The Sustainability Scholars Program is an innovative paid internship program. We match UBC graduate students with on- and off-campus sustainability partners to work on applied research projects that advance sustainability across the region.
Apply your research skills to real-world sustainability challenges
Get paid and gain valuable professional work experience
Develop applied skills and knowledge under the guidance of a mentor
Build your professional network and enhance your career prospects

How It Works

The program is open to full-time UBC graduate students from any program or discipline. As a Sustainability Scholar, you work under the guidance of a mentor on an applied research project that supports their organization's sustainability goals.
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Apply

UBC Sustainability Scholars work on applied research projects across a wide range of environmental, economic and social sustainability topics. See our list of current paid internship opportunities.
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Project Library

The Scholars Project Library contains hundreds of reports, charts, tool-kits, and more, documenting the applied research produced by Scholars since 2010. A useful body of knowledge to support further research around sustainability.
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Fraser Estuary Research Collaborative (FERC)

A new stream in the Sustainability Scholars Program focusing on applied research with the goal of restoring and protecting the endangered Fraser Estuary.
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Partner with us

Partner organizations are essential to the UBC Sustainability Scholars Program. Partners provide work experience for UBC graduate students and benefit from their applied research.
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Meet the scholars

UBC Sustainability Scholars come from all kinds of backgrounds and academic disciplines. Scholars stand out for being passionate about sustainability, having a strong work ethic, and for their applied research skills.
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Fund scholars

Climate change, biodiversity loss, and growing inequality are some of the most urgent issues facing our world today. Support from donors will allow scholars to make a direct impact through organizations doing the on-the-ground work needed to address climate change and other critical sustainability challenges.
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Program History

Sustainability Scholars’ projects have been helping to move the dial on sustainability across the region for over 10 years. Find out more about our history, milestones, and impact.
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Project Library

Window Replacement Best Practice Guide for Apartments and Condos

The goal of this project is identifying barriers to window replacements in multiunit residential buildings (MURBs)  and to make recommendations to use high quality windows and best practice installation techniques in existing built rental buildings and condominiums.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: green buildings

Built Environment & Mobility
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Sahar Badiei

Shared demonstration sites: Mobilizing under-utilized land for demonstrating innovative and impactful products and services

This project aims to support the commercialization of innovative green products and services through the mobilization of unused or marginal land for the purposes of demonstration. The research was broadly defined at the outset as an exploration of opportunities for the Vancouver Economic Commission and City of Vancouver to support demonstration beyond the limitations of the Green and Digital Demonstration Program. 

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: green economy, sustainable development & green economy

Policy, Economics & Governance
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
George Benson

Green Stormwater Infrastructure on City Streets

This research project investigates Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) on city streets in terms of its benefits and challenges, best practices, and lifecycle costs through a municipality survey, literature review, case studies, field studies, and personal interviews. The report summarizes the results of a North American peer municipality survey on GSI. The survey targeted American and Canadian municipalities with GSI or integrated rainwater/stormwater management programs, and was intended to collect lessons learned, best practices, and other technical information.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: healthy city, ecological systems, water

Natural Resources
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Jessica Jin

Improving Sustainability Practices by Repurposing City Construction Waste

The City of Vancouver wants to become the greenest city in the world by 2020. In order to do so the Engineering Division needs to find a way to recycle or repurpose all of their road and utility construction waste. There is approximately 100,000 tonnes of construction waste that is not recycled each year. This project addresses this issue by exploring ways to improve current operations to increase recycling as well as investigating future opportunities for recycling the construction waste. 

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: zero waste, green buildings, waste management & recycling

Production, Consumption & Waste
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Sydnie Koch

Solar Energy Feasibility Study at Park Board Buildings and Facilities

The purpose of this project is to examine the feasibility of utilizing solar thermal and solar photovoltaic (PV) systems across the Park Board’s real estate in order to reach the 2020 greenhouse gas reduction targets and reduce utility bills. The reports includes a high­level design approach through software calculators used for modelling along with a cost-benefit analysis showing the energy potential, monetary savings, and payback period for each option.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: climate and renewables, green buildings

Built Environment & Mobility
Climate Change & Energy
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Benjamin Medina

