IRES Handbook

IRES handbook has been developed to help IRES’ students, supervisors, committee members and staff to navigate our policies, procedures, governance structure and support functions. The handbook starts with an introduction of the unit and various support functions to make it easier for you to decipher what kind of support you can get from different persons and how IRES is governed. Thereafter follows a description of The IRES Seminar, which takes place on Tuesday noon which is when we meet to listen to invited and internal presentations and discuss topical issues. The Professional Development Series is arranged by RMES (Resource Management Environmental Studies) students for all of CFIS graduate students. A description of our funding structure follows to help students and scholars navigate this somewhat tricky terrain. The largest section in IRES Handbook is the one about our policies and guidelines.

Quality is to a large extent achieved by adhering to agreed norms on how things should be done – norms that are handed on by traditions. A number of explicit and implicit norms lie beneath each and every discipline. Our policies and guidelines are designed to help students, supervisors and committee members navigate this complex terrain, to help foster the creation of high quality, interdisciplinary work in an inclusive environment coloured by mutual respect, curiosity and dialogue.

Management and Support Functions

Seminars and Workshops

Awards and Funding

IRES Policies and Guidelines

Partners on Campus

IRES Committees



The Institute for Resources, the Environment and Sustainability (IRES) is both an interdisciplinary research institute and a major interdisciplinary graduate education program at the University of British Columbia.

IRES hosts the highly interdisciplinary graduate program (RMES) which focuses on issues of societal concern in partnership with extra-academic factors. The studies often cut across the natural science/technology-social science/humanities divide. Our students develop tailored academic programs for their graduate degrees drawing on the expertise of faculty from across the campus, from other educational institutions, as well as the private and public sectors in British Columbia and beyond. To enable students to develop these unique graduate programs that capture the breadth of their previous educational experience and their academic and career goals, the RMES program offers MA, MSc. and PhD degrees. The RMES students may be supervised by IRES core faculty members or by our faculty associates who come from nine of UBC’s eleven faculties. One third of our students are supervised by faculty members in the Fisheries Centre (FC). Most of the RMES students have study space on the 2-4th floor of the AERL building.
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Our Mission Statement:

The mission of IRES is to foster sustainable futures. We do this through integrated research and learning about the linkages among human and natural systems. We use this knowledge to support decision making on scales ranging from the local to the global.

Our applied research and learning is focused on a range of pressing environmental and resource issues. The approaches adopted to study these build on collaboration among our faculty and their broad disciplinary backgrounds. Our team approach is leading to new interdisciplinary findings refined through each application. Every student’s experience involves elements from the central two columns, building and developing new approaches, mastering problem domains and relying on fundamentals framed by the two outer columns. For example, a student focusing on transportation may also consider the lifecycle of materials used to provide this service and the governance of such material flows through regulations and effective public policy.
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 Graduate Advisor


The Graduate Advisor is an IRES faculty member who, in addition to his/her own teaching and research, works to support the RMES graduate program. The RMES program is a comparably large graduate program and we therefore have two Graduate Advisors: Dr. Kai Chan (July – December 2010) and Dr. Murdoch McAllister who is responsible for students in the Fisheries Centre.

Both Graduate Advisors have an overarching responsibility for the RMES program and their role is among other things to help students and supervisors understand and follow IRES and UBC’s policies, guidelines and procedures.

Personal information shared with the Graduate Advisor is kept confidential and only shared with the IRES Director when the Graduate Advisor needs advice. If a student, a supervisor or committee member for one reason or another does not feel comfortable in contacting the designated Graduate Advisor, they can contact the other Graduate Advisor, who will inform the IRES Director but not the other Graduate Advisor. The IRES Director will, when necessary, discuss issues with the FC Director and if deemed necessary bring in other resources, such as UBC Equity Office and Faculty Relations.

The Grad Advisor’s responsibilities include:
• knowing deadlines, policies and procedures, and ensuring faculty and students are kept informed;
• serving as liaison with FoGS on behalf of the RMES program (e.g., regarding non-UBC committee members, program extensions);
• serving as a contact person for graduate students for information, advice, problems, and appeals;
• ensuring academic progress checking for students which occurs annually facilitating solutions in case of conflict between students and supervisors/committees.

Seminars

A number of seminars are run during the course of the academic year. For more information on each series please see the individual pages, or to view all upcoming events in the department, view the events page.

IRES Seminar Series. A bi-weekly series with speakers from across campus.

Professional Development Series. For all CFIS Graduate students.

RMES Student led discussions. Meets bi-weekly and covers a wide range of topics of interest to RMES students.

 

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Awards and Funding

For information on Awards and Funding in IRES please see our Awards page.

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IRES Policies and Guidelines

Student desk policy

With the acknowledgement that student seating and desks is a limited resource that we must manage and share, the following criteria has been set out by collaboration between the RMES student body and the Graduate Secretary and has been approved by IRES Administration.

Students are expected to meet the necessary criteria to have a full-time desk within the AERL 4th floor loft area. Should there be any disputes on seating arrangements they will be brought forward to the Graduate Secretary and Administrative Manager who will (after discussion with the RMES Student Seating Committee) create as equitable solution as possible.

• RMES students will be given priority in assigning seats. IRES will seek to accommodate any RMES student requesting a desk.

• Seniority & Usage determine the eligibility for desirable desk locations (ie. window seats):
- Seniority: Number of Years into program affects priority, PhD students have precedence- Minimum Usage: A student must use their desk an average of 2 out of 5 days/week to qualify for best seats

• Seniority is most important, but if a PhD student or more senior Masters student does not meet usage criteria for a period longer than 2 terms (ie: 6 months), their seat may be reassigned (where there may be need from the student population).

• Student requests for desk reassignment must be based on concerns regarding the suitability of their current desk as a productive work space. Requests must be well justified.

• Students who have their primary desk in another department may be asked to relinquish their desk on the AERL 4th floor if they are not using it according to minimum usage guidelines (above).

• Those students situated at prime north-side, window locations will be asked to evaluate their desk usage on a regular basis. Students should not expect to remain in a prime seat for the duration of their degree. After two years in a window seat, they should consider exchanging for another spot.

• Students who are doing field research or who will otherwise be away from their desk for more than 2 months are expected to notify the Graduate Secretary and Administrative Manager via email and tidy the space so that it can be used in their absence if necessary.

