RES Graduate Student Handbook

Before you arrive:

• 1.     Review IRES checklist for incoming students.
• 2.     Review UBC Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies’ (G+PS) Checklist for Newly Admitted Graduate Students.
• 3.     Apply for study permit if necessary.
• 4.     Sign up for an online Pre-Arrival webinar (facilitated by G+PS). Click here for upcoming webinars.
• 5.     Clear any G+PS Conditions of Admission in your online application.  All information on this, including instructions, can be found through your application portal. Clearing these conditions of admission are also outlined in your G+PS offer letter).
• 6.     Order one set of official transcripts and send to the RES Graduate office.  These official original transcripts will be kept on file for the duration of your program in IRES.
• 7.     Apply for on-campus or off-campus housing. For more information, please click here. To apply, please click here.
• 8.     If you are new to Vancouver, please review the G+PS page on Life in Vancouver.
• 9.     Register for courses. For information, please click here. *Registration for courses is not possible until your conditions of admission have been cleared (all required official documents are received by the G+PS office).
• 10.  Discuss with your supervisor which awards to apply for.
• 11.  Apply for medical insurance.

After you arrive:

• 1. Attend the available orientation events on campus.   
• 2. Attend the IRES Annual Celebration (usually in the first week of classes). 
• 3. Apply for a UBCcard at http://ubccard.ubc.ca/.  The UBCcard will be both your student ID and your library card, so make sure to pick it up early!  You can apply for your UBCcard once you are registered in courses. 
• 4. Acquire your U-Pass/Compass Card, which provides unlimited bus, SeaBus, SkyTrain, and Canada Line transit services within Metro Vancouver.  It is assessed as part of your student fees.  
• 5. Activation of UBC card for access to AERL building: Once you have your UBC card, please see the RES Program Support (Bonnie Leung in AERL 429) to arrange your card activation for access to the AERL doors and the AERL elevator after hours.  The AERL Building is open Monday to Friday 7:30am to 5:00pm.  It is closed on the weekends.  Once your card is activated, tap your card on the black box located on the doorframe to unlock the door.  Tap your card on the black box inside the elevator to access after regular office hours. 
• 6. Keys: The RES Program Support will order you an office key, which opens the three doors that lead in to the IRES student area.  You will receive an email from the UBC Bookstore when the key is ready for pickup. 
• 7. Assignment of an IRES desk: Each new student is assigned a desk in the IRES student area.  At each desk is a monitor, a keyboard and a mouse.  There are no desktop computers provided. Most students have a non-window desk.  North facing window desks are reserved for senior PhD students. Please click here for the IRES desk policy. 
• 8. Review and become familiar with the G+PS list of deadlines for graduate students. 

Review the International Student Guide at http://students.ubc.ca/international.  It contains very important information regarding immigration, health insurance, working in Canada, taxes, and life beyond graduation.  If you have any questions related to your status as an international student, you can contact International Student Advising via phone or email.  You can also drop by International House on campus to chat with an International Student Advisor (Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultants).  Drop in hours and contact info can be found in the International Student Guide. 

Persons who are not Canadian citizens or Permanent Residents require a Study Permit in order to enter Canada to study.  Please click here for more information. You can also contact an International Student Advisor if you need additional assistance.

Direct Deposit

There are two main routes through which you may receive funding during your RES degree: Payments via your UBC Tuition Account: This normally includes university or external awards, as well as tuition coverage, if applicable. Payments via UBC Payroll: You will be paid through UBC Payroll for TA appointments, RA appointments, or stipends from faculty grants. Both payment channels require separate direct deposit authorization in Workday, so make sure to do this as soon as possible.

UBC Payroll

All employees at UBC will be paid on the 15th and last day of the month. If you are paid hourly, your payday on the 15th will include hours worked from the 24th day of the previous month to the 8th day of the current month. Your end of the month pay will include hours worked from the 9th to the 23rd of the current month. Paydays falling on holidays or weekends are moved to the preceding non-holiday day.

Hourly employees are responsible for entering time and vacation for the correct position before each pay period. Late submission of hours will result in late pay, no exceptions, due to processing by Central Payroll. For more information, please click here.

As a UBC employee, you are highly encouraged to take Workday Basics, Workday HR 101 for Hourly Staff and Student Emp. and Workday Finance 101, all found at https://irp.ubc.ca/training.

Social Insurance Number (SIN)

All students working in Canada must have a Social Insurance Number (SIN). For information please click here.

For students that are award recipients, please review the G+PS Awards holder’s guide for information. Questions about how you will receive your award funding, when your awards will be assigned, and if you still have to pay tuition?  Please see the Awards FAQ page on the G+PS website.

