Faculty & Staff

The Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science (FoS) strives to support our faculty members in their teaching and research endeavours, while balancing commitments in their personal lives. Many scientists who are on maternity or parental leave face significant challenges before, during and after the leave period: in keeping labs running, in supervising graduate students, in maintaining scientific collaborations, and in maintaining visibility in their scientific communities. For these reasons, FoS supports the following principles for all Departments:

• Teaching reductions will be provided to faculty members in proportion to the amount of leave taken. The amount of teaching reduction should be independent of the start date of the leave period (E.x., the amount of teaching reduction a faculty member gets should not depend on whether the leave starts in April or October).
• Reductions in service duties will be provided to faculty members in proportion to the amount of leave taken.
• Additional support will be provided to help research and educational leadership stream faculty members maintain research momentum. Funds can be used to cover the costs of research needs that arise as a result of the leave, or by freeing up time through additional reductions in teaching or service, or by both of these means (Examples of research needs, which will vary across departments, may include partial support of a post-doctoral fellow or a graduate student to help manage lab activities or supervise personnel, funds to bring collaborators to UBC during a period when a new parent has limited flexibility in travelling, funds to cover the extra costs of travelling with an infant, or stipends for graduate students). The amount and nature of the funding is determined as a function of the length of leave and the research needs of the individual faculty member.
• Faculty members who are eligible for Employment Insurance and UBC’s Supplementary Employment Benefits should apply for such benefits.
• The Dean’s Office will cover the costs of teaching and administrative reductions for maternity and parental leave and will work in collaboration with the Department Head to determine appropriate levels of Faculty funding for research support for the leave.
• Wherever possible, Department Heads will strive to maintain continuity in teaching assignments before and after the leave, such that a faculty member returning from leave is not assigned a slate of courses that they have never taught before.
• End dates to internal (FoS) research funding accounts (E.x., start-up grant funds) held by the faculty member will be extended by a period equivalent to the length of leave.
• The Associate Dean of Research, in collaboration with the Office of Research Services, will support the process of obtaining any extensions or other accommodations related to other UBC or external research funding held by the faculty member.

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, the above principles apply to all lecturers, term, tenured and tenure-track faculty members in FoS.

Adapted with thanks from the UBC Vancouver Faculty of Science Maternity/Parental/Adoption leave principles, 2009 version. Approved by the FoS Leadership Team in November 2021.