Job Board

Job Description

Ad start date: December 15, 2025
Ad closing date: June 15, 2026
UBC’s Expression of Interest deadline for the program’s March intake: January 15, 2026

About the University of British Columbia (UBC)

The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a leading global research university, consistently ranked among the top 20 public universities worldwide. UBC is proud to nurture and transform the lives of more than 70,000 students from Canada and over 140 countries at our two major campus locations, in Vancouver and Kelowna.

Our researchers and scholars are pushing the boundaries of knowledge in an amazing breadth of disciplines. By working across disciplines and building partnerships with universities, industry, government, and communities worldwide, researchers at our two campuses and affiliated teaching hospitals are generating ideas, discoveries, and innovations that improve lives in British Columbia, Canada, and beyond.

The UBC vision is to inspire people, ideas, and actions for a better world.

Program Overview

UBC invites internationally renowned scholars from all disciplines to apply to be nominated for a Canada Impact+ Research Chair. UBC expects to hire multiple chairs across the university.

The Chairs will be appointed as full-time full professors or associate professors who are expected to be promoted to full professor within two years of starting their chairholder appointment. If recruited from outside the academic sector, they must possess the necessary qualifications to be appointed at these levels. Successful nominees are expected to start their position within 12 months of accepting the award and will be required to take up their appointment on a full-time basis.

Only candidates who are internationally based (working and residing outside Canada) are eligible to apply. Expatriate Canadians wishing to relocate to Canada are welcome to apply.

Priority Areas

Impact+ Chairs must demonstrate established strengths aligned with the Government of Canada’s strategic priority areas, which address urgent global and domestic challenges, strengthen Canada’s leadership in research and innovation, and deliver lasting social and economic benefits.

These priority areas are:

· advanced digital technologies (including artificial intelligence, quantum, and cybersecurity);
· health, including biotechnology;
· clean technology and resource value chains;
· environment, climate resilience and the Arctic;
· food and water security;
· democratic and community resilience;
· manufacturing and advanced materials; and/or
· defence and dual-use technologies.

Chairs are expected to establish and sustain strong national and international partnerships across industry, government, health, not-for-profit, and Indigenous communities, as appropriate, and to actively translate research into practice, policy, and commercialization with demonstrable impact.

Funding and Support

The Impact+ Chairs program provides $1 million or $500,000 per year for 8 years for a Chairholder’s salary and research program. The program provides for the possibility of a 4-year renewal, funded at 50% of the original value.

For Chair awardees, substantial infrastructure funds are available through the new Canada Impact+ Research Infrastructure Fund.

Successful nominees should have a PhD (or equivalent) in a relevant discipline as part of the UBC requirement. Rank and salary will be commensurate with experience and qualifications, and competitive start-up packages will be provided.

Application Information

For application process, deadlines, and other relevant information, please visit:
https://research.ubc.ca/federal-research-chair-programs/canada-impact-research-chairs-program

Equity and Diversity Statement

Equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence.

UBC hires based on merit and is committed to employment equity. Equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. An open and diverse community fosters inclusion for underrepresented voices and those who feel discouraged. Inclusion is built through individual and institutional responsibility, achieved by continuous engagement with diversity, to inspire people, ideas, and actions for a better world.

We encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the B.C. Human Rights Code, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Metis, Inuit, or Indigenous person.

UBC is committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive, non-discriminatory, and accessible work environment for all members of its workforce. UBC is also committed to ensuring that the application and interview process is accessible to all applicants. Throughout this hiring process, we will work to ensure accessibility for all candidates.

Accessibility and Accommodation

If you have any questions regarding accommodations or accessibility during the recruitment and hiring process or for more information and support, please visit UBC’s Center for Workplace Accessibility website at:
https://hr.ubc.ca/health-and-wellbeing/workplace-accessibility/centre-workplace-accessibility

or contact the Centre at:
[email protected]

Job applicants requiring confidential accommodation or accessibility, or requests for adaptive measures to participate in the hiring process, should contact:

Abigail Overduin
[email protected]
604. 822.9040

Indigenous Acknowledgement and Commitment

The UBC Vancouver campus is situated on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam people. The UBC Okanagan campus is situated on the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Syilx Okanagan Nation.

UBC is dedicated to being a world leader in advancing Indigenous peoples’ human rights and is guided by a mission of reconciliation, as articulated by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. It is firmly committed to recruiting Indigenous faculty, students, and staff as outlined in its Indigenous Strategic Plan.

As one of the world’s leading universities, UBC creates an exceptional learning and research environment that fosters global citizenship and advances a civil and sustainable society, serving the people of British Columbia, Canada, and the world.

Career Interruptions

UBC recognizes the legitimate impact that leaves (e.g., maternity leave, parental leave, leaves due to illness, leaves due to caring for family members, slowdowns due to chronic illness or disability, or COVID-19 impacts) can have on research achievement and commits to ensuring that leaves are taken into careful consideration during the assessment process.

Candidates are encouraged to highlight in their application how career interruptions and personal circumstances have affected their careers.