• Non-RMES students (i.e. students from other programs, post-docs, research assistants) may be provided with a desk if space permits. Students transitioning to new responsibilities may be asked to exchange or vacate their desk in order to seat current RMES students. Priority for seating will always go to current RMES students.

Selection procedures for seating:

o Students who are eligible for a window seat (based on seniority) will have their name automatically entered into a random draw as window seats become available. This process is to ensure that everyone has a fair shot at a window seat. Given that the window seat terms will be limited to 2 years, the turnover is such that a student can expect to be considered for a window seat (entered into a draw) after approximately 2 to 2.5 years tenure at RMES. As such, masters students typically will not be present long enough to be eligible for a window seat. If the student selected for a window seat does not expect to use their seat a minimum of 2 days per week, or expects to be away for an extended period of time, they should consider remaining at an internal desk. It is expected that students at window seats will make good use of the space.

o Students who are not eligible at the moment for a window seat will be asked periodically (typically once per term via email) if they are unhappy with their desk location and would like to be re-seated at another internal desk. RMES staff will do their best to accommodate all requests. It is the student’s responsibility to reply to this email request in a timely manner, and it will be assumed that you are happy with your spot if you do not reply.

o Students are asked not to ‘swap’ desks without consulting IRES admin staff and/or a member of the student seating committee.

Clarification on Seniority: For window seat assignment, preference is given based on seniority (number of years in RMES), and if two students have the same seniority, preference will be given to the PhD student. Students who switch from, or continue from a masters program to a PhD program will have all of their years in RMES counted when determining seniority. They may therefore be eligible for a window seat earlier in their PhD career, however in total everyone is entitled to a limit of 2 years at a window.
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Student Travel Reimbursement Policy

RMES students are eligible for reimbursement from IRES once per degree, up to a maximum of 5 students per fiscal year (April 1 – March 31) for the department. The funding provides a maximum of $200 per graduate student who presents a paper or poster at an official conference or symposium (student workshops are not eligible), and who meet the necessary criteria shown below.

The conference or symposium must take place while the student is enrolled full-time in the RMES program. Students on official leave status are not eligible for funding. Full time enrollment ends on the last day of the month in which all degree requirements have been met, not at convocation.

Criteria for receiving funding

1) The student must have used their allotted funding available from the Graduate Student Travel Fund, issued by Graduate studies. Full information can be found at: www.grad.ubc.ca/awards.
2) The student has approached their supervisor to request funding; however the supervisor does not have access to funding in which the expense is eligible.
3) The student has the full support of their supervisor to attend the conference or symposium.
4) The student’s rate of progress is at an acceptable level (all necessary program benchmarks have been met) to keep them in the program.
5) The student is not on official leave from the program.
6) The student is a full-time active participant in the RMES program.

Procedure and Payment Information

Applications are accepted only with original receipts. Processing time for reimbursement is a minimum of two to four weeks and dependant on workloads within the unit and UBC Finance Department.

Eligible expenses

• Travel – economy airfare prices only
• Conference Registration
• Accommodation

Application for reimbursement

• Completed RMES Student Travel Reimbursement application form
• Proof of conference presentation or program agenda
• Original, itemized and dated receipts

Submit complete applications to: Financial Assistant, 429-2202 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4

To download the form click here.

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CFIS Travel Fund

Students are also eligible to apply for the CFIS Travel Fund.  They expect students to have made a successful application for the FoGS Graduate Student Travel Fund before making an application to the CFIS Travel Fund.  You may claim expenses for the same conference, for example, conference registration from FoGS and travel expenses from CFIS, but please make sure that you have received your FoGS Travel Award before making an application to CFIS.

Further details about the FoGS Graduate Student Travel Fund are on this page: http://www.grad.ubc.ca/awards/graduate-student-travel-fund

Applications to the CFIS Travel Fund are processed on a rolling basis; your application will be processed more quickly if you attach confirmation of receipt of the FoGS Graduate Student Travel Fund.
CFIS Grad Student Travel Award Guidelines 2010-11
CFIS Student Travel Award Form 2010-11

The University request that you read the following guidelines before travelling overseas and that you register the country you are visiting with Go Global in case of an emergency, this request has come from the Federal government.

http://universitycounsel.ubc.ca/files/2010/08/policy69.pdf

Go Global: http://www.students.ubc.ca/global/index.cfm

 

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Supervisory Committees

Role and Responsibility

The role of the supervisory committee, and especially the supervisor, who chairs the committee, is to guide the student and serve as a catalyst to aid the candidate to achieve his/her goals and objectives. All incoming students should already have supervisors. Incoming graduate students are largely unaware of the expectations of the graduate program at UBC or the kinds of expertise and personalities on the campus. It is not unusual to have a supervisor, or members of a supervisory committee, change within the first academic year of a new student. This should not be considered as a negative choice of a particular individual but as a positive move towards the development of a supervisor-graduate relationship that is mutually satisfactory and a supervisory committee that is catalytic to academic performance. The RMES program integrates and synthesizes information, ideas and concepts across several disciplines. Individual supervisors are often not experts, and should not be considered experts, in all of the areas that the student must address and synthesize; thus the need for and importance of a balanced supervisory committee. A student who finds that their supervisor may not be suitable, should notify the RMES Graduate Advisor immediately.

Please note that only faculty at Full, Associate or Assistant Professor rank can be supervisors. Research Assistants and Post-docs can only sit on student committees.  (Please note that these requirements are in conjunction with the requirement of the UBC Faculty of Graduate Studies. Further information on FoGS requirements can be found at: http://www.grad.ubc.ca/current-students/supervision-advising/research-supervisor.

The student, in consultation with the supervisor, will form a graduate student committee within the first year of the student’s registration into the program.

FORM: RMES Committee Member Selection (Masters & PhD)

The committee should meet at least three times prior to completion of the student’s program. In practice, supervisory committees need to meet at least twice a year. At each meeting, a brief report of the major issues will be prepared by the supervisor in consultation with the candidate. The report will be filed in the RMES Graduate Program Manager’s Office and distributed to the supervisory committee.

FORM: RMES Committee Meeting Report.

