Program Overview

Overview

The doctoral (PhD) program in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems creates opportunities for students to develop and strengthen research capabilities and advanced knowledge. Students must plan and complete a doctoral thesis resulting in an original scholarly contribution to knowledge in their field of study. The candidate is expected to initiate and conduct a research project under the general direction of a supervisor and supported by a graduate supervisory committee.

Program Description

ISLFS students work on diverse and often interdisciplinary research areas that address priority food systems questions and challenges ranging in scope from food production, processing, distribution, access, consumption and dietary practices, to the management of food waste. Applied research projects in ISLFS often explore sustainable solutions to food systems challenges and at the PhD level may integrate questions and methods for investigating the environmental, economic and/or social dimensions of food systems.

What Makes the Program Unique

Arguably the most important challenge for the world community in the 21st Century is Global Food Security – our ability to create a sufficient, healthy, safe, culturally relevant and economically accessible food system for everyone. Sustainable food systems will require more than technological advances, and must integrate economic, social and environmental relationships, thus involving community, land and food systems. The ISLFS program allows students to cross disciplinary boundaries and incorporate cross-cutting methods and knowledge to address priority questions related to land and food systems.

Quick Facts

• Faculty: Faculty of Land and Food Systems
• Academic Unit: Faculty of Land and Food Systems
• Specialization: Integrated Studies In Land and Food Systems
• Mode of delivery: In person at UBC Vancouver
• Program Components: Dissertation
• Tuition (First Year):
  • Domestic: $5,626.02
  • International: $9,883.98
• Median Funding: 50% of students receive $43,319 or more funding per year in the first 4 years, before tuition and fees

Admission Information & Requirements

Check Eligibility

• Minimum Academic Requirements: The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies establishes the minimum admission requirements common to all applicants, usually a minimum overall average in the B+ range (76% at UBC).
• English Language Test: Applicants from a university outside Canada in which English is not the primary language of instruction must provide results of an English language proficiency examination as part of their application.
  • TOEFL: Overall score requirement: 90, Reading: 22, Writing: 21, Speaking: 21, Listening: 22
  • IELTS: Overall score requirement: 6.5, Reading: 6.0, Writing: 6.0, Speaking: 6.0, Listening: 6.0

Prior Degree, Course and Other Requirements

• Prior Degree Requirements: 2-year Master's degree plus 4-year Bachelor degree

Meet Deadlines

• Program Name: Doctor of Philosophy in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (PhD)
• Intake:
  • September 2026: Canadian Applicant Deadline: 10 January 2026, International Applicant Deadline: 10 January 2026
  • January 2027: Canadian Applicant Deadline: 1 June 2026, International Applicant Deadline: 1 June 2026
  • May 2027: Canadian Applicant Deadline: 1 September 2026, International Applicant Deadline: 1 September 2026

Prepare Application

• Transcripts: All applicants have to submit transcripts from all past post-secondary study.
• Letters of reference: Applicants have to submit 3 references to apply to this graduate program.
• Statement of Interest: Many programs require a statement of interest, sometimes called a "statement of intent", "description of research interests" or something similar.
• Supervision: Students in research-based programs usually require a faculty member to function as their thesis supervisor. All applicants need firm commitment from a supervisor prior to applying.

Research Information

Research Focus

New solutions will demand that researchers and policy makers approach the task differently from in the past. We can no longer expect solutions to come from a single discipline. The Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems graduate program offers you the opportunity to focus on such key complex issues. It encourages you to use holistic approaches that integrate knowledge from across disciplines to find solutions relevant to diverse communities.

Program Components

• Doctoral students will usually complete coursework and their candidacy exam within three years, and the defence of their doctoral dissertation in their fourth or fifth year.
• Coursework, selected in consultation with the student’s supervisory committee, includes graduate courses in Land and Food Systems and from other areas relevant to each student’s research.
• Examinations:
  • a comprehensive examination for PhD students
  • defence of the thesis for PhD and MSc students

Tuition & Financial Support

Tuition

• Fees:
  • Application Fee: $118.50 (Canadian Citizen / Permanent Resident / Refugee / Diplomat), $168.25 (International)
  • Tuition per year: $5,626.02 (Canadian Citizen / Permanent Resident / Refugee / Diplomat), $9,883.98 (International)
• Other Fees and Costs:
  • Student Fees (yearly): $1,144.10 (approx.)
  • Costs of living: Estimate your costs of living with our interactive tool in order to start developing a financial plan for your graduate studies.

Financial Support

• Program Funding Packages: From September 2024 all full-time students in UBC-Vancouver PhD programs will be provided with a funding package of at least $24,000 for each of the first four years of their PhD.
• Funding Statistics:
  • 7 students within this program were included in this study because they received funding through UBC in the form of teaching, research, academic assistantships or internal or external awards with a mean of $45,028 and a median of $43,319.
  • This results in a net balance (any funding provided to the student minus tuition and fees) mean of $35,853 and median of $34,561.

