Why UBC Political Science?
Our 35 research faculty teach, train, mentor, and conduct research with graduate students in our MA and PhD degrees. UBC Political Science usually appears in the top 30 departments globally for research output. Our recent Masters and Doctoral graduates are placed around the world at leading institutions and in senior positions in governments and non-governmental organizations.
We are reimagining the PhD curriculum to actively coach students from day 1 to finish the degree sooner, with publications, and with skills for both academic and non-academic careers.
For top doctoral applicants, we provide 5-year financial packages competitive with all Canadian political science programs.
If you want to learn more about our MA and PhD programs, read on and contact our Graduate Program Coordinator, Chris Fernandez, who can connect you with a faculty member to speak to on Zoom. Make sure you check out our research areas pages.
Research Areas and Fields
Our faculty and students — often together — do research across the spectrum of political science. We have notable strengths in immigration and multiculturalism, political behaviour, critical political theory, non-state actors in international relations, comparative public policy, politics of the environment and climate change, and more.
If you’re considering applying to our programs, you should drill down into our research areas pages and check out ones that align with your interests and career goals. These pages represent more than 25 different research areas or topics and show you which set of faculty members work in that area, with their key publications.
If you prefer to start with the traditional grouping by subfield, go to our pages on Political Theory, Canadian Politics, Comparative Politics, International Relations, and US Politics.
Training in Research & Teaching
Our 35 full-time faculty members have diverse research interests and areas of excellence. They hold research chairs, build innovative research programs, and have strong affiliations with multiple research centres and institutes on campus. Many of our graduate students are research assistants and sometimes co-author papers with faculty.
Most PhD and MA students serve as paid Teaching Assistants, which provides a sustained and comprehensive experience to learn about teaching at the university level while receiving mentorship.
We are particularly strong in research methods, with a robust sequence of graduate methods courses for students looking for foundational and advanced training in qualitative and quantitative research methods.
I was very lucky to have professors and other students at UBC who believed in me and supported me. And I challenged myself to rise to the opportunities they provided me when I could.
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Featured News
Research News
PhD student Kim Beaulieu awarded Fox International Fellowship for 2025-26
How the Political Science Student Learning Fund supports transformative student experiences
PhD alum Pascale Massot wins best book award from International Studies Association
We’re one of the top departments in the world for the study of Environmental Politics, Political Theory of Indigenous-Settler Relations, Citizen Attitudes to Public Policy, the Management and Regulation of Civil Conflict, and Migration Studies.
