Designed for international undergraduate students who are interested in research, the Work Learn International Undergraduate Research Awards (WLIURA) subsidizes professors to hire students to work on their research projects in the Summer Term (May – August). Through the program, professors gain valuable help in furthering their research and supporting students in their learning.
The value of the awards (the supervisors’ reimbursement) is $6,000 per student. These funds will be transferred to faculty supervisors at the end of the work term in September/October via the Worktag that is used to pay the student’s salary in Workday.
For the student’s salary, BC’s minimum wage requirements must be met. As UBC will not be receiving updates on the BC minimum wage increase until the new year in 2026, so for now UBC will hold off on updating details on minimum wage in the Faculty and Staff WLIURA webpage until this information is made available.
Based on the current BC’s minimum wage requirements (min. wage of $17.85/hour), the minimum pay for the tenure of the award of 16 weeks is $10,395.84, inclusive of 4% vacation pay. In addition, supervisors are required to fund benefits (CPP, EI, WCB, BC EHT) amounting to approximately 10.47% of the monthly wage. Hence, the minimum top-up from the supervisor is $5,484.28.
The Faculty of Land and Food Systems has Fifteen (15) WLIURAs available for 2026.
Program Timeline
- The Call for Research Project Proposals will be from November 24, 2025 – January 28, 2026.
- Note: Faculty members will need to submit a proposal(s) on UBC CareersOnline. A student can work with a faculty member to submit a proposal together.
- The Career Centre to send all research project proposals pertaining to the Faculty/School by February 10, 2026.
- Deadline for Faculty/School offices to submit their list of funded proposals to the Career Centre by February 27, 2026.
- The Career Centre will send funding decisions to faculty members on week of March 3, 2026.
- For faculty members who have not indicated an internal candidate for their position(s), it will be posted on UBC CareersOnline for students to apply from March 9 – 25, 2026.
Important reference documents and resources
- UBC CareersOnline Submission Guide for Faculty Supervisors
- Information sheets for:
- Additional information about the program can be found on the Faculty and Staff webpage
- Student eligibility information is available on the student website
- It is the responsibility of the student to ensure they have the necessary work authorization documents to work in Canada.
Note: Graduating international undergraduate students may be eligible for the program.
- It is the responsibility of the student to ensure they have the necessary work authorization documents to work in Canada.
- Please review the FAQ for Summer 2026.
LFS selection criteria
- 50% Outline of Research Project
- 50% Description Student Role and Skills Gained
Potential supervisors should aim to select candidates who meet the academic eligibility criteria for the NSERC USRA (i.e. a B- average over the previous years of study).
LFS review process
LFS (Associate Dean of Research in consultation with other faculty members) will review the WLIURA research project proposals and rank them using the above selection criteria. A list of chosen projects (the ‘A’ list) will be forwarded to the UBC Career Centre by February 27, 2026. At the same time, a ‘B-list’ of projects who meet the basic eligibility criteria will also be forwarded in the event that more funding become available or an A-list research project fails to recruit an eligible student.
Have a question?
Please contact LFS Undergraduate Student Research Awards lfs.nserc-usra@ubc.ca if you have any questions.