Course Registration

• Talk to your supervisor early about which courses they advise you to take, in addition to the required courses for your program, which can be found here. Winter term course registration for graduate students usually opens in early June.  You can find RES graduate course information here.   For courses outside of RES, please see the Course Schedule.  The RES website also has a list of approved methods courses and popular non-RES courses.  If you have questions about non-RES courses, please direct these to the specific department offering the course. 
• Please remember that all RES students must register in the appropriate RES thesis course for every term of their program, including all summer terms: 
• RES 599 for master’s students
• RES 699 for doctoral students 
• UBC requires that all students remain continuously registered in the thesis course until their degree is completed, except when the student is away on an approved leave of absence.  Failure to register for two consecutive terms may result in the student being required to withdraw.  For more information on this policy, please see here.

Graduate Program Forms & Policies

Throughout your program you will need to fill out many different forms, both RES specific and G+PS forms.  Check out this page for more information.

Use of Degree Designations

• Students in master’s programs should not identify themselves as degree candidates (e.g., MA candidate) because candidacy is not an officially recognized degree program status at the master’s level while it is at the doctoral level.
• Students in doctoral programs may identify themselves as degree candidates only when they have been officially advanced to candidacy (by completing all required coursework, passing the comprehensive examinations, and having an approved dissertation proposal), and not before. This degree program status should be expressed in words (e.g., EdD candidate, PhD all-but-dissertation) and not using acronyms that might be misunderstood by non-academics. For more information, please click here.

IRES Student Desk Area

The IRES student desk area is a silent study area.  Please turn your cellphones to silent or vibrate.  Please refrain from having long and loud conversations in the student desk area.  Please take cellphone calls in the stairwells, in the student sofa lounge area, or in a meeting room.  Do not have cellphone conversations in the IRES lobby or hallway as the noise disturbs staff, faculty and postdoc offices. You are allowed to eat at your desk. Each IRES student desk has a blue paper recycling bin and a mini black garbage.  It is the student’s responsibility to empty both containers into the Sort It Out bins by each kitchen.  The mini garbage bucket should be emptied daily to prevent pests.

IRES Kitchens

There are two kitchens in IRES.  You are welcome to use the shared dishes, cups and cutlery.  Please wash your used dishes, cups and cutlery immediately.  Do not leave them unwashed in the sink.  There is a kettle, microwaves and a toaster oven at each kitchen, which everyone can use.  Please cover your microwaved items to prevent spills in the microwave.  Any spills need to be cleaned up immediately. 

Xerox/Printing

We have one Xerox machine in our office which can print, scan and photocopy. The RES Program Support will email you instructions on how to set up printing on your laptop.  When printing, your wireless needs to be shut off and you need to be plugged into the Ethernet cable located under your desk. You cannot print on wireless.

Department Equipment

There are some department equipment items that you can borrow from the RES Program Support for the day: Mac projector adapter, printing Ethernet adapter, portable projector, Mac power cord, poster tube, and pointer/slide advancer.  See RES Program Support for more information.

Room Bookings

Students are welcome to book rooms for meetings.  Please book rooms with the RES Program Support, Bonnie Leung (bonnie.leung@ubc.ca). You can also book one of our meeting rooms for a phone call (rooms 435, 444). 

IRES holds many different events over the course of the academic year. The central events include:

Seminar Series

The Seminar Series is a weekly lecture hosted by IRES every Thursday from September through April. Everyone is expected to attend.  It’s the main forum for IRES to come together, exchange ideas, and showcase research. The speakers are a mixture of external guests, IRES faculty, and RES students. There’s also pizza before the seminar to help entice you to come, so we hope to see you there! Previous seminar videos can be viewed by clicking here. 

Coffee Social

The IRES Coffee Social is every Tuesday (September through April) at 10:30 am by the elevator.  Come out to grab a coffee & cookie and mingle with fellow students, faculty, staff, and postdocs. 

“To get the most out of the IRES community, come join us on the couches for lunch, and at the weekly coffee and seminars. There’s so much to learn from others and being involved with the community makes being a grad student much more fulfilling”. (IRES PhD student) 

Student Symposium

The Student Symposium is a special day of student talks which takes place in April.  PhD candidates and master’s students in their final stages present their work, followed by an early dinner and drinks celebration. The Student Symposium is always an excellent opportunity for the IRES community to come together.  

The RES Student Society is a group of RES student leaders who are involved in organizing student activities within the department. In late spring the IRES student body elects new RES SS leaders; usually graduate students in the second year of their program. 

