2025/2026
The 2025-2026 report summarizes the activities of the CSRC in its third year, describes some of the climate-oriented research funding awarded to UBC reserachers and looks forward to future events.
- In the CSRC’s third year, eighteen events were hosted on topics ranging from materials in the sustainability transition to relational approaches to climate engagement; from climate change, renewables and the cost of electricity to EV policy and practice in Canada. These events featured twenty faculty, fourteen students and six invited visitors to UBC who all contributed to advancing conversations related to climate solutions.
- With the Find a Climate Researcher website continues to grow, with faculty members added throughout the year. The CSRC events calendar acts as an aggregator for on and off-campus climate related events of interest to the UBC community.
- The 2025/26 cohort of Solutions Scholars was made up of seven graduate students from UBC Vancouver and five from UBC Okanagan. Through the program, the Solutions Scholars worked together on six separate projects, related to addressing polarization in climate discourse, developing wildfire preparedness tools, communicating climate impacts, understanding the climate impacts of data centres, and developing a climate
education cohort for K-12 practitioners. The CSRC expanded its programming through the Catalyst Awards, focusing on both Early Career Researchers and Knowledge Extension. These awards are designed to provide seed funding to grow and strengthen collaborative climate solutions research across disciplines at UBC.
The CSRC launched the Future Canada Initiative which will be a feature of the upcoming 2026/2027 year.
2024/2025
The 2024-2025 report summarizes the activities of the CSRC in its second year, describes some of the climate-oriented research activities being led at UBC and looks forward to future events.
- In the CSRC’s second year, twenty events were hosted on topics ranging from migration and health to disinformation and polarization; from elections to extreme weather events. These events connected the research community, highlighted UBC climate research, and inspired new conversations and collaborations.
- With the goal of reaching researchers across both campuses, the CSRC collaborated with nine different groups and initiatives across both campuses to deliver these events. Additionally, 49 different event hosts and panelists participated, from across all disciplines.
- The CSRC also continued to showcase climate-oriented activities hosted by other units through an online events calendar and newsletter.
- After launching in September 2024, the Climate Researcher website has continued to grow thanks to individuals submitting profiles and updates. With over a thousand individual page views, the site is making it possible for people inside and outside of the UBC community to find experts in specific areas of climate research.
- The 2024/25 cohort of Solutions Scholars was made up of twelve graduate students from UBC Vancouver and two from UBC Okanagan. Through the program, the Solutions Scholars worked together on four separate projects, mentored by faculty in Forestry, Land and Food Systems, Mathematics, Political Science, Applied Science and other disciplines.
With an additional three years of funding now secured, the Steering Committee of the CSRC aims to expand programming with the goal of bringing together researchers from an even broader array of disciplines.
2023/2024
The 2023-2024 report shares the scope of UBC climate research, summarizes the activities of the CSRC in its first year, and looks towards the future.
- During its first year of operation, the CSRC assessed the depth and breadth of climate research at UBC. Across our two campuses is an array of new and established centres, institutes and programs which tackle different aspects of climate science, climate justice, clean energy and other dimensions of climate change.
- Through the first eight months of the program, the CSRC hosted twenty-five events, using a range of formats and featuring different topics, to connect diverse members of the UBC research community.
- The 700+ event participants illustrates the deep interest of the research community in connecting with one another. The CSRC showcases climate-oriented activities being hosted by other units through an online events calendar and newsletter.
- The Solutions Scholars program was designed to engage graduate students in scholarly research projects related to climate change solutions and to engage faculty from different disciplines as co-supervisors. The 2023/24 cohort was made up of eight graduate students from UBC Vancouver and two from UBC Okanagan, whose research project proposals related to either wildfires and/or extreme heat, urban transformations, or the links between both.
- Building on the successes and learnings from the first year of operations, the CSRC’s Steering Committee and staff are developing an exciting set of programming for the 2024/25 academic year and beyond.