Graduate Student Resources

Prior to starting your program, you must complete the EOAS Workplace Safety Orientation with your supervisor. After completion of the safety orientation, apply for key/card access for your office and lab. Key/card access requests will not be processed until the completed EOAS Workplace Safety Orientation forms have been received.  This orientation is required for all EOAS employees, graduate students, research assistants, and teaching assistants. EOAS strives to provide a safe, healthy, and secure working environment for all.  

During your safety orientation, your supervisor will help you:

1. Complete the Employee Safety Training Record and the Personal Safety Information Checklist forms and go over all the orientation items outlined in the Safety Orientation Guidelines form.
2. Identify the UBC Risk Management health and safety training courses listed in the Employee Safety Training Record form. You must complete the required courses before starting work.
3. Submit the EOAS Workplace Safety Orientation to Sebastian Medrano; Assistant Director; Facilities.
4. Apply for your key/card access to your office and lab.

Forms you will need for safety orientation:

• EOAS Workplace Safety Orientation

These forms are a regulatory requirement of WorkSafe BC. Failure to produce these documents at the request of WorkSafe BC could result in substantial fines for the department. If you have questions about the forms or training please contact our Sebastian Medrano; Assistant Director; Facilities.

Thank you for your cooperation in making EOAS a safe, healthy and productive working environment.

UBC student services provides comprehensive support to support student’s health and wellbeing. These resources can be accessed through the following link:

Health and wellbeing | Student Services

In addition, the Faculty of Science provides faculty specific counselling services through the FoS embedded counsellor.  Being embedded in a faculty or department means that embedded counsellors can tailor wellbeing support specifically targeting concerns that students in these faculties commonly experience.
 

The document “EOAS Graduate Student / Supervisor Expectations” (both pdf and MS Word available) is meant to provide guidance around developing transparent supervisor-student relationships during on-boarding meetings and to ensure that expectations are aligned on both sides. A completed copy of this document should be filed on the student’s GradMe profile. The document is flexible and provides room for modifications, which must be agreed upon by both student and supervisor.

Descriptions on the supervisory committee provided by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies can be found here. 

The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies requires that each student have their supervisory committee added to the SCMT (Supervisory Committees Management Tool). If you haven’t already done so, please send the list of your supervisory committee to Kimberly Tietjen; Graduate Program Coordinator (gradsec@eoas.ubc.ca) to update the SCMT on your behalf. Advancement to candidacy forms and thesis completion forms will not be processed by G+PS until the committee has been recorded in the SCMT.

The supervisory committee consists of your supervisor and at least two additional faculty members. Their role is to provide support to you and your supervisor by broadening and deepening the range of expertise and experience available, and by offering advice about, and assessment of, your work. Graduate students who establish their supervisory committees early in their programs and who meet with their committees regularly, tend to complete their degree programs successfully, and sooner than students who wait to establish their committees. The supervisory committee should be formed during the first term of study and the first committee meeting should be held in the same time frame. The committee composition and all documentation should be documented on GradMe, a tool designed to document progress during the degree program.

Members of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (commonly professors, associate professors, and assistant professors) have full supervisory privileges. They must be listed in the Calendar under the degree programs with which they are formally affiliated. Appropriately qualified individuals who are not members of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (such as clinical faculty, faculty with partner appointments, adjunct faculty, professors of teaching, senior instructors, visiting faculty, honorary faculty, UBCO faculty, affiliate professors, faculty members from other universities, and off-campus professionals who are academically qualified to advise graduate students) may be approved to supervise, co-supervise, or serve on the supervisory committees of graduate students.

If you would like to add a member who is not tenured/tenure track UBC faculty, please do the following:

1. Complete the form below.
non-gps_member_for_supervisory_committee.pdf
non-gps_member_for_supervisory_committee.docx

Please note that at least 50% of your supervisor committee must consist of G+PS members.

2. Include the four documents below:
(1) Justification why the nominee is suitable (this should come from your supervisor)
(2) Statement from nominee assenting to serve on committee and accepting committee membership responsibilities
(3) Nominee's current CV
(4) Names of other committee members (at least 50% of a supervisory committee must be G+PS members)

3. For more details, please see the descriptions provided by UBC Graduate and Postdoctoral studies:
Supervision of Graduate Students by Non-members of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
Non-members of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies as Supervisory Committee Members

Please send all related Supervisory Committee documents to the Graduate Program Coordinator (gradsec@eoas.ubc.ca).

GradMe is a internal software that allows graduate students and supervisor to keep track of progress during the graduate program. Access to GradMe is restricted through the department internal web. The purpose of GradMe is to:

• Document membership of supervisory committee
• Ensure that all supervisory committee members are approved by G+PS
• Document when progress meetings, candidacy exam are held, collect information on graduation and completions times
• GradMe sends our reminders for next committee meeting (semi-annually recommended, annually required)
• Provides repository for student-supervisor expectations document
• Report on progress meetings provide paper trail on what has been discussed at the meetings, including action items and research plan until the next meeting and beyond, avoids misunderstandings. Progress meeting report must be agreed upon by student and all committee members
• Reports on progress meetings allow to check back on whether research plan was followed, had to be modified, etc.
   

