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. Boesten examined the court justice system in Columbia. His research investigated the rules of deliberation that led to the government's decision to rule against powerful social and political interests. This work increases our understanding of how clear procedures in court proceedings can help uphold the justice system even in violent contexts. | Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Blasberg examined how perfectionistic personality impacts the thoughts and feelings people have when ostracized. He found people who need to be or appear perfect, react to being ostracized with more intense feelings and negative thoughts. His work helps explain how perfectionistic personality leads to emotional distress in response to ostracism. | Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD) |
| 2016 | In 2003, New Zealand decriminalized sex work vastly improving sex workers' occupational well-being. Dr. Zangger found that despite these positive changes, the whore stigma, discrimination, and the presence of restrictive by-laws remain, constraining dynamics that jeopardise the advancement of sex workers' rights in the indoor sex industry in Auckland. | Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Gray studied why people choose not to participate in politics. He developed a theory of how not participating in politics might itself be a form of political engagement. This theory will help us to design democratic institutions to be more responsive to ordinary citizens. | Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (PhD) |
| 2016 | Daniella Jean Trimboli examined digital storytelling as a social technology concerned with cultural diversity in Australia. She found that digital storytelling both bolsters official multiculturalism and engages with the complex realties of everyday multiculturalism. Her findings are an original contribution to conceptualising participatory and plural forms of cultural representation. | Doctor of Philosophy in English (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Coughlin analyzed works of painting and architecture in the 16th-century Veneto to demonstrate the operation of prudence in visual realms. By evaluating how pictorial and architectural representations often substituted for written interpretations, he considers the crucial role visual imagery played in philosophical debates at the time. | Doctor of Philosophy in Art History (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Bhattacharjee's thesis looks at determinants of infant health outcomes, female fertility decisions and the evolution of gender gap in labor market outcomes in India. Her research shows that in some sectors, infant health outcomes are sensitive to political cycles and female fertility decisions are affected by female employment. | Doctor of Philosophy in Economics (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Schwartz developed a new theory to explain why only some Canadian cities create policies that are likely to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. She identified the influence of dedicated environmental departments within the city administration as an important factor. Her work will help cities to fight climate change more effectively. | Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Goh studied how archival legislation in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Singapore influence the implementation of records management programs. She found that archival legislation lacks clarity and that there are complexities in making changes. Her findings provide insights for a revised legislation to improve the management of public records. | Doctor of Philosophy in Library, Archival and Information Studies (PhD) |
| 2016 | Dr. Cheung examined the social dynamics of early Bronze Age China using multi-isotope analysis. Focusing on the ancient networks surrounding the late Shang capital Yinxu, her thesis has provided novel insights into the social organization of Yinxu, as well as the complex political geography of early Bronze Age China. | Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology (PhD) |