The initial meeting is to evaluate the thesis project, examine the candidate’s research and qualifications, and assist in selection of courses to be taken. A progress meeting should be held after one year of residency to review the candidate’s progress in meeting graduate requirements. The committee meeting and progress report forms can be found on the RMES website or can also be obtained from the Graduate Program Coordinator. RMES graduate students should have one formal committee meeting each academic year. These meetings will address issues related to thesis proposal, academic program and progress. Items that may interfere with the academic program need to be identified, outlined and resolved. The first meeting should result in endorsement by the supervisory committee of the proposed research and requisite courses. Each member of the supervisory committee is expected to make clear his/her expectations of the graduate student in relation to areas of subject matter, level of competence, and focus of the thesis. These expectations should be expressed, and if necessary in writing, at the early stage of the student’s program (within the first academic session). If satisfactory agreement cannot be reached, a discussion should follow to resolve the issue and a possible re-constitution of the supervisory committee should be considered.

Document turnaround
Although members of the supervisory committee will make every effort to respond to graduate students’ progress reports, drafts of written work and the thesis, there must be a reasonable time expectation for turn-around of documents. These time expectations must include faculty members’ activities away from the campus. As a guideline a reasonable turn-around time for short communication and progress reports is within two weeks. Response to a thesis draft should be on the order of one month. Graduate students should make plans accordingly in order to attempt to meet their own deadlines or those of the University for graduation. It is not unusual that up to one month is required to revise the first draft of the thesis following review by the supervisory committee.

Composition of Master’s Students’ Committees

Number of members

Master’s student committees should be comprised of at least 2 members. (FoGS recommend 3). Requests for 4 or more members must be approved by the Grad Advisor or Director.

IRES representation
In almost all cases, the supervisor will be an IRES core faculty member or “core associate” (CA). This provides sufficient IRES representation. In the few cases where the supervisor is not an IRES core or CA faculty member, the committee must be vetted by the Grad Advisor or Director. (For further information on “core associates,” see the IRES Internal Policy on Faculty Associates.)

Members not on the UBC faculty
A committee can include member(s) who are not UBC faculty (e.g., professors at other universities, research associates, individuals from public and private sector organizations etc.) with approval by the Grad Advisor or Director. The student or supervisor should make the request in writing, explaining the rationale and including the proposed committee member’s C.V.

FoGS membership
A majority of the committee members must be members of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, i.e., tenure-track assistant, associate, or full professors. This is a UBC FoGS requirement. 1 of 2 committee members constitutes a majority.

IRES-recognized committees
In some cases, the best committee for a student may not meet the FoGS membership requirement. In particular, a committee of 3 may be desired, in which only person A is a tenure-track faculty member, while persons B and C are faculty members at other universities, adjunct faculty, research associates, practitioners, etc. In this case, IRES will recognize the committee (e.g., persons A, B, and C) for advising purposes, but a subset of the committee (e.g., A and B) must be designated as the formal committee that meets FoGS membership requirements.

Composition of Doctoral Students’ Committees

Number of members
FoGS require that a Ph.D. committee be comprised of at least 3 members. IRES recommend that committees have 3 members, but recognize that 4 or more members may be appropriate in some cases.
IRES representation
In almost all cases, the supervisor will be an IRES core faculty member or “core associate” (CA). This provides sufficient IRES representation. In the few cases where the supervisor is not an IRES core or CA faculty member, the committee must be vetted by the Grad Advisor or Director. In all cases, there must be at least 1 IRES core or CA faculty member on the committee. (For further information on “core associates,” see the IRES Internal Policy on Faculty Associates.)

Extra-academic representation
In keeping with IRES’ focus on applied research, it is recommended that committees be comprised of 2 academics and 1 (or more) non-academic professionals.

Members not on the UBC faculty
Committees can include member(s) who are not UBC faculty (e.g., professors at other universities, research associates, etc.) with approval from the Dean of FoGS. The student or supervisor should make the request in writing to the Grad Advisor, explaining the rationale and including the proposed committee member’s C.V. The Grad Advisor then submits a formal request to the Dean of FoGS.

FoGS membership
A majority of the committee members must be members of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, i.e., tenure-track assistant, associate, or full professors. This is a UBC/FoGS requirement.

IRES-recognized committees
In some cases, the best committee for a student may not meet the FoGS membership requirement. In particular, a committee of 3 may be desired, in which only person A is a UBC tenure-track faculty member, while persons B and C are faculty members at other universities, adjunct faculty, research associates, practitioners, etc. In this case, at the recommendation of the supervisor, IRES can add a core or CA faculty member (person D) so that the full committee meets FoGS membership requirements.

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General Duties of the Supervisor

Supervisors are available to help their graduate students at every stage, from formulation of their research projects through establishing methodologies and discussing results, to presentation and possible publication of dissertations. Graduate supervisors also ensure that their students’ work meets the standards of the University.

Some specific responsibilities of a graduate supervisor include:

• Assisting the student with the selection and planning of a suitable and manageable research topic.

• Sufficient familiarity with the field of research to provide guidance and/or a willingness to gain that familiarity before agreeing to act as a supervisor.
• Accessibility to the student for consultation and discussion of the student’s academic progress and research. The frequency of meetings will vary according to the discipline or field, nature of the program in which the student is enrolled, stage of work, nature of the project, independence of the student, etc. For some students, weekly meetings are essential; for others, monthly meetings are satisfactory. In no case should interaction be less frequent than once per term.

• Establishing a supervisory committee, and convening meetings, at least twice annually, to evaluate the student’s progress. Master’s students are to have 2 members inclusive of their supervisor; PhD students are to have a minimum of 3 members inclusive of their supervisors. For master’s students, the annual meeting in the first year could include only the primary supervisor.

• Responding in a timely manner to written work submitted by the student, with constructive suggestions for improvement and continuation. The turnaround time for comments on written work should not normally exceed three weeks.

• Making arrangements to ensure continuity of supervision when the supervisor anticipates an absence for extended periods, e.g. a month or longer.

• Helping the student gain access to facilities or research materials.

• Ensuring that the research environment is safe, healthy and free from harassment, discrimination and conflict.

• Assisting the student in being aware of current graduate program requirements, deadlines, sources of funding, etc.

• Encouraging the student to make presentations of research results within the University and to outside scholarly or professional bodies as appropriate.

• Encouraging the student to finish up when it would not be in the student’s best interests to extend the program of studies.

• Acknowledging appropriately the contributions of the student in presentations and in published material, in many cases via joint authorship.

• Ensuring that recommendations for external examiners of doctoral dissertations are made to the graduate program advisor and forwarded to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in a timely manner.

• Assisting the student to comply with any changes that need to be made to the thesis after the thesis or dissertation defense.

It is also expected that all faculty (including associates) help obtain funding for their graduate students, though we understand that limitations to this exist across fields of study.  

