average years to completion

What makes the program unique?

Interdisciplinary nature of the faculty and their collaborators
Teaching opportunities for PhD students in the masters programs and Bachelor of Media Studies program.

One of the major benefits of this research project is the number of interlocking and complimentary community-based projects that I am able to draw upon and contribute to.

Bri Watson

Quick Facts

Faculty Faculty of Arts

Academic Unit School of Information

Specialization Library, Archival and Information Studies

Mode of delivery In person at UBC Vancouver

Program Components Dissertation

Tuition (First Year) Domestic: 5,738.52 | International: 10,081.65

Median Funding 50% of students receive $40,492 or more funding in each of the first four years, before tuition and fees

Tuition & Financial Support

Tuition

Fees	Canadian Citizen / Permanent Resident / Refugee / Diplomat	International
Application Fee	$118.50	$168.25
Tuition *
Installments per year	3	3
Tuition per installment	$1,912.84	$3,360.55
Tuition per year (plus annual increase, usually 2%-5%)	$5,738.52	$10,081.65
Int. Tuition Award (ITA) per year (if eligible)		$3,200.00 (-)
Other Fees and Costs
Supplementary fees (once)	$244.25 Mandatory program fee, student society fee
Student Fees (yearly)	$1,169.35 (approx.)
Costs of living	Estimate 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

Funding Statistics

Please note that effective September 2026, UBC’s guaranteed funding for full-time PhD students in years 1-4 was raised significantly, to a minimum of $40,000 per year. These historical statistics do not account for this change, i.e., the funding landscape for incoming students is not necessarily comparable to the historical values.

Based on the criteria outlined below, 14 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 with a mean of $42,160 and a median of $40,492.

This results in a net balance (any funding provided to the student minus tuition and fees) mean of $33,772 and median of $33,178.

8 students received Teaching Assistantships. Median TA funding based on 8 students was $4,591.
7 students received Research Assistantships. Median RA funding based on 7 students was $3,250.
9 students received Academic Assistantships. Median AA funding based on 9 students was $2,251.
14 students received internal awards. Median internal award funding based on 14 students was $25,434.
6 students received external awards. Median external award funding based on 6 students was $16,667.

Study Period: Sep 2023 to Aug 2024 - 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. Mean and median values 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.

UBC has working agreements with MPower Financing - an organization providing international students with no-cosigner, no-collateral education loans to study in Canada - and Windmill Microlending - an organization providing loans to skilled immigrants.

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 24 hours a week during academic sessions.

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.

Enrolment, Duration & Other Stats

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

ENROLMENT DATA

	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
Applications	31	21	32	32	36
Offers	6	3	6	5	4
New Registrations	5	3	5	3	3
Total Enrolment	24	22	24	22	20

Completion Rates and Times

This program has a graduation rate of 77.8% based on 9 students admitted between 2012 - 2015. Based on 7 graduating students from the 2012 - 2015 admissions cohort the minimum time to completion is 5 years and the maximum time is 9.7 years with an average of 6.6 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.

