Photo: Martin Dee
Applicants to master’s and doctoral degrees are not affected by the recently announced cap on study permits. Review more details
Arts has more than 25 academic departments, institutes, and schools as well as professional programs, more than 15 interdisciplinary programs, a gallery, a museum, theatres, concert venues, and a performing arts centre. Truly unique in its scope, the Faculty of Arts is a dynamic and thriving community of outstanding scholars – both faculty and students.
Here, our students explore cutting-edge ideas that deepen our understanding of humanity in an age of scientific and technological discovery. Whether Arts scholars work with local communities, or tackle issues such as climate change, world music, or international development, their research has a deep impact on the local and international stage.
The disciplinary and multi-disciplinary approaches in our classrooms, labs, and cultural venues inspire students to apply their knowledge both to and beyond their specialization. Using innovation and collaborative learning, our graduate students create rich pathways to knowledge and real connections to global thought leaders.
UBC Library has extensive collections, especially in Arts, and houses Canada’s greatest Asian language library. Arts graduate programs enjoy the use of state-of-the-art laboratories, the world-renowned Museum of Anthropology and the Belkin Contemporary Art Gallery (admission is free for our graduate students). World-class performance spaces include theatres, concert venues and a performing arts centre.
Since 2001, the Belkin Art Gallery has trained young curators at the graduate level in the Critical and Curatorial Studies program in the Department of Art History, Visual Art and Theory. The Master of Arts program addresses the growing need for curators and critics who have theoretical knowledge and practical experience in analyzing institutions, preparing displays and communicating about contemporary art.
The MOA Centre for Cultural Research (CCR) undertakes research on world arts and cultures, and supports research activities and collaborative partnerships through a number of spaces, including research rooms for collections-based research, an Ethnology Lab, a Conservation Lab, an Oral History and Language Lab supporting audio recording and digitization, a library, an archive, and a Community Lounge for groups engaged in research activities. The CCR includes virtual services supporting collections-based research through the MOA CAT Collections Online site that provides access to the Museum’s collection of approximately 40,000 objects and 80,000 object images, and the Reciprocal Research Network (RRN) that brings together 430,000 object records and associated images from 19 institutions.
The Faculty of Arts at UBC is internationally renowned for research in the social sciences, humanities, professional schools, and creative and performing arts.
As a research-intensive faculty, Arts is a leader in the creation and advancement of knowledge and understanding. Scholars in the Faculty of Arts form cross-disciplinary partnerships, engage in knowledge exchange, and apply their research locally and globally.
Arts faculty members have won Guggenheim Fellowships, Humboldt Fellowships, and major disciplinary awards. We have had 81 faculty members elected to the Royal Society of Canada, and several others win Killam Prizes, Killam Research Fellowships, Emmy Awards, and Order of Canada awards. In addition, Arts faculty members have won countless book prizes, national disciplinary awards, and international disciplinary awards.
External funding also signifies the research success of our faculty. In the 2020-2021 fiscal year, the Faculty of Arts received $34.6 million through over 900 research projects. Of seven UBC SSHRC Partnership Grants awarded to-date, six are located in Arts, with a combined investment of $15 million over the term of the grants.
Since the 2011 introduction of the SSHRC Insight Grants and SSHRC Insight Development Grants programs, our faculty’s success rate has remained highly stable, and is consistently higher than the national success rate.
This is an incomplete sample of recent publications in chronological order by UBC faculty members with a primary appointment in the Faculty of Arts.
| Year | Citation | Program |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Dr. Laidlaw explored how individuals look at and pay attention to other people. She documented several factors that influence whether and how people direct their attention to others in both everyday situations and while looking at images or videos. Her work bridges a gap between traditional theories of visual attention and everyday experiences. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. He studied the identification and estimation of nonlinear models, especially duration models and varying coefficient models. Results of the duration models in a game setup help to learn the effect of oligopoly competition on the survival analysis of the introduction of a new product into the market. The study of varying coefficient models with matching data from two independent samples provides useful inference on the data combination literature. | Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Scudeler used Cree methodologies, such as kinship, and getting along with others, to examine how Cree Two-Spirit, gay and queer writers and artists use narrative to combat racism and homophobia. Dr. Scudeler argues that these artists' work is a holistic Cree response to colonisation, including sexual colonisation. | Doctor of Philosophy in English (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Alvarez-Jaimes completed his doctorate in Hispanic Studies. He investigated how the perception produced by the news about poverty and violence in an urban community in Colombia motivated the practice of hip hop. His research offers a new understanding of how dialogue can shape political actions and influence the transformation of marginalized spaces. | Doctor of Philosophy in Hispanic Studies (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Grass explored the principles of fiscal policy in Ming China whereby reducing expenses rather than increasing revenue avoided greater demands on the economy. She concludes that this principle poses an alternative approach to fiscal policy that prioritizes local conditions over those of the political center. | Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Wainer investigated the role of children's bodies in creating social relationships among the children, parents and physicians during cancer treatment. This information will help us understand the kinds of struggles children, families, and professionals face during treatment and will provide better tools to generate social and institutional changes. | Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Lim examines how older Sakhalin Koreans reconfigure personhood through practices of kinship and citizenship moving between Russia, and South Korea. This dissertation offers a grounded understanding of how post-colonial, post-Cold War, and post-socialist transformations have shaped personhood in Northeast Asia and more broadly Eurasia. | Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Frohard-Dourlent examined the experiences of BC educators who work with transgender students. This work shows that educators navigate entrenched structures and communication patterns that favour gender conformity and make it difficult to support students. This work also highlights changes in educational practices so that students of all genders can thrive. | Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Kreger examined the philosophical and religious aspects of the Chinese text the Liezi. His findings show that the text takes Nonbeing, or absolute nothingness, as not only the basic nature of reality, but also as an ethical teaching. This research clarifies our understanding of philosophical discourse in early medieval China. | Doctor of Philosophy in Asian Studies (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Hoogeveen examined mining regulations and conflicts over territory between Indigenous peoples and mining companies in the interior of British Columbia. She demonstrates how the state facilitates a model of property rights that favour the extraction industry from the staking stage through to environmental assessment. | Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD) |