Conflict within Committee

When there is a conflict in advice or when there are different expectations on the part of co-supervisors or members of the supervisory committee, the supervisor is expected to endeavour to achieve consensus and resolve the differences.

Conflict between Supervisor & Student

Even with the best intentions and efforts, situations may arise in which the working relationship between a supervisor and a student breaks down. In such situations, either the student or the supervisor can initiate a meeting with the Graduate Advisor, who will attempt to help them resolve the situation. The Graduate Advisor will keep the Director informed of significant supervisor-student problems that occur. If needed, the Director will step in to help with the situation.

Should serious problems between the supervisor and student be irreconcilable, it may be necessary for the student to change supervisors. If the student has not already found a new supervisor, the original supervisor should provide assistance in this process. The new supervisor will take responsibility for guiding the graduate student’s academic program. Issues of financial support should be resolved among the parties in reasonable ways.

If a student is unable to build and maintain a successful working relationship with any of the available supervisors, then that student may be asked to leave the program.
If no resolution can be achieved, the problem may ultimately be taken to the Dean of Graduate Studies. The Dean of Graduate Studies will check to ensure that each previous level of problem resolution has been explored to the fullest extent before proceeding to other levels.

Student Responsibilities

When you register as a graduate student at UBC, you commit to devote the time and energy needed to engage in research and write a thesis or dissertation. Your supervisor has a right to expect substantial effort, initiative, respect and receptiveness to suggestions and criticisms.

As a graduate student, you must accept the rules, procedures and standards in place in the program and at the university and should check the University Calendar for regulations regarding academic and non-academic matters. You are expected to:

• Make a commitment and show dedicated efforts to gain the background knowledge and skills needed to pursue your research project successfully.

• In conjunction with your supervisor, develop a plan and timetable for completion of all stages of your thesis project, adhere to a schedule and meet appropriate deadlines.

• Meet with your supervisor when requested and report fully and regularly on progress and results.

• Maintain registration throughout the program and (for international students) ensure that study permits and (where applicable) employment authorization documents are kept up to date.

• Keep your supervisor, the RMES office and Enrolment Services informed about your contact information.

• Give serious consideration to the advice and criticisms received from your supervisor and other members of your supervisory committee.

• Be thoughtful and reasonably frugal in using resources provided by your supervisor and the University, and assist in obtaining additional resources for your research or for other group members where applicable.

• Conform to University, Faculty and graduate program requirements, including those related to deadlines, dissertation or thesis style, conflict of interest.

• When your degree program requirements have been met, terminate your work and clean up your workspace.

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To view the recommended thesis timeline for a Masters Student in the department please view the Masters thesis timeline

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To view the recommended thesis timeline for a PhD Student in the department please view the Doctoral thesis timeline.

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RMES Master’s Courses

Master’s students are required to complete 36 credits upon graduation. The current course breakdown is as follows:

• 12 credits towards RMES (RMES 501 & 502 are mandatory and are 3 credits each)
• 12 credits towards RMES 599 (thesis course)
• 12 credits towards elective courses

The Masters course is currently undergoing some changes in regard to providing students further options regarding their studies. The following guidelines are for students who entered the department from September 2010 onwards.

For the new course requirements, please visit the RMES Course Requirements page.

As of Fall 2011, you will be able to choose between the first stage of new curriculum and the old. The decision of which to follow should be decided in consultation with your graduate advisor, although we strongly recommend the new curriculum, unusual cases aside (e.g., those who already have a planned research-intensive project, or those entering the fisheries program where learning goals may differ.) The new curriculum will have more required courses. Three of the required courses are team-taught in order to give you first-hand experience of different valid perspectives on problems, the integration of such perspectives in research design and practice, and how these need to be understood in the service of better decision-making.  Masters students will continue to be expected to complete at least 36 credits.  18 credits will be from the required courses, with a minimum of 9 more credits from electives. Your thesis will count towards the final 9 credits.  In general, one paper suitable for publication would be a suitable benchmark for this thesis.  Again, in consultation with your supervisor, you may take more courses and develop a most modest thesis (e.g., a report or case study) equal to 6 credits.

For more information about the courses that we offer in the department please see the RMES Graduate Courses page.

RMES Doctoral Course Requirements

Incoming Doctoral Students are expected to have taken the equivalents to most of the foundation courses offered in the Master’s program.  Nonetheless, successful completion in three courses will be required before proceeding to PhD candidacy.  Please note that PhD students are recommended to enrol in RMES 501 & RMES 502 and then 1 of the 3 foundation courses (RMES 507/500M, RMES 510 or RMES 550).  The one chosen should be as far from the area of your research as possible to ensure breadth of experience.

For PhD course requirements, please visit the RMES Course Requirements page.

Beyond these courses, we expect our PhD students to attend advanced courses deepening their domain expertise in their chosen field of research.  We also expect them to hone their advanced methods skills with guidance from their supervisors.  Ideally, an RMES PhD will have:

  • Mastery of the domain of their research comparable to a specialist.
  • Mastery of advanced qualitative or quantitative methods (whichever is appropriate to their research methods).
  • Most than a passing familiarity with the complementary methods to those above.

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In order to advance to candidacy, PhD students are required to pass a comprehensive exam, defend their dissertation proposal and all required coursework must have been successfully completed. The comprehensive exam and dissertation proposal processes should, as with every other process in RMES, be student driven, and conducted in dialogue with their supervisor and supervisory committee.

The Comprehensive Exam

Purpose

All PhD students are required to pass a comprehensive exam given by members of their supervisory committee. The purpose of the exam is to provide students the opportunity to demonstrate general competency in their field(s) of study. It allows the supervisory committee an opportunity to assess the student’s knowledge of the literature in his/her field(s) of study, to evaluate the student’s preparation for doctoral level study, and where appropriate, to judge whether the student’s knowledge is sufficient to teach undergraduate or graduate courses in the field.

Scope
The purpose of the exam is to allow the student to develop a comprehensive understanding of the literature in her/his field(s) of study and the areas in which the thesis topic is structured, including its theory(ies), methods, past and current debates, anticipated future trajectories of the field(s), and context (e.g., geographic, political, cultural, demographic, biophysical or bio-spatial, etc.). In order to demonstrate scholarly breadth and contextual understanding, the scope of the comprehensive exam should be wider than the specific topic in which the student is doing research. The exam is not designed to query the specifics of the student’s proposed research and should not be used to do so.

