UBC’s external engagements and partnerships are a critical component of its capacity to accelerate the global shift towards a 1.5°C-aligned future. To leverage these engagements effectively, UBC can support new initiatives and innovations of UBC community members and scale up those that already demonstrate success.
Concurrently, UBC must recognize the strength and value of reciprocity and be willing to create space for the knowledge and best practices of external partners to be integrated into its own institutional policies. Most importantly, UBC’s external engagements cannot be effective without recognizing the importance of active, ethical partnerships with Indigenous, Black, POC and marginalized communities.
Progress
SHORT TERM (1-3 YEARS)
Recommendations to support this strategic priority area focus on facilitating knowledge translation, building community partnerships, scaling up Living Lab research with off-campus partners, deepening engagement with external groups, and developing a more robust strategic partnership framework.
| UC3 Fellows Pilot Program: UBC led pilot program that invites UC3 member universities to award full- and part-time fellowships to postdocs, graduate students, faculty, and/or staff to become UC3 Fellows tasked with advancing collaborative climate action projects and contributing part time to other university-specific climate action work. Learn more. |
MEDIUM TERM (3-5 YEARS)
| Vienna House Living Lab: UBC’s first off-campus Living Lab project involving research during the design and construction of a new housing community that aims to advance innovative solutions to affordability, climate change, and social equity. Partners include the City of Vancouver, BC Housing, non-profits, and industry. July 2021. Learn more. |
Related Resources
Climate Justice Research Collaborative
An opportunity for undergraduate students at UBC to collaborate on interdisciplinary research projects focused on climate change and climate justice, for course credit. Projects are undertaken with the supervision of faculty and the mentorship of graduate students.
Facing Human Wrongs (UBC)
Addressing the complexities and paradoxes of mainstream approaches to global challenges, students are offered an alternative to problem-solving approaches premised on seeking immediate solutions. Instead, students develop intellectual, affective, and relational capacities for navigating multiple perspectives in an interrelated and unequal world.
