UBC Community Engagement

For decades, the Canada-US relationship was of two nations bound by an intertwined economic fabric. Now, as the 2026 review of CUSMA looms and global protectionism becomes a new global standard, the strands may be fraying to a breaking point. On March 19, 2026, a panel of leading experts from the Allard School of Law, Vancouver School of Economics, Faculty of Forestry and Political Science joined...

In Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (DTES), Community Veterinary Outreach, a national charity, is working with UBC researchers and students to reduce barriers to health care by allowing people to access support for themselves alongside their trusted animal companions. Research shows that pets offer profound physical, emotional and mental health benefits, especially for people facing marginalizati...

In partnership with the Nuxalk Nation, the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) at the University of British Columbia is presenting Nuxalk Strong: Dancing Down the Eyelashes of the Sun —the world's first dedicated exhibition of the Nuxalk. The exhibit features over 60 historic treasures from MOA's collections, as well as other museums, private holders, and Nuxalk families. Visitors are invited to...

In Peachland British Columbia, a local conservation group is turning the night sky into a classroom, inviting students and community members to study bats, insects, and the vital ecosystems they share. Peachland’s Bat Education and Ecological Protection Society , better known as BEEPS, leads the Nocturnal Bat and Insect Survey Project, a hands-on learning opportunity that’s using the magic of the...

What does community-engaged research look like in practice, and how can researchers navigate the complexities that arise from community involvement? In this special "Ask Me Anything" session, recorded live at the 2025 UBC Partnering in Research Conference, our speakers tackle these questions and more, sharing insights and practical strategies for effective community engagement. Featured...

How can community-university partnerships sustain meaningful work amid funding shortages, organizational transitions, or shifting priorities? Recorded live at the 2025 UBC Partnering in Research Conference, find out in this joint instalment of Challenges in Partnered Research and Stories of Partnership —a series that highlights reciprocal collaborations, centers community voices, and promotes cont...

Storytelling is powerful—but in research involving Indigenous and other historically, persistently, and systemically marginalized communities, it carries profound ethical responsibilities. Recorded live at the 2025 UBC Partnering in Research Conference, this episode explores storytelling in community-based and Indigenous-led research. Speakers examine the ethical dimensions and practical applicati...

We are excited to share the fourth episode of our Stories of Partnership podcast series, produced in collaboration between UBC Okanagan's and UBC Vancouver's offices of Community Engagement. This session was recorded virtually in November 2024, as part of the UBC Community Engagement Network. Our guests, Trevor Moss, CEO of the Central Okanagan Food Bank, and Dr. Eric Li and Dhorea Ramanula from U...

From navigating logistical hurdles to addressing ethical considerations and maintaining strong, reciprocal partnerships, how can community-university collaborations balance the desire to serve communities with the need to sustain ongoing research activities? In this episode, we speak with Dr. Henry Yu, Professor in the UBC Department of History and Co-Director of the UBC Centre for Asian Canadian...

Explore how storytelling—through comics, podcasts, and apps—can be a powerful tool for engaging audiences, securing research funding, and delivering impactful messages. Our guests include Dr. Elizabeth “Biz” Nijdam, an expert in graphic storytelling from UBC’s Department of Central, Eastern, and Northern European Studies; Gabriele Dumpys Woolever, Research Manager for Programs and Initiatives at t...

In our latest episode of “Challenges in Partnered Research,” a Q&A series by  Partnering in Research , we aim to learn from researchers who realized their research and implementation goals had grown beyond academia and how they decided a non-profit organization could advance their policy-relevant research and community change initiatives.   Listen in as Dr. Paul Kershaw and Dr. Elaine Leung  d...

We are excited to share the second episode of our Stories of Partnership series—recorded live in front of an audience on October 2, 2024, in Kelowna, BC.  In this episode, we feature an inspiring partnership between  Kelowna Museums  and the  UBC Okanagan Library . Together, they’ve launched projects like the  Okanagan QueerStory podcast  and  Kelowna’s first-ever Queer Zine Fair . You’ll hear fir...

Indigenous language in B.C. is facing a critical state of emergency, largely due to historical Canadian government policies aimed at assimilating Indigenous peoples into English-speaking, non- Indigenous society. However, located in northern B.C., the Children of the Taku, a non-profit society working to protect the land, culture and language of the Taku River Tlingit People, is leading a revival...

For our latest episode, we’re excited to bring you a conversation between two influential voices at UBC: Professor Moura Quayle, the Associate Provost at UBC Vancouver and Adriaan de Jager, UBC’s Associate Vice-President of Government Relations and Community Engagement.  Moura Quayle has a long and distinguished career that spans academia, government, and public policy. Until July 31, 2024, she ov...

A partnership between the Homalco First Nation, UBC's Comic Studies Cluster, and Education Without Borders is bringing together a team of Indigenous graphic artists to create a series of short comics based on archival recordings of Elders from the Homalco First Nation.    Captured in the early 1990s, these recordings explore life in the Homalco First Nation’s traditional territory in Bute Inle...

"Stories of Partnership" is a Q&A series by the Community Engagement Network (CEN) that is dedicated to shining a light on examples of reciprocal community-university partnerships. These Q&As are meant to center the experiences of community partners and foster a culture of continuous learning within community engagement and community engagement practices. It’s our pleasure to sha...

UBC’s new Centre for Asian Canadian Research and Engagement — also known as ACRE —is an incredible initiative that is working to centre the voices, experiences, and expertise of Asian Canadian communities, both within the university and, crucially, beyond it.  ACRE's approach to research, teaching, and engagement is deeply rooted in community engagement and is built on long-standing partnershi...

Today, fewer than 47 native speakers of ʔayʔaǰuθəm remain, all of whom are over the age of 60. To help preserve their traditional language, four sister nations—Klahoose, Tla'amin, Homalco, and K'ómoks—are working alongside researchers from UBC and the University of Alberta to develop an ʔayʔaǰuθəm e-dictionary. In the pilot episode of the UBC Community Engagement Podcast, we speak with Koo...