Developing Sustainability Opportunities for the Vancouver Police Department: Uniform Disposal

The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) currently generates approximately 7000 kg of police uniform waste annually. This report explores available methods for disposing of decommissioned uniforms and evaluates them for security, environmental impact, and cost-effectiveness. The project promotes the City of Vancouver’s Greenest City Action Plan zero waste goals, and advances the VPD’s Code Green initiatives.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: lighter footprint, sustainable development & green economy, waste management & recycling

Production, Consumption & Waste
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Alisa Koebel

City of Vancouver Corporate Green Building Policy For New Construction on City-owned and City-managed Properties

This project resulted from a mandate to set sustainability standards for city-owned and operated buildings higher than the standards listed in the Vancouver Building By-Law (VBBL). The intent was for the city to lead by example in matters of ecological sustainability in the built environment. By creating a corporate (city-related) green building policy, the city would be able to test, on a smaller scale, the effectiveness and viability of various requirements that might later be incorporated on a larger scale in the private sector as part of the VBBL.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: green buildings

Built Environment & Mobility
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Eric Douglas

An Investigation into the Use of Higher Blends of Biodiesel and Renewable Diesel in the Vancouver Municipal Fleet

The City of Vancouver (City) has put forth ambitious goals to reduce community and operations based carbon emissions through the introduction of a Greenest City Action Plan (GCAP). In order to achieve these goals in the City’s operations, the City of Vancouver has turned to renewable fuels, and recently biodiesel and renewable diesel have garnered specific interest. Currently within the 3.8 million liters of diesel fuel used by the municipal fleet, 5.8% represents bio-derived content from the use of B5 and B20 blends of biodiesel. However, in order to increase fuel emission savings, a transition needs to be made to higher blends of renewable fuels. This report summarizes an investigation into the use of higher blends of biodiesel and renewable diesel in the Vancouver municipal fleet.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: lighter footprint, transportation

Built Environment & Mobility
Climate Change & Energy
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Michael Coulson

Renewable Energy Strategy for City-Owned Buildings

The purpose of this project is to investigate opportunities for renewable energy use in the City’s building portfolio (560 buildings) and develop a long-term strategy (35 years to 2040) for incorporation of renewable energy opportunities and reduction of GHG emissions.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: climate and renewables, green buildings

Built Environment & Mobility
Climate Change & Energy
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Michaela Neuberger

Transit Fare Policy: An International Best Practices Review for Metro Vancouver

This report consists of a review of international best practices in transit fare policies from cities around the world based on academic literature, publicly available transit agency information, and interviews with transit agency stakeholders. The report identifies opportunities and challenges for the Metro Vancouver Region in the following areas: distance and zone based pricing, time of day pricing, differentiation by service type, concession fares, and approaches to policy changes. Lessons are drawn from each case study with a view to informing the City of Vancouver’s ongoing participation in TransLink’s Fare Review process.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: green transportation

Built Environment & Mobility
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Peter Lipscombe

Turning Transportation: Challenges and Opportunities Presented to the City of Vancouver by Autonomous Vehicles

This report was prepared to support the “Preparing Vancouver for Autonomous and Driverless Cars” motion from February 2016. This report reviewed a variety of literature and was supplemented by interviews with City of Vancouver staff, researchers from UBC’s Transportation Infrastructure and Public Space Lab, consultants and TransLink staff. This information was used to determine future scenarios, a series of guiding principles for future policies, and immediate actions related to the introduction of autonomous vehicle technology.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: green transportation

Built Environment & Mobility
Data & Technology
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Cail Smith

Urban Farming Design Guidelines: A Guide for Class B Urban Farms on City-Owned Land

This report contains design guidelines for Class B urban farms on City of Vancouver-owned land. These guidelines were produced for the Department of Social Planning and the City of Vancouver as an initiative of the Greenest City Scholar Program. It is a living document capable of being updated and edited to fit the needs of both urban farmers and the City of Vancouver.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: lighter footprint, food systems, sustainable development & green economy

Ecological Systems
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Christopher Szymberski

