CLL Grand Challenge 2023

Alumni Building

CLL Grand Challenge 2023

UBC’s Campus as a Living Lab (CLL) is a collaborative framework for researchers, students, staff and external partners to leverage the campus to explore, develop and test new ideas, and to share the knowledge gained from these experiences. CLL projects address urgent global sustainability challenges in our local context, in alignment with UBC's Strategic Plan: Creating vibrant, sustainable environments that enhance wellbeing and excellence for people...at UBC and beyond.

In 2023, UBC Campus as a Living Lab will expand the annual CLL Fund Competition into a one-time, Campus Living Lab Grand Challenge responding to the urgent and critical need to accelerate our collective response to the climate emergency.

The CLL Grand Challenge will provide seed funding totaling:

  • $500,000 for projects at the UBC Vancouver Campus, distributed as funding for two (2) projects of $250,000 each
  • $100,000 for one project at the UBC Okanagan Campus (UBCO will provide $150,000 through the annual CLL Fund Competition)

The CLL Grand Challenge 2023 is supported by annual Campus Living Lab Funds, and a one-time gift from the UBC Presidential Priority Fund. 

Each campus-based competition is open to faculty and staff at the respective campus. All projects must be led by both an academic faculty member and a senior staff member. Projects may be up to 2-years along, starting in March 2024 and ending in March 2026.

Applicants are encouraged to download and review the CLL Grand Challenge Guidelines for more information and details, including eligibility criteria and other project requirements.

   Guidelines              Info Session Deck             Full Application Form

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Living Lab Projects

Campus Living Lab projects leverage UBC’s academic and operational capabilities to respond to global problems in our local context. CLL Grand Challenge Projects are co-developed by interdisciplinary academic-operational teams, and must:

  • Demonstrate or pilot an innovation. Innovation means a new approach or solution to the challenge, and may be technological, infrastructural, social, organizational or other. Innovation also encompass diverse cultural ways of collaborative learning and knowledge sharing applied in new contexts.
  • Advance research and contribute new insight into a body of knowledge, demonstrating excellence in academic research and student learning experiences.
  • Improve or benefit the institutional functionality of the university or campus community. These can be campus operations, policy targets, organization or business practices, or other institutional processes.
  • Expand impacts beyond UBC through changes to policy or practices. This impact can be through regional project partners, but must also include a broader knowledge exchange and translation pathway. The learnings from the Grand Challenge project are expected to be public, and CLL will support knowledge mobilization activities towards key audiences.

Within the context of the CLL Grand Challenge, projects should also pursue opportunities for:

  • Regional partnerships with public, private and community organizations.
  • Collaboration and knowledge exchange between faculty and staff counterparts at the Vancouver and Okanagan campuses.
  • Leveraging the competition funding, and a growth pathway beyond the funded project scope.

 

Challenge Theme: Climate Emergency

The climate emergency is a collective “code red for humanity”. Climate impacts are being felt around the world, with increasing frequency and intensity – 2023 has already seen multiple days of record-breaking temperatures and Canada is experiencing one of the worst wildfire seasons ever.

CLL Grand Challenge invites applicants to envision how BC and Canada can respond and adapt to climate emergency and the role that UBC can play in realizing a sustainable future in our communities, cities and regions. While projects should include climate change responses through carbon reduction to directly address the climate emergency, they should also focus on approaches and actions that enable adaptation to future climate conditions.

Projects should explicitly connect with one or more priorities identified by the UBC 2021 Climate Emergency Task Force Report:

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Strategic Priorities

Within this climate emergency framing, applicants should develop interdisciplinary living lab project concepts based on their areas of focus and expertise, and aligned with strategic value for UBC and the region. These can include, but are not limited to:

  • Climate mitigation and low-carbon alternatives
  • Adaptation, resiliency and emergency preparedness
  • Biodiversity and enhanced natural systems
  • Community health, wellbeing and resiliency

Applicants should connect their project focus to the Climate Emergency priorities, as well as other climate action in UBC Strategic Plan, Campus Action Plans, and the Wellbeing Strategic Framework, and make the case for the potential impacts of the work on and off campus.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Eligibility

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Project Teams

Budget and Finances

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Project Approvals

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