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. Zhang developed machine learning systems that enhanced the understanding of semantic meanings in language, capturing the nuances of human reactions, communications, and intentions beyond words. He proposed novel language representation learning methods that utilize pragmatic signals to more effectively learn human language, leveraging vast amounts of social media data.
2024	Why volunteer to help others fix items that are easy to replace? Dr. Kaczmarek explored the motivations and aspirations of volunteers at community repair events, as well as the impact of COVID-19 on their activities. Her research reveals the social and material value of repair through the stories of those involved.
2024	Dr. Triponez investigated the archival preservation of independent music production by interviewing music creators. He found that social and technological disruption, evolving creative practices, and the abundance of archival material pose preservation problems that result in an ongoing loss of documentary cultural heritage.
2024	Dr. Payne created a novel auto-classification process that leverages a record's context, not just its content, to improve classification accuracy. His research in artificial intelligence, context, and computational archival science, will help organizations around the world more effectively classify, organize and activate data and information.
2023	There are many unsolvable debates in the world. How do we use the Internet to make sense of them? Dr. Novin researched how biases on the Internet influenced student inquiries, search strategies, and decisions. He documented the cognitive methods participants used to counter biases. This will help educators with teaching critical thinking skills.
2023	Dr. Shankar explored practices with immigration data in Canada. Findings emphasize difference, interdependence, and the need for negotiation of responsibilities across groups working with immigration data. Her work offers implications to governmental and non-governmental actors for ethical decision making and the use of communities' data with care.
2023	Dr. Tulloch examined the way young people used Internet memes to process and communicate information in their daily lives. Her research highlights the importance of humour to their memetic storytelling and the implications it holds for digital citizenship education. Laughter,she argues, helps people negotiate the different values memes instantiate.
2022	Dr. Cole examined working adults' sense of self-efficacy when learning using web search engines. They constructed a scale of self-efficacy and applied mixed methods to identify factors that contribute to User Experience professionals' sense of confidence while learning using search.
2022	Dr. Figueiredo studied how context and agency affect Brazilian school children's information searching strategies to complete homework. She found that these strategies depend on school and home resources, and interpersonal assistance. Her analysis of information searching strategies provides recommendations for designing youth digital applications.
2022	Dr. Evans examined records retention and disposition in Canadian organizations. She found that by aligning information governance efforts and leveraging digital technologies, records managers, archivists, and technologists could significantly decrease the climate impacts of information and communication technology on the environment.

Trinh Nguyen

Doctor of Philosophy in Library, Archival and Information Studies (PhD)

Exploring information governance in sustainable decentralized projects

Andrea Kampen

Doctor of Philosophy in Library, Archival and Information Studies (PhD)

Information sharing practice of artist-researchers

Bri Watson

Doctor of Philosophy in Library, Archival and Information Studies (PhD)

Expanding the catalog: renaming and redescribing indigenous, Black, Queer, Disabled and communities of color in Galleries, Libraries, Achieves, Museums, and Special Collections (GLAMS)

Program Website

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Doctor of Philosophy in Library, Archival and Information Studies (PhD)

Overview

What makes the program unique?

Quick Facts

Admission Information & Requirements

1) Check Eligibility

Minimum Academic Requirements

English Language Test

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

IELTS: International English Language Testing System

Other Test Scores

2) Meet Deadlines

3) Prepare Application

Transcripts

Letters of reference

Statement of Interest

Supervision

Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for this program

Citizenship Verification

4) Apply Online

Research Information

Research Highlights

Research Focus

Facilities

Tuition & Financial Support

Tuition

Financial Support

Program Funding Packages

Funding Statistics

Scholarships & awards (merit-based funding)

Graduate Research Assistantships (GRA)

Graduate Teaching Assistantships (GTA)

Graduate Academic Assistantships (GAA)

Financial aid (need-based funding)

Foreign government scholarships

Working while studying

Tax credits and RRSP withdrawals

Cost Estimator

Career Outcomes

Sample Employers in Higher Education

Sample Employers Outside Higher Education

Sample Job Titles Outside Higher Education

PhD Career Outcome Survey

Disclaimer

Career Options

Enrolment, Duration & Other Stats

ENROLMENT DATA

Completion Rates and Times

Disclaimer

Doctoral Exams Upcoming

Thursday, March 12, 2026 - 09:00 - Zoom

Research Supervisors

Supervision

Instructions regarding thesis supervisor contact for this program

Advice and insights from UBC Faculty on reaching out to supervisors

Sample Thesis Submissions

Doctoral Citations

Related Programs

Same Academic Unit

Further Information

Specialization

UBC Calendar

Program Website

Faculty

Academic Unit

Program Identifier

Classification

Trinh Nguyen

Andrea Kampen

Bri Watson

Program Enquiries

Social Media Channels

Supervisor Search

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