Vancouver Landfill Identity Repositioning Study

The objective of the study was to identify strategic actions for repositioning the Vancouver Landfill as a centre of Zero Waste excellence. The findings are based on 23 internal and external stakeholder interviews, a customer survey, and four case studies on facilities known for their resource recovery or Zero Waste.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: zero waste, waste management & recycling

Production, Consumption & Waste
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Allison Lasocha

Improving Waste Management in Non-Market Housing: Challenges, Strategies and Recommendations to Get to Zero Waste

The purpose of this project was to provide recommendations on how the City of Vancouver can assist SRO and subsidized housing buildings to divert their waste. The report includes research to identify barriers and issues that impede implementation of zero waste strategies, research on measures that have been or are being implemented by other jurisdictions, an estimate of the amount of solid waste generated from SRO and subsidized housing within the City.

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: zero waste, waste management & recycling

Production, Consumption & Waste
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Andrew Martin

Niche Market Opportunities for Compost Produced at the Vancouver Landfill

The Vancouver Landfill (VLF) Composting Facility closes the loop between collections and processing within City operations, diverts yard waste away from the landfill, and aims to produce high quality yard waste compost. This project supports the City of Vancouver's Zero Waste goal of reducing waste entering the Landfill by 50% of 2008 amounts. 

Partner: City of Vancouver
Keywords: zero waste, waste management & recycling

Production, Consumption & Waste
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
John Musil

Establishing 2030 Districts in BC: Exploring the Value Case

This report discusses research conducted during the summer of 2016 on the potential value of establishing a 2030 District in BC. Information was extracted from interviews with participants and leaders from other Districts and staff from the coordinating non-profit Architecture 2030, as well as from a literature review. Findings indicate that a 2030 District in BC could realize a number of key benefits.

Partner: BC Ministry of Energy and Mines & City of Richmond
Keywords: green buildings, leadership & behaviour change, sustainable development & green economy

Built Environment & Mobility
Climate Change & Energy
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Fiona Jones

Recommendations for Successful Stretch Code Implementation in B.C.

The provincial government has developed a stretch code with higher energy performance requirements than the B.C. Building Code (BCBC), to ensure that advances in energy efficient building design and technology continue within this new policy context. In anticipation of this new regulatory framework, this report assesses the supports available for the implementation of a stretch code in B.C. In order to do this, existing supports in B.C. are compared with those in five other leading beyond-base energy code jurisdictions across North America.

Partner: BC Ministry of Energy and Mines
Keywords: green buildings, sustainable development & green economy

Built Environment & Mobility
Climate Change & Energy
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Karolina Pol

Using Thermal Cameras to Promote Energy Efficient in Buildings

This report provides an overview of thermographic technology and its applications in evaluating building energy efficiency.  By reviewing this report, it is expected that readers will be informed of both the benefits and the challenges of using thermal cameras to survey energy efficiency, and will be better equipped for evaluating the feasibility of incorporating this technology in municipal programs. 

Partner: City of Surrey
Keywords: green buildings, sustainable development & green economy

Built Environment & Mobility
Climate Change & Energy
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Andrew Plowright

Tracking Progress on Surrey’s Community Energy & Emissions Plan

This report presents an overview of a project to assist the City of Surrey’s application of FCM’s Partners for Climate Protection Community Milestone 5: Monitor Progress and Report Results. The project included populating Surrey’s community greenhouse gas accounting tool with data, providing feedback, reports and briefings on the community GHG accounting tool, and preparing briefing documents summarizing four notable Surrey GHG reduction projects.

Partner: City of Surrey
Keywords: sustainable development & green economy

Climate Change & Energy
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Ian Theaker

Developing a Sustainability Assessment Model for the UBC Farm: Historical Impact Databases & Mapping

Compared to other intensively managed and diversified farms, the UBC Farm is a highly integrated farm system. This allows the farm to manipulate a wholly contained food system that ranges from food production to processing and consumption across an agricultural and forested landscape. The purpose of this project was to help clarify the farm system components and relationships between them. This involved developing a concept map of the farm system then building a data index and and an evaluation sheet using the framework.

Partner: Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm
Keywords: ecological systems, food systems

Data & Technology
Production, Consumption & Waste
UBC Sustainability Scholars report
PDF
2016
Xuesi Shen

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