HIBAR Research Buddies

A graduate student-led effort to build a community

The HIBAR Research Alliance partnered with the University of British Columbia (UBC) to launch the HIBAR Research Buddies, an innovative student-led effort to build a community of graduate students who care deeply about engaging directly, through their research, with experts working outside of academia. 

Read the Full Pilot Project Report

The motivation for this project

Many students are eager to make a societal impact through their research but struggle to find opportunities, partly due to the traditionally inward focus of academic research. This project seeks to build a supportive community, particularly for students who feel disconnected, helping them see how university research can address societal needs and fostering a sense of belonging within academia. Community activities emphasize the vital role that students can take within HIBAR research teams, and highlight opportunities to participate in activities that will, over time, help to change the academic culture toward more societally-engaged research.

A unique effort

HIBAR Research Buddies activities focus on showcasing impactful Highly Integrative Basic And Responsive (HIBAR) research projects and the vital role that graduate students can take as part of these research teams. Activities emphasize the value of co-leadership and co-production by academics and external experts – a topic that is intrinsic to all HIBAR projects and typically not addressed in graduate student curriculum.

There are a number of well-established initiatives at UBC that have demonstrated significant interest among graduate students in societally-engaged research, including the Public Scholars Initiative, the Public Humanities Hub, and the Institute for Community Engaged Research. Like these initiatives, HIBAR Research Buddies is similarly motivated to better align university research with the needs of society, and it also has several unique and complementary characteristics:

  • It is a student-led effort.
  • Community activities are open to all graduate students, regardless of their research discipline or program.
  • The value of co-leadership of research projects by academics and external experts is a central focus of all activities.

Launching HIBAR Research Buddies

HIBAR Research Buddies was launched in April 2023 as a 1-year pilot project to assess interest among graduate students to belong to a cross-campus, student-led community of this type. The student leadership team demonstrated that it is feasible to establish the community through a series of focused activities:

  • They conducted a research interests survey of UBC graduate students to learn more about their research interests. The 200+ responses have informed their activities.
  • They conducted one-on-one interviews with 17 students who have participated in HIBAR projects, to develop a better understanding of how the community can support students.
  • They attracted 370 students from over 100 departments to subscribe to their mailing list.
  • They hosted an introductory webinar with seven student presenters who shared insights gained from their HIBAR project experiences.
  • They launched a monthly newsletter to share relevant news and information.
  • They invited community members to meet for a “Buddy Coffee”, to get to know one another.
  • They hosted a fun and engaging launch event, held simultaneously on both UBC campuses and attended by graduate students from more than 40 research disciplines.
  • They carefully documented their activities and assessed their effectiveness.

In response to the enthusiastic interest among UBC graduate students to belong to the HIBAR Research Buddies community, they have designed a framework for future activities that will build a vibrant and engaged community over the next several years.

Current focus

We are currently sharing the results and lessons learned with interested people at UBC and at other universities that may be interested in launching a similar effort on their campus, and securing funding to expand community activities at UBC during the next two years.

For more details about HIBAR Research Buddies, contact the project leaders at hibar.b@ubc.ca.

We gratefully acknowledge the funding for the HIBAR Research Buddies pilot project, provided by:

  • UBC Science Strategic Innovation Fund
  • Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Endowment
  • UBC Faculty of Applied Science
  • UBC Faculty of Forestry
  • UBC Faculty of Health and Social Development
  • Walter H. Gage Memorial Fund
  • Tuum Est Student Initiative Fund