In RMES, a key goal of the comprehensive exam is to ensure that the student is able to articulate the interdisciplinary nature of her/his work. This includes providing a clear indication that the student understands and can meet the standards of evidence and scholarship in his/her topic-area, and has the ability to reconcile or work across fields where appropriate.

Readings
The reading list, generally speaking, should include approximately 15 to 30 critically important items (peer-reviewed articles, books, etc.) in each of three fields. The numbers of fields and readings within each field indicated here are meant as a rough guide only. The number of fields may vary up or down, at the discretion of the committee, and the number of readings will be lower when books are involved and higher when the key readings are mostly book chapters and articles.

The reading list should be prepared in conjunction with the student’s committee, and be appropriate to the agreed upon format of the exam (see below). In some cases, most of the material will be assigned by the supervisor and/or committee; in other cases it will be a product equally or more fully of the student’s investigations and own literature searches, although the results must be vetted by the committee. Regardless, the preparation of the reading lists should be seen as part of the student’s learning process. Each student is expected to acquire good knowledge of the major currents of thought in each list, and of all the readings included in the lists.

Format
All exams must have both a written and an oral component.

The Written Component

The student should arrange for a committee meeting approximately four to six months in advance of the expected exam date. At this meeting, the student and committee should agree to the scope, format, readings, and timing of the comprehensive exam and the proposal as per the guidelines listed below. Committee members should assign and/or give suggestions for readings (see below) as well as clearly articulate any other preparation for the exam.

The format of the written portion will be set by the committee, in discussion with the student. The exam can be either: A. “stand-alone” work; or B. part of the dissertation proposal. The time line will differ between the two formats (see below), but in either case the exam must cover the issues under Scope (above).

When the written portion of the comprehensive exam is “stand-alone” work it can consist of:

• A series of take-home papers with the deadlines for each or all papers to be set by the committee, though not to span more than one semester; or
• An ‘in situ’ exam wherein the student has one day for each of three papers
The take-home papers (option A.a. above) can be of several forms including:
• A critical literature review – based on broad questions posed by the student’s committee (sufficiently broad to allow the exam to test in part the student’s ability to conceptualize or frame an argument and develop it accordingly); or
• A research proposal – consisting of a fully fleshed-out research proposal for the research topic agreed to by the committee; or
• A course syllabus or annotated bibliography – in this case one of the three papers can be substituted by a fully-developed course syllabus (where appropriate when a teaching career is anticipated) OR an extensively annotated bibliography that might serve as a database for the student’s research and teaching, if and only if the bibliography also includes substantive notes on readings so as to indicate full comprehension of the works studied and the different intellectual contributions and debates across the list.

The “in situ” exam can be of several forms including those in which the students sit a ‘blind’ exam, where questions are provided at the beginning of the exam and no supporting notes, literature or linked support materials are allowed through to ‘open book’ exams where the questions are also provided at the beginning of the exam day)s, but where students may bring relevant literatures and notes with them to the exam.

When the written portion of the comprehensive exam is part of the student’s dissertation proposal it should be in a critical literature review style – based on broad questions related to the student’s research, however sufficiently broad to allow the exam to test in part the student’s ability to conceptualize or frame an argument and develop it accordingly. In such cases, the combined written portions of the comprehensive exam and dissertation proposal should be in the realm of 15000-25000 words, wherein approximately two-thirds of this total addresses the above criteria/scope for the comprehensive exams, and one-third addresses the proposed research itself (see section on dissertation proposal below). This length is meant to be illustrative only, and is not to be taken as a definitive test of sufficiency.

The Oral Component

During the oral portion of the exam the student is expected to be able to discuss key subject areas or fields of research that are related to his/her own field(s) of study, by answering questions posed by the examination committee (see below) based on the written part of the exam.

Once the student has submitted the written portion of his/her comprehensive exam, the examination committee should schedule the oral examination, again usually within two to three weeks of completion of the written proportion. Additional time can be requested on behalf of the committee, but should be avoided if at all possible and should not exceed four weeks beyond completion of the written exam.
The oral exam itself is to begin with a brief introduction by the Chair, with the exam protocol being outlined. The student is expected to present a 15-20 minute overview of the written portion of the exam. Each member of the Examination Committee is then to be given approximately 15 minutes for questions, ending with the supervisor. Each committee member is to be given the opportunity for a second round of questions, not to exceed five minutes each.

The examination committee must assess the student’s performance on the combined written and oral comprehensive exam as “pass,” “conditional pass,” or “fail.” Following the oral examination, the committee is to hold an in-camera session and the candidate is to be asked to retire from the room. The pass/fail decision is to be made by simple majority of the votes cast by members of the examination committee. In the event of a conditional pass, the committee may require amendments, revisions or conditions for a passing grade. The committee must then determine the arrangements for ensuring that the conditions are met.
The Chair will then recall the candidate to the meeting and announce the result of the voting. The Chair is to send written notification of the decision made by the examination Committee to the Director of IRES with copies to the Graduate Advisor and the Graduate Secretary.

A candidate who fails the first attempt must pass a second examination that is to be scheduled to take place within six months of the first examination. Failure to pass a second examination will result in the student being required to withdraw from the graduate program.

Oral examination committee
The examination committee for the oral portion of the student’s comprehensive exam is, in most cases, the same as the student’s supervisory committee. The examination committee must consist of three or more members. All members of the supervisory committee must be included; at least two should be present in person, while the rest may participate by phone or video-conferencing as necessary. If a member of the student’s committee other than the core supervisor(s) is not available because of leave, the exam may proceed. If more than one member is not available, substitutions may be made in exceptional cases but must be approved by the Graduate Advisor. Given university approval, the committee may include other qualified individuals without faculty status (e.g., postdoctoral fellows, research associates, or faculty from other universities).

The Dissertation Proposal

A PhD student is required to submit to IRES a dissertation proposal that has been accepted by his/her supervisory committee.