Transferring from MSc/MASc to PhD studies

Students may be eligible to transfer from a master’s program into a related doctoral program ("fast track"), if they have completed specific requirements. Additional information on related transfer requirements and procedures can be found here: https://www.grad.ubc.ca/faculty-staff/policies-procedures/transfer-masters-doctoral-programs-without-completing-masters. If a student transfers from a master’s program to a doctoral program without completing the master’s degree, the start of the doctoral program will be the date of first registration in the master’s program. The student is expected to complete all requirements for candidacy by the end of three years from the date of first registration in the master's program.

Transferring from PhD to MSc/MASc Studies

Students may apply to transfer from doctoral to master’s programs. Transfers may be approved if specific conditions are met: Additional information on related transfer requirements and procedures can be found here: https://www.grad.ubc.ca/faculty-staff/policies-procedures/transfer-doct…. Transfers from doctoral to master’s programs may have implications for student funding. Students must complete all the requirements for the master's program in order to be awarded their degree.
 

Descriptions on the advancement to Candidacy provided by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies can be found here.

The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies specifies that you must take your candidacy exam within the 24 months of your PhD program and advance to candidacy within 36 months of the start of your PhD program.

To advance to candidacy:

1. You must pass the candidacy exam
2. Your supervisory committee must approve your research proposal
3. You must have completed all required coursework. There are no specific course requirements within EOAS, except in the ATSC program. However, you may be required by your supervisory or candidacy examination committee to complete course work
4. The Chair of your candidacy exam committee must notify the Graduate Program Coordinator (gradsec@eoas.ubc.ca) that you should be advanced to candidacy
5. The outcome of the candidacy exam should be documented on GradMe

  IMPORTANT: Please complete the Advancement to Candidacy Form and email the completed form to the Graduate Program Coordinator (gradsec@eoas.ubc.ca) as soon as you have completed the exam.

Advancement to Candidacy Forms:
advancement_to_candidacy.pdf

PhD Candidacy Examinations

Detailed procedures about the timing and scope of PhD exams in EOAS can be found at:
EOAS_PhD_Candidacy_Exam_Guidelines_2025.pdf

EOAS_PhD_Candidacy_Exam_Timelines_2025.pdf

Atmospheric Science PhD Candidacy

Detailed procedures about the timing and scope of ATSC PhD exams can be found at:
ATSC_PhD_program_outline.pdf.

PhD Examination Chairs

Dr. Garry Clarke, Dr. Ronald Clowes; Dr. Roger Francois; Dr. Douw Steyn

Defence of PhD Thesis

The PhD defence will follow the guidelines set out by The Faculty of Graduate Studies. A detailed descriptions of procedures related to the PhD thesis defence can be found here. Please note that it takes time to plan for a defence! An examination timeline is provide in the Final Doctoral Examination Guide.

At the discretion of the supervisory committee, an in-camera department level defence (e.g., including faculty and associated researchers) could be scheduled prior to submitting the thesis to the external examiner.

Defence of Master’s Thesis (MSc & MASc)

Please ensure that GradMe is used to report the defense and program completion.

The Examining Committee

The Committee should include:

• Your Thesis Supervisor who will act as the Chair
• At least one other tenured/tenure track member of your supervisory committee
• At least one external examiner who does not sit on your committee
  If this person is not a UBC faculty member, the Thesis Supervisor is required to send a request (include a justification and the examiner's CV) to the Graduate Program Coordinator (gradsec@eoas.ubc.ca) at least fourteen days prior to the exam.

Before the Exam

At least fourteen days before the scheduled defence you must:

• Give each examiner a copy of the completed thesis
• E-mail bookings@eoas.ubc.ca to book a room for the defense
• Ask the Graduate Program Coordinator (gradsec@eoas.ubc.ca) to post a notice of defence

During the Exam

The exam consists of:

• A 20-30 minute presentation by the candidate to an open audience
• A period of questions from the examiners and other members of the audience
• A period of in camera questioning by the Examining Committee and other interested faculty
• Adjudication by the Examining Committee based on the thesis, the oral presentation and your ability to defend the thesis
• The chair reporting to you the result (pass with or without conditions, fail or adjourned)
• Comments on the defense, along with other details will be recorded on GradMe

After the Exam

If you passed the exam you will need to:

• Make any suggested corrections to your thesis
• Submit your thesis to the Faculty of Graduate Studies

Note you are only considered to have completed your program once the thesis has been submitted and accepted. Your fees are prorated up until the end of the month in which you submit your thesis. If you haven't already done so, apply to graduate.

If you do not pass the exam you will need to develop a plan of action in conjunction with your Thesis Supervisor and the Graduate Chair.

Check out the Graduate Student Handbook developed by our EOAS Graduate Student Council! You can find general information on EOAS graduate programs, contact, resources, academics, EOAS activities and events, student life, and communication!