Projects
Piloting the future
Campus as a Living Lab (CLL) projects use UBC infrastructure, assets and resources to support innovative and applied research projects that improve our communities, region and world. They pilot new ideas, advance faculty research and interdisciplinary collaborations, have an operational benefit for the university, and create opportunities for student learning and knowledge exchange.
Characteristics
Through the following core characteristics, CLL projects contribute to UBC’s strategic priorities, offering pathways for institutional learning, knowledge exchange, and long-term change.
Innovation:
Living lab projects propose novel ideas, processes, or practices to address real-world sustainability challenges. Innovation can take many forms—technical, social, procedural, or cultural—and may include new ways of thinking, engaging, organizing, or acting.
Research Excellence:
Living lab projects demonstrate academic rigour and contribute new insights to a body of knowledge. This includes clear research questions, robust methodologies, and well-defined processes that reflect excellence in academic scholarship and show potential to inform future research, policy, or practice across disciplines.
Relevance to UBC Campus and Community:
Living lab projects are rooted in the strategic context and operational realities of the university, and align with UBC’s sustainability and climate action priorities. The proposed solutions address a challenge or issue that can be improved at UBC and strengthen the university’s ability to lead and learn as a living lab.
Student Engagement and Learning Opportunities:
Living lab project actively engage students through research, design, implementation, evaluation, or storytelling. They create opportunities for experiential, hands-on, interdisciplinary, and mentorship-based learning, enabling students to make meaningful contributions while gaining valuable skills and insights.
Potential Impacts and Knowledge Sharing:
Living lab projects have the potential for impacts beyond UBC's campus. This may include replication or scale-up in other institutional, municipal, or community contexts, as well as knowledge sharing and capacity building across sectors and settings.
Project Library
This innovative community-focused project at UBC Vancouver will create a living lab fibre garden to produce local textiles in a vibrant outdoor research site on campus. The garden will support interactive sustainable textile and creative arts projects while also serving as a public community space that addresses climate resilience and decolonization.
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Click here for the English version.
Le projet « Les voies vers un carbone intrinsèque net zéro dans les bâtiments » (Pathways to Net-Zero Embodied Carbon in Buildings) est un projet de deux ans dirigé par le Sustainability Hub de l’Université de la Colombie-Britannique (UBC). Il vise à cerner et relever les défis liés à la réduction des émissions de carbone intrinsèque des matériaux de construction, dans le cadre de l’objectif du Canada d’atteindre la carboneutralité d’ici 2050.
Ce projet s’appuie sur les initiatives du campus de l’UBC en tant que laboratoire vivant (UBC Campus as Living Lab), tel que le projet Brock Commons Tallwood House, qui comprenait la réduction potentielle des émissions de carbone intrinsèque liées aux structures en bois massif, ainsi que le projet pilote sur le carbone intrinsèque qui a informé la politique de l’UBC en matière de carbone intrinsèque.
Afin d’appuyer le mandat du Groupe consultatif pour la carboneutralité du Canada en matière de recherche, ce projet a été réalisé avec l’appui financier du gouvernement du Canada. Le financement a été fourni par le Fonds d’action et de sensibilisation pour le climat du Fonds pour les dommages à l’environnement, administré par Environnement et Changement Climatique Canada. Le Groupe consultatif pour la carboneutralité est un groupe d’experts canadiens qui conseille le ministre de l’Environnement et du Changement Climatique sur les priorités et les approches à adopter pour que le Canada atteigne son objectif de zéro émission nette d’ici 2050.
Appuyez ici pour la version en français.
The Pathways to Net-Zero Embodied Carbon in Buildings project is a two-year project led by the Sustainability Hub at the University of British Columbia (UBC). It aims to identify and tackle the challenges of reducing embodied carbon emissions in building materials as part of Canada’s path to net-zero GHG emissions by 2050. This project builds on the UBC Campus as Living Lab projects, particularly Brock Commons Tallwood House–which included the potential reduction in embodied carbon emissions from mass timber structures–and the subsequent Embodied Carbon Pilot, which informed UBC embodied carbon policy.
To support the mandate of Canada’s Net-Zero Advisory Body related to research, this project was undertaken with the financial support of the Government of Canada. Funding was provided through the Environmental Damages Funds’ Climate Action and Awareness Fund, administered by Environment and Climate Change Canada. Net-Zero Advisory Body is a group of Canadian experts advising the Minister of Environment and Climate Change on priorities and approaches for Canada to achieve its 2050 net-zero goal.
