The offices of the Provost and Vice-President Academic, the Vice-President Research and Innovation, and the Vice-Principal Research and Innovation (UBC Okanagan) are pleased to announce the first funding recipients of the Program for Undergraduate Research Experience (PURE).
The January 2019 funding call for PURE sought innovative pilot projects that would broaden access to, and enhance undergraduate research experiences, in response to this key priority identified in UBC’s new strategic plan (Strategy 8 in Shaping UBC’s Next Century).
A Steering Committee across both campuses composed of students, staff and faculty members and representatives of the Vice-President Students, Vice-President Academic and Vice-President Research and Innovation offices developed the PURE call for proposals and a total of 95 full applications were submitted from UBC’s two campuses.
Seventeen of these projects were funded, representing a 17.9 per cent success rate and a total funding allocation of $1.3 million over two years, including $1 million in strategic funds. The funded projects are listed below; a full summary of each project can be found on the UBC Research + Innovation website.
The principal applicants of the funded projects included 12 faculty members, three staff members and two undergraduate students. Eight projects are led by women and nine are led by men.
The projects were sponsored by a range of faculties, units and portfolios including Applied Science, Arts, Education, Forestry, Medicine, UBC Sauder, Science, Health and Social Development, Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology, Materials and Manufacturing Research Institute, First Nations House of Learning, Museum of Anthropology, Vice-President External and Vice-Provost International. Fifteen of the 17 funded projects received two-year funding awards.
FUNDED PROJECTS
- Advanced Research Cohort (ARC) Program for Undergraduates in Sociology
- Combining Research Experience and Technical Electives for Undergraduates (CREATE-U)
- Decolonizing the African Collections and Displays at the UBC Museum of Anthropology
- Engaging Osoyoos' Past and Present: Land, People, Industry
- Experiential Human Rights Research: Expanding & Embedding Undergrad Research Opportunities in Partnership with Scholars at Risk
- Indigenous Undergraduate Research Experience at Xʷc̓ic̓əsəm
- Integrated Undergraduate Student Program in Research Education (INSPIRE)
- Interdisciplinary Applied Research Initiative: Enhancing Urban Biodiversity in a Changing Climate
- Multidisciplinary Undergraduate 3 Minute Thesis (3MT)
- Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Projects in Health (MURPH)
- Participant Research on Videogame Environments (PROVE)
- Punjabi Studies Oral History Research Project and Program Development
- PUREs for CUREs: Development of a Suite of Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences
- Student-led Interdisciplinary Research Advancing Climate Justice and Just Transitions
- Sustainability Science: An Immersive Research Training Experience in Socio-Ecological Systems
- Undergraduate Research Rotation in Balance Assessment and Rehabilitation
- Understanding and Strengthening Indigenous Student Engagement in Psychology