Contents and Format
The dissertation proposal is meant to be comparable in structure and style with those normally expected of pertinent research funding agencies. While format may be somewhat variable across funding agencies and research foci, the attributes of a good proposal are defined for our purposes as follows:

FRAMING: Set a broad context for your general area of inquiry, in terms of the real-world challenges that it addresses (citations desired) and the relevant academic approaches, theories, and contributions (citations expected).
QUESTIONS: Phrase research questions and (as appropriate) hypotheses.
RELEVANCE: Put your Questions (2) in context of academic literature and real world application (citations expected). Why is your chosen question timely and important to the field and to the broader world? (Note that in your actual proposal it is often rhetorically effective to put this section before the statement of your research question so that it seems as if your chosen question is the consummate, natural question to ask.)
METHODS: Express methods you will use to address your Questions (2) (cite relevant work as appropriate). These should be do-able within your time-frame and given available resources.
WORKPLAN/BUDGET: Provide a rough work plan and budget. The work plan should document the major steps in your methods and roughly when they occur in time. The budget should identify the major line items associated with your methods and approximately how much they would cost. (For admissions proposals, we do not expect formal quotes or precise times or values.)
IMPLICATIONS: Briefly discuss expected implications of your work, for the academic and non-academic worlds. What academic theories will your work contribute to? What future research will it enable or guide? What real-world decisions might be informed by your work?

Procedure
Regardless whether the proposal is coupled or decoupled from the comprehensive exam, it must be approved by the core supervisor and at the supervisory committee. Ideally, the proposal should be vetted and defended in a formal committee meeting, but evidence of electronic conversation or minutes of meetings that reflect suggestions and comments aimed at revision, followed by accepted completion of revisions, are sufficient. In the event of a conflict within a committee, the proposal should be referred to the Graduate Advisor who will seek out a departmental examiner in order to resolve any questions pertaining to departmental standards.

Following the successful completion of the comprehensive exams and proposal, including all written and oral portions, the student will advance to candidacy, provided that all course work has been completed.

Timelines

The timeline of the comprehensive exam and dissertation proposal will depend on whether the student is following option A or B for the written portion of the exam.

For option A (a “stand-alone” work), the student will normally complete their comprehensive exam by the middle of their second year of PhD studies. In exceptional cases, it is acceptable for students to delay, for example because the lead supervisor of the student’s research is on leave, or because the student wishes to complete a field season or preliminary investigation so as to better understand, define, or delimit his/her PhD research. An elongated timeframe must be approved by both the supervisory committee and the RMES Graduate Advisor. The student is expected to complete their dissertation proposal in the semester that follows the exam.

Students who, in consultation with their committees, elect option B (where the written part of the exam forms part of the dissertation proposal), will be expected to have submitted their proposal and completed the oral component of the exam by the end of the second year of studies. Again, when written exemptions are granted for preliminary field seasons, the timeframe will vary. It is also the case that more time is warranted, and can be granted with the permission of the supervisor, when a student wishes to use the comprehensive exams as substantive ‘thought’ pieces of the kind that necessitates extra labour and time to mature intellectually. This option is particularly important to programs such as IRES where the interdisciplinary endeavour is a significant departure for the student and/or involves considerable exposure to literatures heretofore unfamiliar to the students.
It is the responsibility of the supervisor to make sure that the student is aware of possible risks (such as financial constraints) that may be caused by delaying the comprehensive exam. Minutes should be taken from the meeting in which such issues are discussed and agreed upon and submitted to the Graduate Secretary who is to file the information in the student’s file.

The requirements above are the same for Master’s students who transfer to a PhD program after their first year, that is, the period of time they spent as a Master’s student is included in the expected 24-month timeframe. A PhD student who has not passed his/her comprehensive exam and proposal defense within 48 months of full-time study will be required to withdraw from the program.

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Master’s Degree Defense

For the Master’s degree there is the requirement for defense of the thesis. The Examining Committee will consist of the candidate’s committee and is open to all students and Faculty. An external examiner is appointed to the Examination Committee. This examination may serve as the Preliminary Examination for candidates contemplating continuing on a PhD program and, in this case, would be more comprehensive in nature similar to the PhD Preliminary Examination.
Committee composition

The master’s thesis examination committee should be comprised of the supervisory committee plus an additional departmental examiner if needed (see below) and one person not involved in the thesis supervision. The departmental examiner and the “examiner not involved in supervision” may be the same person. (FoGS require that the examination committee include, at minimum, the supervisor and one person not involved in the thesis supervision.)

Departmental examiner
All examination committees should include someone who can serve the function of the departmental examiner, i.e., who can help ensure that the exam conforms to IRES norms and expectations. The departmental examiner should be an IRES core faculty member or core associate. When the supervisory committee includes an IRES core or CA faculty member (i.e., almost all cases), no additional departmental examiner is needed. Otherwise, a departmental examiner is required. The supervisor should identify the most appropriate core or CA faculty member to serve as departmental examiner, based on the student’s research topic.

Examination chair
The chair of the master’s thesis defense (examination) should be a member of the examination committee who is also an IRES core or CA faculty member.
Extra-departmental member
FoGS recommends that at least 1 member of the examining committee be from another graduate program.

Doctoral Degree Defense

For the PhD the defense examination process is administered by the Faculty of Graduate Studies (FoGS).

Information about deadlines and requirements may be found on the FoGS’ Doctoral Defense Page.

Click here for the FoGS Doctoral Defense Guide.

Committee composition

FoGS stipulates that the doctoral examination committee must be comprised of the following: 2 or 3 supervisory committee members (including the supervisor), 2 university examiners, and an external examiner (who provides a written report but usually does not attend in person). In addition, FoGS appoints a chair for the final doctoral exam.

Click here for Information on the FoGS rules concerning the External Examiner.

Departmental examiner
For RMES students, 1 of the university examiners must be a departmental examiner, i.e., an IRES core faculty member or core associate. For more information please see the Faculty of Graduate Studies policies and information regarding University Examiners.

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Partners on Campus

Faculty Associates

“An Associate Member is an unofficial position given to a UBC faculty member when there is a need for members of one department to have a formal arrangement to participate in teaching and research activities in another department, but when a joint appointment is not necessary.”
IRES Faculty Associates are nominated by an IRES faculty member and voted on by the faculty. Becoming an associate also requires the agreement of the Dean and the home department head, and is generally based on previous involvement with our institute.

Our faculty associates play a special role in IRES, compared to many other units. A large percentage of the graduate student population (of over 100 students) in IRES are supervised by advisors from other departments. Some faculty associate members have a large number of graduate students in our institute, while others supervise only one or a few students. Hence faculty associates are crucial for the role they play in supervising the interdisciplinary graduate students in our institute.

When an associate member supervises a student, IRES effectively delegates the responsibilities of the normal IRES faculty supervisor to the associate member. Hence the associate members must understand and be willing to implement the procedures used in IRES to manage graduate programs, as outlined here in the IRES Handbook. It is also expected that faculty associates help obtain funding for their graduate students. Faculty associates are encouraged to attend IRES seminars and special events.

