Rather than treating disability access as a future aspiration, Terrains of Access: Civic Ecologies and Pre-Histories of 2020 positions it as a long-overdue ecological relationship rooted in collective solidarity. Disability activist and artist Sharona Franklin presents her latest exhibit at SPPGA’s Liu Lobby Gallery combining sculpture, design, illustration and poetry as expressions of accessibility.
The exhibit will be open April 30 – Aug 21 @soft_seeded
Congratulations to our two spirited teams that participated in the annual @ubcrec staff and faculty sports day. Team SPPGA-ETTI & SPPGA-ETTIOs for the win! 🏆💪🏼
“We have to recognize the small victories that we take and hold on to them… in order to build the society, the future that we want to see, the future that we all envision that is better for everyone around the world.”
Watch Hasan Piker’s full Lind Initiative talk from February 12th on SPPGA’s YouTube channel. See link in bio. @chancentreubc@hasandpiker
The Global Policy Project is the capstone of the Master of Public Policy and Global Affairs program, and a cornerstone of the MPPGA student experience as graduation approaches. During the spring symposium, each team presents their findings and recommendations after months of intensive research, fieldwork, and analysis. We are incredibly proud of the hard work students put in leading up to this day.
Next stop: graduation!
📸: @siming.photo
On March 26, IAR's Centre for Japanese Research hosted a screening of Black Box Diaries (2024), followed by a conversation with filmmaker and journalist Shiori Ito. The Oscar- and BAFTA-nominated documentary follows Ito’s pursuit of justice after her sexual assault, using secret recordings, CCTV footage, and personal diary entries to document her case. Her experience helped spark Japan’s #MeToo movement and contributed to reforms of the country’s century-old rape laws.
📸: @siming.photo
This UBC Giving Day, SPPGA shines a spotlight on the UBC Office of Regional and International Community Engagement (ORICE). Last week they held a showcase of their global community engagement in action that included many important initiatives like scholars in prison, community mental health nursing, and gender+ research through collective art making.
@ubc_orice is currently raising funds to help remove financial barriers for students from marginalized communities, allowing easier access to meaningful experience in community-engaged research. If you donate TODAY, on #UBCGivingDay, you can double your impact! The first $500 in donations will be matched. Learn more about ORICE and donate now at our link in bio.
“There’s all these notions about what America is and stands for, these short-hand phrases like: The American Dream, The Land of Opportunity, The Nation of Immigrants…and they all sound great but the thing is, they don’t all get along. There is tension among these visions of what America is. And I think it’s at these moments of the highest tension among them that you get this great political divisiveness and rupture… America is a fight. America is a real battle to try to live up to these creeds that don’t always coexist well together.”
Many thanks to Carlos Lozada who brought this year’s Lind Initiative at @chancentreubc to a close with an eloquent and thoroughly-researched talk about American identity, democracy as a daily devotion, and America as a super power that has ceased to be the leader of the free world. Watch his talk with UBC Professor and moderator Max Cameron (SPPGA/Poli Sci) through our link in bio. 📸@siming.photo
At the time of Mongolia’s democratic revolution in 1990, camera equipment was only accessible to a few state-controlled media. Finnish journalist Irja Halász, who was a student at the Mongolian National University when the protests began, was a notable exception.
The Liu Lobby Gallery was honoured to host an exhibition of some of Irja’s rare and powerful images this past month alongside an event featuring a talk with photographer Irja Halász herself who spoke to attendees via zoom, and Dr. Charles Krusekopf, Director of the American Center for Mongolian Studies and Professor at Royal Roads University.
These images of the bravery of Mongolian civilians standing up for democracy serve to inspire and encourage freedom-fighters everywhere. Thank you to everyone who joined us!
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Carlos Lozada is in Vancouver tonight at the @chancentreubc for the sixth and final talk in the 2026 Lind Initiative series “America First, America Alone? Global Politics in an Age of Uncertainty.”
Tune in to CBC On the Coast at 4:30 to hear his interview with @cbc ’s Gloria Macarenko about Trump, Iran, and the changing order of the “free world.”
🎟️Tickets to tonight’s 6:30pm lecture at UBC are free, and a handful are still available at our link in bio!
Hosted by the Institute of Asian Research in partnership with @asiapacificfoundation , the 2026 Indo-Pacific Symposium brought together scholars and practitioners to examine this moment of geopolitical “rupture.” As noted by Jeff Nankivell, President and CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, this moment calls for more careful, country-by-country engagement with a region too often treated as a single geopolitical bloc.
From China–Southeast Asia relations to AI governance, critical minerals, and shifting trade dynamics, discussions highlighted a key reality: states across the region are not choosing sides, but pursuing strategic hedging in an increasingly complex global environment.
Read the full recap at our link in bio.
"What he is doing will not only be opposed, it will be catalogued and labeled and kept track of so it can be fundamentally reversed. The world will change because of this disaster.”
Rachel Maddow’s full Lind Initiative talk from March 5th’s sold-out event is now available to view on SPPGA’s YouTube channel. Link in bio. @chancentreubc@maddowshow 🎥 @collideentertainment