Career Outcomes

• 6 students graduated between 2005 and 2013. Of these, career information was obtained for 5 alumni (based on research conducted between Feb-May 2016).
• Sample Employers:
  • In Higher Education: Kwantlen Polytechnic University
  • Outside Higher Education: BC Centre for Disease Control, Agribotix, Government of Canada
• Sample Job Titles Outside Higher Education: Policy Analyst, Business Owner/Consulting, VP, Sales, Regional Coordinator Environmental Protection Program

Research Supervisors

• Students in research-based programs usually require a faculty member to function as their thesis supervisor. All applicants need firm commitment from a supervisor prior to applying.
• List of faculty members with full supervisory privileges who are affiliated with this program:
  • Barichello, Richard
  • Black, Jennifer
  • Carrillo, Juli
  • Cornelis, Jean Thomas
  • Gulati, Sumeet
  • Jovel Ayala, Eduardo
  • Margulis, Matias
  • McAusland, Carol
  • Noack, Frederik
  • Riseman, Andrew
  • Robin, Tabitha
  • Smukler, Sean
  • Wittman, Hannah

Sample Thesis Submissions

• Household food insecurity and the nutritional status of San women and young children in rural Botswana
• Three essays in environmental economics and energy transition
• Essays in environmental and development economics: lead-acid battery recycling in Mexico, gender and informal labor markets in Ghana, and domestic biogas adoption in Senegal
• The impacts of elevated CO₂ on plant-insect interactions across multiple insect species

Related Programs

• Same specialization: Master of Science in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (MSc)
• Same Academic Unit:
  • Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Animal Biology (PhD)
  • Doctor of Philosophy in Food Science (PhD)
  • Doctor of Philosophy in Human Nutrition (PhD)
  • Doctor of Philosophy in Plant Science (PhD)
  • Doctor of Philosophy in Soil Science (PhD)
  • Graduate Certificate in Aquaculture (GCAQUA)
  • Master of Food and Resource Economics (MFRE)
  • Master of Food Science (MFS)
  • Master of Land and Water Systems (MLWS)
  • Master of Science in Applied Animal Biology (MSc)
  • Master of Science in Food Science (MSc)
  • Master of Science in Human Nutrition (MSc)
  • Master of Science in Integrated Studies in Land and Food Systems (MSc)
  • Master of Science in Plant Science (MSc)
  • Master of Science in Soil Science (MSc)

Further Information

• Specialization: Integrated Studies In Land and Food Systems
• UBC Calendar: graduate-and-postdoctoral-studies/degree-programs/land-and-food-systems-integrated-studies
• Program Website: msc-phd/
• Faculty: Faculty of Land and Food Systems
• Academic Unit: Faculty of Land and Food Systems
• Program Identifier: VGDPHD-N1
• Classification:
  • Medical, health and life sciences » Health sciences » Public and population health » Food security
  • Agricultural and veterinary sciences » Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries » Agriculture, land and farm management » Sustainable agricultural development
  • Agricultural and veterinary sciences » Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries » Crop and pasture production
  • Agricultural and veterinary sciences » Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries » Horticultural production
  • Agricultural and veterinary sciences » Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries » Fisheries sciences » Fisheries management
  • Agricultural and veterinary sciences » Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries » Fisheries sciences » Post-harvest fisheries technologies (including transportation)
  • Agricultural and veterinary sciences » Animal and dairy sciences » Animal production
  • Agricultural and veterinary sciences » Agricultural biotechnology and food sciences » Agricultural biotechnology
  • Agricultural and veterinary sciences » Agricultural biotechnology and food sciences » Food sciences (including food engineering)
  • Social sciences » Economics and business administration » Economics » Agricultural economics

Enrolment, Duration & Other Stats

• ENROLMENT DATA:
  • 2023: Applications: 7, Offers: 3, New Enrolment: 3, Total Enrolment: 13
  • 2022: Applications: 4, Offers: 1, New Enrolment: 1, Total Enrolment: 18
  • 2021: Applications: 8, Offers: 4, New Enrolment: 3, Total Enrolment: 16
  • 2020: Applications: 9, Offers: 1, New Enrolment: 1, Total Enrolment: 15
  • 2019: Applications: 5, Offers: 0, New Enrolment: 0, Total Enrolment: 15
• Completion Rates & Times:
  • This program has a graduation rate of 73% based on 11 students admitted between 2011 - 2014.
  • Based on 9 graduations between 2020 - 2023 the minimum time to completion is 2.73 years and the maximum time is 7.85 years with an average of 5.45 years of study.