Opportunities

We are not currently accepting applications for graduate or postdoctoral fellows.

“The oceans cover more than 70% of the planet, produce over 50% of the world’s oxygen, regulate our climate, and provide us with food, medicine, and recreation, yet we know less about them than we do about the surface of the moon. I want to help change that, so we can find better ways to protect them.”

~ Sara Cannon, Ocean Leaders Graduate Fellow

Graduate Fellowships

The Ocean Leaders Graduate Fellowship supports interdisciplinary marine scientists and social scientists at UBC who hope to bridge the gulf between academic research and society. Successful applicants will receive a stipend to support their graduate education and be expected to take part in Ocean Leaders program activities, including courses, professional development workshops, off-campus internships and an annual policy event. Please note that the 2021-22 academic year was our last year of funding for the program; therefore, we are not accepting new fellows at this time.

Program Expectations

In their first year, all fellows will take the Grand Challenges in Ocean Leadership course, which provides students with an opportunity to apply technical knowledge to address a cutting-edge problem in ocean or coastal management and policy.

Professional development workshops are a core tenant of the Ocean Leaders program. Fellows will work in groups, together with faculty and/or off-campus collaborators, in choosing and planning workshop activities. Each fellow is expected to contribute to at least one workshop and to attend at least two workshops offered by the Ocean Leaders program.

Fellows are also encouraged to take part in additional opportunities offered through the program, including the following:

    • Participating in discussion groups and attending seminars organized by Ocean Leaders and the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries;
    • Completing an internship with one of our collaborating partners.

Eligibility

The fellowship is currently available to UBC applicants and to current UBC graduate students conducting marine research. Ocean Leaders is not a degree-granting program; applicants interested in the Ocean Leaders program must also be applying for entrance into a graduate program at UBC.

Application Requirements

A full application consists of the following:

    1. A copy of your full graduate application, including your personal statement, CV, and unofficial transcripts
    2. A short explanation of why you want to be an Ocean Leader (less than one page)

We are not accepting applications at this time.

Postdoctoral Fellowships

Training Our Future Ocean Leaders (Ocean Leaders) is accepting applications for a two-year postdoctoral fellowship. The new program is led by nine core faculty with interests in climate change, coupled human and natural systems, ocean acidification, marine conservation, marine ecology, fisheries science, and marine spatial planning. The goal of the program is to train interdisciplinary marine scientists to produce tractable policy and management innovations that have a high probability of improving the health of oceans. The postdoctoral fellowship is open to candidates with a strong research background across the natural and social sciences and a keen interest in bridging the gap between research and policy and management on core matters of ocean health.

Expectations

The successful candidate will be expected to conduct original research on core ocean challenges under the supervision of the Ocean Leaders faculty. The fellow will also be expected to interact with students and multiple research teams in the program, and participate in various program activities, including professional development workshops and the Grand Challenges in Ocean Leadership course.

Fellows must be supervised by a minimum of one and preferably two core faculty in the program. Interested applicants are asked to contact potential faculty advisors from the list of core faculty with their CV and a brief (~500 word) research proposal before submitting a full application. After discussing options with their prospective supervisors, select candidates will be contacted with information about how to complete their full application. Applicants must have completed their PhD within the last five years to be eligible for the fellowship. Starting dates for the fellowship are flexible. We are accepting applications on a rolling basis, but interested applicants are encouraged to before 1 April 2020.

We are not accepting any postdoctoral fellows at this time.