UBC Science

The federal government's plan to fast-track major infrastructure development is at odds with its new $3.8-billion strategy to protect 30% of Canada's lands & waters by 2030, say UBC, UVic & U of T researchers.

Canada’s ‘major projects’ should not come at the cost of the environment Impact assessments prevent harm before it occurs. Circumventing the process before we understand the risks is misguided and a gamble with our collective future.

June is Pride Month. Explore the many Pride activities at our Vancouver and Okanagan campuses and connect with the community: https://bit.ly/3Hkn1vX

Canada released its draft federal AI strategy today that will modernize online safety laws to protect Canadians in the digital age. However, it doesn't specify what those modernizations will look like. Here's what UBC AI pioneer Dr. Alan Mackworth recommends:

Can Canada constrain AI? Dr. Alan Mackworth — professor emeritus with UBC Computer Science — has been studying AI since the 1970s. He’s served as president of the…

Dr. Jiaying Zhao of UBC Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability says embracing joy can help us save Earth. "Joy is what made our species survive in the first place. If we’re rewarded, reinforced by it, then we continue doing it. We spill over. We become contagious. We get others on board.”

Laughing amidst the gloom: How activists embrace joy in the fight to save Earth Across the world, groups of activists, teachers and psychologists are tackling one of the planet's most daunting problems with laughter, dancing, hugs and most especially joy.

It was an honour to confer the honorary degree of Doctor of Science on Professor Robert Gentleman.

An internationally recognized leader in statistics, computational biology, and open-source software, and a proud alumnus, he has transformed how researchers across disciplines work with data. As co-creator of the programming language R, now a global standard for data analysis and graphics, his contributions have had a profound and lasting impact on science and innovation worldwide.

Congratulations Dr Gentleman and all 2026 UBC Graduates!

University of British Columbia
UBC Science

Congratulations to UBC Computer Science Assistant Professors Hila Gonen, Mathias Lécuyer and Serena Wang on being selected as new Canada CIFAR AI Chairs and Assistant Professor Kelsey Allen on being selected as a CIFAR Global Scholar!

The CIFAR AI Chairs program provides long-term funding to support research programs to advance fundamental and applied AI research in Canada while CIFAR’s Global Scholars program supports early-career researchers in their ambitious projects and helps them in their first year as independent investigators.

Read more: https://www.cs.ubc.ca/news/2026/05/cifar-ai-chairs-global-scholar

Flowers in full bloom cover UBC’s Vancouver campus, just in time to celebrate our graduating students as they prepare to cross the Chan Centre stage. We look forward to celebrating with our graduates, families and friends as we mark their achievements and welcome them to our alumni community!

Congratulations to our spring graduates! Graduates from across UBC Science will mark this important milestone by crossing the Chan Centre stage at UBC's May 25 - 27 ceremonies.

“These early herders didn’t put all their eggs in one basket,” said geochemist Dr. Kendra Chritz of UBC Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences. Instead, they kept eating a wide mix of foods—fish, wild animals and plants—alongside livestock for at least 1,000 years.

Even after adopting cattle, early herders kept hunting and gathering Eastern Africa’s earliest livestock herders continued fishing, hunting and gathering for centuries, which may have helped them adapt to a changing climate.

Dr. Alan Mackworth has been studying AI since the 1970s. In this conversation the Department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia professor emeritus discusses the challenges of regulating artificial intelligence, if age-based bans on AI make sense, and how chatbots are trained to flag harmful actors.

Can Canada constrain AI? Dr. Alan Mackworth — professor emeritus with UBC Computer Science — has been studying AI since the 1970s. He’s served as president of the…

Congratulations to Dr. Bridgette Clarkston, associate professor of teaching with UBC Botany, who has been awarded one of this year's BCTLC West Coast Teaching Excellence Awards.

https://science.ubc.ca/news/2026-05/ubc-botanist-receives-west-coast-teaching-award