Awards and recognition
Two MSL-led projects receive Campus as a Living Lab Funding from UBC Sustainability Hub
The 2025 Campus as a Living Lab (CLL) Fund Competition called for visionary approaches to help British Columbia and Canada respond and adapt to the pressing sustainability challenges. This year’s competition drew faculty and staff from more than 28 academic departments and operational units across UBC Vancouver, yielding eight exceptional projects funded by a total of $500k.
At the heart of UBC’s CLL initiative is a transformative idea: leveraging the collaborative expertise of the university and using the campus as a testbed where researchers, students, staff, and external partners explore innovative solutions to sustainability challenges.
Initiated in 2020, CLL Fund Competitions have enabled faculty and staff to co-create and co-deliver over 20 unique CLL projects at both UBC campuses. These CLL projects demonstrate five distinctive characteristics: innovation, research excellence, relevance to campus and community, student engagement and learning opportunities, and potential for off-campus impact and knowledge sharing.
Managed by the Sustainability Hub, the 2025 competition at UBC Vancouver introduced distinct streams for small and large funding requests to support more diverse collaborations and projects. The eight winning projects address a range of issues and showcase how faculty, staff and students are working across disciplines to respond to global sustainability challenges here at UBC.
Two of this year’s winning projects are being led by MSL faculty members. One project, led by Dr. Dave Ng, aims to reduce plastic waste in labs. The other project will produce an online tool to support sustainability research on native BC plant species, and is being led by Dr. Jörg Bohlmann.
Project Details
Future-Proof Labs: Elevating Sustainability in UBC Teaching Spaces
Small Project Stream: $30,000
This two-year project will audit current plastics use in teaching labs and collaborate with educators and students to introduce evidence-based alternatives that uphold teaching excellence. Through research, hands-on student engagement, and creative knowledge mobilization, the initiative advances UBC’s zero waste and climate action goals while equipping the next generation of scientists for a low-waste, climate-resilient research future.
- Faculty lead: Dave Ng, Associate Director and Professor of Teaching, Michael Smith Laboratories, Faculty of Science
- Staff lead: Kate Andrews, Lead, Green Labs & Strategic Sustainability Programs, Campus + Community Planning
- Co-lead: Natalia Bercovich, Research Associate, BRC Molecular Biology Lab Lead, Rieseberg Lab, Department of Botany, Faculty of Science
Chemical Atlas of Native BC Plant Species (CAN-BC): An Innovations Resource for Sustainability Research, Learning, and Knowledge Sharing
Large Project Stream: $69,500
The CAN-BC Project will reveal hidden chemo-biodiversity aspects of native BC plant species at UBC Botanical Garden. This information will be compiled into an online tool for use by the UBC campus community and beyond to inspire learning, research, and applications ranging from ecology to bioproducts.
- Faculty lead: Jörg Bohlmann, Professor, Michael Smith Laboratories, Faculty of Science
- Staff lead: Dee Ann Benard, Garden Director, UBC Botanical Garden
- Co-lead: Adriana Lopez Villalobos, Research Technician, GIS, UBC Botanical Garden
- Co-lead: Armando Alcazar Magaña, Analytical Project Manager & Senior Research Scientist, Life Sciences Institute
- Co-lead: Tara Moreau, Associate Director of Sustainability and Community Programs, UBC Botanical Garden
This article was adapted from an original story published by the Campus as a Living Lab team.