Associate members who wish to supervise a graduate student in the RMES program for the first time must first be a faculty associate of IRES for two years. We ask that you attend a meeting prior to the student’s admission where the policies and expectations are clarified. IRES asks for a letter of intent and vitae for any associate members who seek to supervise our students for the first time.
To be eligible for Associate status, faculty must be first have served on a student supervisory committee. In addition, IRES faculty members can nominate a faculty member to be an associate given their own prior experience with the potential supervisor. Faculty associates are initially given terms of two years, as a trial period to develop and assess the working relationship between IRES and the associate. After the initial trial period, a faculty associate may be appointed for three years.

Among its faculty associates, IRES distinguishes between “regular” associates and “core” associates. The responsibilities and privileges differ in that only Core Associates will be permitted to supervise RMES graduate students. A Core Associate may also serve as IRES’ departmental examiner on master’s and PhD examination committees.

IRES effectively delegates responsibilities of the normal IRES faculty supervisor to its Core Associates. Hence it is important that Core Associates be aware of the norms of the program and expectations that this entails. They must understand and be willing to implement the procedures that IRES uses to manage its graduate program.

Normally, an associate develops this familiarity through participation on RMES student supervisory committees. Committee participation also allows the associate to develop a supervisory track record with RMES.
An IRES associate can request to become a Core Associate at any time by writing to the Director. In addition, IRES faculty members can nominate an associate to become a Core Associate on the basis of their own prior experiences with the individual as a potential supervisor.

The number of students a particular associate can supervise is determined by the IRES Director, based on the associate’s track record as a supervisor in RMES, available funding, and related factors.
IRES will periodically review the supervisory track record of Core Associates. The process will be similar to that used to assess IRES faculty members’ supervision of graduate students.

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Fisheries Centre

One third of IRES students are supervised by faculty members from the Fisheries Centre. The Fisheries Centre (FC) is a research unit whose stated mission is to restore fisheries, conserve aquatic life and rebuild ecosystems. The FC promotes the multidisciplinary study of aquatic ecosystems and broad-based collaboration with maritime communities, government, NGOs and other partners. The ten FC faculty and their teams (including UBC graduate students from RMES, Zoology, Oceanography and Geography) believe that the social capital developed through collaboration, and the intellectual capital that increased knowledge of ecosystem function and values represents, can lead to the re-investment in natural capital necessary to conserve and restore aquatic systems. They conduct research and publish in academic journals and the popular press on topics ranging from quantitative analysis and modeling of fisheries to biology, economics, social and policy. In 2008, a new faculty position was created in part to work towards integrating traditional aboriginal knowledge with fisheries science.

The faculty and staff of the Fisheries Centre welcome and are pleased to assist RMES graduate students whose supervisors are FC faculty members. One of the RMES Graduate Advisors is a FC faculty member, Murdoch McAllister. Director’s and Graduate Secretary, Janice Doyle, provides informal support to graduate students associated with the FC. All new FC students should introduce themselves to Janice and should plan to meet briefly with Dr. McAllister to provide him with information about their programs. Dr. McAllister serves as the primary Graduate Advisor for RMES FC graduate students, signing any required forms and providing advice as needed. In addition, the FC administrator Ms Ann Tautz, makes space assignments, provides keys, and completes appointment forms for FC students employed by FC faculty. The FC provides its graduate students with a @fisheries.ubc.ca internet account and e-mail address, and adds their names to a group distribution list to receive information of interest to “FC Members”. Dr. Rashid Sumaila, recently appointed Fisheries Centre Director, welcomes involvement by graduate students in the affairs of the FC; Dr. Sumaila holds open Director office hours Tuesdays and Thursdays 10-12 in AERL 231 and is available for meetings at other times by appointment.
For more information on http://www.fisheries.ubc.ca/

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Faculty of Graduate Studies

The Faculty of Graduate Studies oversees all aspects of graduate education at UBC. They provide administrative services for graduate students and programs, and their role is to ensure that the academic training provided at UBC is of the highest standard in research and other scholarly activities. FoGS’ mission is to provide leadership in ensuring excellence in graduate education and support for student success. FoGS support prospective and current UBC graduate students, faculty members, and graduate program staff. Crucial information relating to graduate education is provided through FoGS’ website. Some key services include:

Maintain online system for applying to graduate programs
• Make formal offers of admission and provide welcome and orientation information to new students
• Services relevant to current graduate students include:
• Allocate and administer merit-based graduate student awards
• Maintain graduate student records
• Assess graduate student academic progress to ensure students are given any assistance they need to be successful
• Approve leaves of absence, student exchanges and other variations to registration
• Coordinate final doctoral oral examinations and receive final theses and dissertations
• Provide support for graduate students through our website, information sessions, and personal contact
For more information on FoGS support functions, please visit the FoGS website http://www.grad.ubc.ca/

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CFIS

CFIS supports collaborative, interdisciplinary research and teaching addressing complex, societal issues, engaging local, national, and international communities, and influencing policy decisions in seven thematic areas of excellence: sustainability, health, global issues and cross-cultural policy analysis, applied ethics, a deeper discourse on feminism, a common language for scientists, and the human-computer relationship.
CFIS also provides the infrastructure and support allowing for collaboration between researchers in other disciplines, in industry and government, and in local and international communities, to find solutions to problems that cannot be as readily solved within the confines of a single discipline.

IRES is one of the twelve interdisciplinary units in the College for Interdisciplinary Studies. The RMES program is one of eleven graduate programs in CFIS. CFIS is composed of 174 staff (with twenty-one staff in the Principal’s office), supporting 77 tenure-stream faculty who carry out world-class research in twelve schools, institutes, and centres, and teach over 650 students in eleven graduate programs. Led by Principal Michael Burgess, UBC Chair in Biomedical Ethics and Professor in the W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics

For more information on CFIS support functions, please visit the CFIS website http://www.cfis.ubc.ca/

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IRES Committees

Management Committee

The IRES Management Committee decides IRES policies and guidelines and oversees the strategic development of the unit. It is chaired by the Director and consists of IRES faculty members as well as faculty associates who have been accepted as members of the committee. Faculty Associates submit an application to IRES Director, who brings the request to the faculty members for a vote. In addition, the Management Committee has three student representatives of which one is from the Fisheries Centre. The student representatives are elected by the RMES student society. The Management Committee meet twice per semester.