What does the student society do?

The Student Society organizes all activities coordinated by students during the IRES academic year. Some of these activities include: social events (e.g. Halloween party, IRES retreat, community engagement), academic events (e.g. research slam, student symposium), and publishing (e.g. the working paper series).  The active leadership of the student society members significantly enhances student life in our department. Thus, upon your arrival to IRES, think about the skills you have and how you would like to use them to give back to your department. 

Medical Insurance

Medical Services Plan (MSP) is BC’s provincial health insurance plan.  Anyone living in BC for six months or longer (including international students) is required by law to enrol in MSP and pay the plan’s premiums (if applicable).  For an overview of BC Medical Services Plan, including information on how to apply for coverage, see MSP for International Students.  If you require help figuring out your medical coverage, contact MSP directly or International Student Advising.

UBC Graduate Student Society

All students registered in the Faculty of Graduate and Post-doctoral Studies are members of the GSS.  They offer many different services, events, and workshops.  They also have a GSS event fund for which graduate students can apply.  Check them out or get involved by clicking here. 

Graduate Pathways to Success

The Graduate Pathways to Success program offers a plethora of personal and professional development workshops, seminars, and other activities for UBC graduate students.  They have also gathered a number of different resources to help students as they complete their programs.  For more information on their workshops and guides please click here. 

Student Support and Services

Graduate students have access to many different services on campus, including advising and counselling services, academic support services, family support, fitness and recreation, and professional development.  For a more comprehensive list of services and support available to all UBC graduate and undergraduate students, please see Student Support and Services. 

UBC Library Research Commons

This is an important resource for graduate students, as the UBC Library Research Commons offer workshops on thesis formatting, thesis formatting templates, a thesis-formatting guide, RefWorks workshops, and information on how to use the library. For information on UBC Library Events, please click here. 

Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology

The CTLT focuses on professional development in teaching and learning, integration of technology into teaching and learning, development and delivery of distance education courses and programs and other technology-enhanced learning opportunities.  Their offerings for graduate students include workshops, seminars, TA training programs, the Instructional Skills Workshops, and one-on-one coaching on teaching and related topics. For information on their programs for graduate students, please click here. 

UBC AMS

As a UBC student, you automatically become a member of the UBC Alma Mater Society (AMS). All students are entitled to vote in the AMS elections and take advantage of AMS resources and services. The AMS website provides information on food and drink on campus, UBC clubs, and services provided to UBC students such as tutoring, support groups, and UBC events. Please click here for information.

UBC IT

If you have a question about IT products or support, please click here. 

If you have questions that are not answered here, please check out the IRES FAQ page, or feel free to reach out to your supervisor, the RES Graduate Advisor, or IRES staff.  We are all here to help! 

For information on IRES Administrative Staff and their responsibilities, please see the Administrative Staff page on the IRES website. 

And, as always, when it doubt, we encourage you to first Google your questions! Most program and award information is available online, and while staff are always here to help, a quick Google may be the most efficient way to get your answer.

“Narrow down your research question, make an outline and start writing as soon as possible! While it will all change weekly and evolve as you go, I simply cannot stress it enough: write every day! Also, don’t be afraid of criticism: It will only improve your ideas and make your arguments stronger and more convincing. And lastly: Have fun! It’s your story, your unique spin on the topic that nobody else might compose, so it’s an opportunity as much as a privilege to contribute in your voice ideas to help make the world a better place.”  (IRES PhD student)

“To be productive in Grad School, I recommend that you sketch a clear timeline of when you want to achieve certain milestones for completing your program (e.g., take your comprehensive exams, finish courses). This timeline will act as the blueprint for the next 2 years (if you are a Masters student) or the next 4+ years (if you are a PhD student) of your life, and it will help you visualize the end goal by realizing is not too hard, it is just a long-term project”  (IRES PhD student)

 “Make sure to always have something to look forward to at the end of your working days or whenever you make your deadlines (e.g., grant applications, submit a class project). Having something nice to look forward to will help you be more productive during your work hours and will make you enjoy your well-deserved free time” (IRES PhD student)

“Create a regimented weekly or daily schedule for yourself – grad school entails more free time than the undergraduate experience, so it is important to adhere to a schedule. This way you can manage your time well.” (IRES MSc student)

“Integration is the core requirement of a interdisciplinary field. So, engage with students from different areas and future collaborations may flourish” (IRES MSc Student)

“It is not uncommon for research topics to be changed throughout your academic life, it is part of evolving as an academic student.” (IRES MSc Student)