2023 Summer Cohort

This summer, the Arts Amplifier is running collaborative, cohort-based applied research projects with two partners: Women Transforming Cities and UBC Research Commons.

Each partner will employ a team (or teams) of Arts graduate students who will work on a project identified by that partner. Together the student team and their partner organization will determine a final approach to the project. The student team will divide the work according to their expertise and interests and each person will complete a component of the project.

Register for the Q&A with UBC Research Commons, May 23, 11am on Zoom

Register for the Q&A with Women Transforming Cities, May 24, 1pm on Zoom

Project Descriptions

Women Transforming Cities (WTC) is a grassroots organization based in Vancouver that works alongside equity-seeking genders to dismantle intersecting systems of oppression and transform where we live into places where everyone can belong, participate, and thrive. They build participation and power at the local government level for people historically excluded from civic processes and decision-making to radically shift power to gender-marginalized people through a feminist, intersectional lens. 

One of the ways they do this is through City Action - a series of workshop offerings focused on civic literacy & education. The general target audience for these workshops are women and gender-diverse people who face systemic exclusion from civic processes due to intersecting identity factors and are connected to community organizations across BC. 

WTC is seeking a cohort of researchers, digital designers, and writers to join the team and create downloadable takeaway resources for those who may not have access to our workshops. The materials will include PDFs with consolidated resources, video content, and more.

Eligibility: WTC is an intersectional feminist, anti-oppressive, anti-racist, anti-colonial, and anti-neoliberal organization and they are looking for values-aligned applicants. Priority will be given to applications from Indigenous peoples, Immigrant and Refugee people, Black people, racialized folks, women, girls, trans, non-binary, genderqueer, and Two-Spirit people.

To learn more, please RSVP for the Q&A, to be held 1pm May 24 on Zoom.

UBC Research Commons is a communal space on the 4th and 5th floors of Koerner library that includes a Digital Scholarship Computer Lab and provides workshops and expertise on Data Analysis, Citation Management, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and more. They embrace both new and traditional exploratory scholarship and provide access to services and expertise for the advancement of research.

They have two projects for which they are seeking student teams:

Digital Humanities skillsets are increasingly required for participation in multimedia academic work (i.e. digital theses). The first project aims to collect and develop training resources for a base digital literacy skill set informed by the local context at UBC.  This project will build on topics identified by The Carpentries, the Digital Humanities Literacies Guide, Digital Literacies as defined by the MLA Guide, and areas identified by UBC’s Digital Scholarship Librarian. The goals of this project are to 1) create a resource (i.e. spreadsheet) of core literacies to be addressed for each of the areas identified by the team; and 2) create GitHub pages using the UBC Library Research Commons workshops template (see example workshops here). If there is time or scope some or all members of the team could deliver workshops using the developed content. Students interested in this project do not need to have a pre-existing knowledge of the Digital Humanities or GitHub, they will be offered training in core concepts by the UBC Library Research Commons. 

Digital Scholarship in the Arts has a strong presence at UBC, but there is no consolidated location where this work is showcased. The second project team will identify, collect, and present projects that reflect Digital Scholarship in the Arts and develop a WordPress site through UBC CMS to showcase this work. Students interested in this project do not need to have pre-existing web development skills and will be offered training in creating a web showcase by the UBC Library Research Commons. If there is time or scope some or all members of the team could explore the possibility of physically showcasing digital projects in the Digital Scholarship Lab and organizing an event inviting the showcase participants to present their work in an informal meetup.

To learn more, please RSVP for the Q&A, to be held 11am May 23 on Zoom.

Position Details

Number of openings: up to 4 positions with Women Transforming Cities, up to 8 positions with UBC Research Commons.

Time commitment: 70 hours per person, including three required onboarding meetings with the Arts Amplifier team and host organization, to be completed before August 25, 2023.

Compensation: $1800 stipend, to be paid as a lump sum in August 2023

Remote: Yes

Eligibility requirements:

  • Masters or Doctoral student in the UBC Faculty of Arts. You must not be on leave during the duration of the project in order to receive the stipend.
  • Must be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or hold refugee status in Canada (due to funding restrictions).

Application Form

Please click here to go to the application form

Application deadline: Wednesday May 31 at 9am.