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Admissions Committee

The Admissions committee decides which students will be offered admission to the RMES Program. The committee consists of at least three and no more than five faculty members who are appointed by the Director of IRES after consultation with RMES students and IRES faculty members (core and associates). One of the committee members is a faculty member in the Fisheries Centre. The chair is a faculty member who has a deep knowledge of IRES policies and procedures and at least two year’s experience of supervision in the program.
The RMES Graduate Secretary provides administrative support for the committee, prepares agendas in consultation with the chair, prepares the meetings, follows up decisions and takes notes during meetings.

Time Line

June Committee members for the coming year are identifiedMeeting dates for the coming year are set
October Review admissions process, templates for the offer letters and rejection letters
2nd week in January Application deadline
4th week in January Applications sent out to reviewers
1st week in February Deadline for reviewers to submit reviews, rate applications
3rd week in February Potential supervisors indicate their interest and provide info re funding and their supervisory/committee loadCommittee reviews the compiled information and decides to whom the program will offer admissions.
1st week of March Offer letters sent out to applicants

Procedure
Complete and eligible applications are first forwarded to Reviewers* for evaluation and ranking. Non-eligible applications are not assessed further unless a faculty member specifically requests. All applications are reviewed by three faculty members. Other faculty members are given the opportunity to provide additional input. Potential supervisors indicate if they are willing to supervise, whether they can provide funding and, when applicable, if they would like to nominate the candidate for a Fellowship scholarship and why. The returned evaluations and comments are assembled by the Graduate Program Coordinator.

The applicants are organized in the following order:
a) High ranking, supervisor confirmed, funding confirmed
b) Low ranking, supervisor confirmed, funding confirmed
c) High ranking, supervisor confirmed, funding not confirmed
d) Low ranking, supervisor confirmed, funding not confirmed
e) High ranking, supervisor not confirmed
f) Low ranking, supervisor not confirmed
Based on the compiled information, the Admissions Committee decides which students to offer admission and how the scholarships will be allocated.

* Applicants are asked to identify potential reviewers with their application. When necessary additional reviewers are identified by the Chair of the Admissions Committee and the Graduate Program Coordinator based on the applicant’s specialty and themes identified in their abstract.

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This committee has three functions: a) to review and evaluate new course offerings, b) to register successful new courses with the UBC Senate, c) and on a less frequent basis to revise the curriculum in light of our evolving pedagogical objectives.

The research at IRES is issue driven. Our methods are interdisciplinary. Our goal is to create an educational experience that provides exceptional preparation for our graduates’ chosen careers. Through time, the issues, methods, approaches and career opportunities of our graduates evolve. This committee defines the nature of the curriculum and the educational experience that will permit our students to excel.

Awards Committee

The IRES Awards Committee reviews all award applications. The committee ranks applicants in relevance to their research proposals, support letters, service to community and academic standing.

The committee consists of four members who are appointed by the Director of IRES after consultation with RMES students and IRES faculty members (core and associates). The committee has a balanced representation to ensure experience and background of relevance to both NSERC and SSHRC applications. The Chair is a faculty member with considerable experience of the UBC/Canadian award system and one of the members is a faculty member from Fisheries. Committee members have a 2-year term and are appointed by the Director in August.

For further information on our students and their funding please see our Awards page

 

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Plagiarism

A student who has reached the more advanced undergraduate levels is expected to be familiar with the distinctions between citations, accounts, plagiarism and his or her own conclusions. In spite of these demands, students recurrently fail because they have been citing in a misleading manner, they have neglected to refer to a source or they have engaged in deliberate plagiarism. Most of the time, it is more a question of ignorance than conscious cheating. Citing in a misleading manner, however, is academic misconduct. Researchers who take to plagiarism or who cannot account for their sources will soon lose credibility. If you want people to view your work as trustworthy, you must learn the art of citing. By constantly distinguishing the own thoughts on the literature from thoughts, facts, conclusions and the like of others, the risk of unconscious plagiarism is minimized. We encourage students to make it a habit to keep written reflective notes on the literature and thereby successively learn how to relate to it, and, when the results start to unfold, it is usually easier to discuss them in light of the aim and in light of the literature. To help students better understand the academic system, we here provide a brief overview.

The UBC policies on plagiarism apply equally to all students, faculty and staff, regardless of their position at the University. Undergraduate student and full professors alike have equal rights and obligations. The UBC policies also apply to others connected with the University, such as visiting faculty or researchers who develop intellectual property using University facilities or with funds administered by the University.

The policies generally apply to scholarly work conducted while are enrolled at or employed by the University. Copyright and other intellectual property rights to scholarly and literary works—including books, lecture notes, laboratory manuals, artefacts, visual art and music—produced by those connected with the University belong to the individuals involved. Publishers of these works may acquire copyright as a condition of publication.

Student Discipline: Academic Misconduct
Ignorance of the appropriate standard of academic honesty is no defense to an allegation of Academic Misconduct. Academic Misconduct that is subject to penalty includes, but is not limited to, the following:

Plagiarism
Plagiarism occurs where an individual submits or presents the work of another person as his or her own. Scholarship quite properly rests upon examining and referring to the thoughts and writings of others. However, when excerpts are used in paragraphs or essays, the author must be acknowledged in the text, through footnotes, in endnotes, or in other accepted forms of academic citation. Plagiarism extends from where there is no recognition given to the author for phrases, sentences, or ideas of the author incorporated in an essay to where an entire essay is copied from an author, or composed by another person, and presented as original work. Students must ensure that when they seek assistance from a tutor or anyone else that the work they submit is actually their own. Where collaborative work is permitted by the instructor, students must ensure that they comply with the instructor’s requirements for such collaboration. Students are responsible for ensuring that any work submitted does not constitute plagiarism. Students who are in any doubt as to what constitutes plagiarism should consult their instructor before handing in any assignments.
Cheating
Cheating includes, but is not limited to: falsifying any material subject to academic evaluation; having in an examination any materials other than those permitted by the examiner; and using unauthorized means to complete an examination (e.g. receiving unauthorized assistance from a fellow student).
Submitting the same, or substantially the same, essay, presentation, or assignment more than once (whether the earlier submission was at this or another institution), unless prior approval has been obtained from the instructor(s) to whom the assignment is to be submitted.
More about UBC’s policies on academic conduce is found on the following link www.vpacademic.ubc.ca/integrity/policies.htm

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