Updates, news and stories

Why your kids should take risks while playing outdoors this summer

Meet the spring recipients of UBC’s 2024 Partnership Recognition and Exploration Fund

This year, the Partnership Recognition and Exploration (PRE) Fund opened in May and has already provided funding for 16 community-university projects in Vancouver and the Okanagan. This fund aims to boost collaboration and relationship building, as well as empower community partners to build reciprocal relationships with UBC students, faculty, and staff.   

The carbon costs of the construction industry

When it comes to climate change, it’s easy to believe that the burning of fossil fuels is mainly responsible for high global carbon emissions. We’re told we need to drive less, fly less and generally rely less on the non-renewable energy sources that have sustained our society’s way of life for over a century.

Staff in focus: Alia Januwalla

Alia, a learning and development specialist with the Knowledge Exchange, helps researchers, staff, and students develop and share the social impact of their research. Find out why her work is guided by the quote "Nothing about us, without us," which is used by disability rights activists to promote people-centred solutions.

Apply to the Teaching Development Program for new faculty

The Teaching Development Program for new faculty is an eight-month long flexible program offered by the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology that supports instructors teaching credit courses. The program runs from September 2024 to April 2025 and will help faculty members (research-stream, educational leadership stream, sessional faculty, lecturers) build a foundation for their teaching careers by providing a network of support around teaching and learning. Accessible via CWL, applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until August 30.

Faculty Research Awards — call for nominations

We are happy to announce that nominations are now open for the annual UBC Faculty Research Awards. These awards acknowledge research excellence across all disciplines at UBC.Recognition at the university level can also lead to increased opportunity at the national and international level. We strongly encourage you to consider equity, diversity and inclusion principles in your nominations.Application process for 2024:

Tailoring depression treatment

Why the 2024 Paris Olympics are pivotal for gender equity in amateur and recreational sports

The Paris Olympics have made some high-profile announcements around gender equity, making these the first Games with full numerical gender parity on the playing field. The Games will have a nursery in the Olympic village in which athletes may breastfeed, and organizers have scheduled the women’s marathon as the final event of the games, in a prime-time spot previously reserved for the men’s marathon.

Research in focus: Elizabeth "Biz" Nijdam

Biz is an assistant professor of teaching in the Department of Central, Eastern and Northern European Studies. Find out how she examines the intersection between board games and discourses of colonialism, and the role of she believes board games play in teaching and learning.

How to protect your hearing at summer concerts

As music lovers flock to outdoor festivals and concerts this summer, many may not realize the noise levels could be high enough to cause hearing damage.Dr. Navid Shahnaz, an associate professor at the School of Audiology and Speech Sciences, discusses the impact loud music can have on our hearing, and how we can protect ourselves while enjoying live performances.Learn more

The future of construction: From building booms to control rooms

UBC Okanagan’s Dr. Qian Chen knows firsthand the contrasts between China and Canada.For example, the Civil Engineering Assistant Professor can’t keep a straight face when she describes her upbringing near Shanghai, a metropolis of 25 million people.“I’m from a small town,” she says, then laughs as she raises quotation marks over “small.”

UBCO professor researches electric passenger light rail for Okanagan Valley