Draft UBC Wellbeing Fellows Program

Projects that foster a strong sense of community, belonging, and wellbeing in the classroom and/or academic workplace. Example projects may include: 

• Large scale and transferable initiatives that make it easier to meet people and build connections 

• Initiatives that strengthen interdepartmental or cross-campus collaboration 

• Programs supporting belonging for equity deserving groups including international, graduate, and transfer students 

• Advancing the Wellbeing Break Commitment, with a focus on supporting instructors in facilitating movement and social connection in the classroom 

Projects that target structural and culture changes to improve mental health and wellbeing in the classroom and/or academic workplace, for example: 

• Faculty-wide mental health and wellbeing policy or process improvements e.g.:
  • Wellbeing considerations in new course approvals
  • A centralized strategy to support complex student needs and instructor wellbeing (e.g. Temporary Health Issues)
  • Faculty and student wellbeing as part of recruitment and promotion considerations
  • Renewal of the Framework for Senate Consideration of Student Mental Health and Wellbeing to addresses best practices in supporting learners' wellbeing
  • Initiatives to improve collegiality, recognition, and support systems 

• Engaging with faculties and schools to develop and implement a Wellbeing in Learning Environments plan in collaboration with staff units (e.g. using the Activate Workplace Wellbeing Toolkit) 

Projects that advance student and/or instructor wellbeing through curriculum or pedagogical projects with scalable impact, such as:  

• Piloting a teaching professional development system for instructors 

• Developing, implementing and evaluating wellbeing-informed assessment strategies 

• Creating, implementing and evaluating development modules e.g. orientation training for new faculty, growth mind set mentality in learning for students 

Projects that support student wellbeing and accessibility with responsible use of technology in the classroom including:  

• Tools that improve awareness and access to wellbeing resources 

• Support resources for wellbeing and Generative AI, including considering the potential impacts on student wellbeing and accessibility in all decision-making processes 

• Interventions reducing digital overload or promoting healthy tech habits 

Eligible expenses include: 

• Student wages (e.g. hiring a grad teaching or research assistant)
• Faculty course buy-outs- value of $10,000 and maximum one over the duration of two years
• Materials to support projects
• Materials developed with the support of the Wellbeing Fellows program ideally would be made available for re-use within UBC as appropriate.

Ineligible expenses include:  

• Retroactive use of funds
• Exclusively purchasing equipment
• Research that would be carried out in the normal course of work or study
• Projects primarily focused on producing publishable academic findings and/or conducting formal, hypothesis-driven research requiring ethics
• Building a curriculum for a new course or program that otherwise would be covered through future tuition or course fees

• Each project can have up to two project leads (co-leads) 

• Applicants must meet the following criteria:
  • Hold a UBC Okanagan or Vancouver faculty appointment for the full duration of the project (at least one lead if project has two co-leads)
  • Be eligible to hold and manage project funding in Workday
  • Students, faculty, and staff with short term appointments are eligible to participate as project team members, not as project leads or co-leads
  • Agree to the program requirements stated above

Applications that meet both applicant and funding eligibility criteria will be evaluated based on the following assessment criteria: 

• Alignment with the Wellbeing Strategic Framework and UBC’s commitments to the Okanagan Charter for health-promoting campuses, including active support for other UBC priorities and plans: https://strategicplan.ubc.ca/ongoing-priorities-and-plans/.

• Alignment with an identified priority theme to ensure relevance and strategic coherence. 

• Partnerships and collaboration that strengthen project design, implementation, and overall effectiveness, grounded in clearly demonstrated need. 

• Reach, scalability, and sustainability to ensure the project can extend its benefits over time and across UBC campuses, communities, and institutional processes. 

• Outcomes and potential impacts that meaningfully enhance student and/or faculty health and wellbeing, with strong preference for system-level and culture-level improvements that go beyond individual-level interventions. 

• Feasibility, supported by a realistic budget, timeline, evaluation plan and qualified project team, with clearly articulated objectives, intended outcomes, and a clear plan for the use of funds. 

• Project proposals will be reviewed by representatives from the Office of Wellbeing Strategy; The Office of the Provost and Vice-President, Academic; VPHR Health Wellbeing & Benefits; VPS Health Promotion & Education; UBCO Student Wellness; UBCO Workplace Health and Wellbeing Human Resources and The Teaching and Wellbeing Community of Practice 

• Decisions will be made approximately one month after applications close, with funding, projects and program cohort meetings beginning in May 2026

In accepting funding, the project lead(s) agree to submit status and final reports and participate in conversation(s) with the program staff according to the schedule outlined in the funding letter and using the templates provided. Funding for year two will be released conditional on satisfactory reporting.  

Unused funds from year one can be used in year two. All funding must be used or returned by June 2028. Projects can request an extension and will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.