Overview
Over the past two years, ORICE has adapted and adjusted to the changes that the pandemic has brought. We’ve been running co-curricular programs which we call engagementships, embedding community engagement in coursework, and hosting events and workshops. We’ve also been making more of an effort to capture some photos of the amazing work we’ve been doing with our team. We recognize the intent of photos may not always get communicated through an image so we’ve crafted some descriptions that explain more about the photos. Take a look below!
Co-Curricular Programs
UBC ORICE co-curricular programs provide opportunities for students to collaborate with community partners on projects that aim to produce positive change. In the past two years, we ran 15 co-curricular online and in-person programs with community partners such as the Scholars at Risk Network and the Food Stash Foundation.
Image 1: Scholars in Prison Engagementship
March 2023 - Photo of students in Washington, D.C. for SAR's Student Advocacy Days
Image 2: (De)Mystifying Gender+ in Research: A Workshop Series and Conversation Space
March 2023 - Photo of participants, staff and guest speakers from UBC IRSI
Image 3: Food Stash Research Engagementship
August 2022 - Program participants and staff at Food Stash's Rescued Food Market
Image 1: Scholars in Prison Engagementship
Students in this program have engaged in research and scholarly informed activism in support of SAR’s Scholars in Prison Project– which seeks to support and free wrongfully imprisoned scholars and students around the world. Pictured are UBC students at SAR’s Student Advocacy Days in Washington D.C.
Image 2: (De)Mystifying Gender+ in Research: A Workshop Series and Conversation Space
This 7-week program brought together a collection of interdisciplinary UBC undergraduate, Masters and PhD students who have been meeting weekly for lunch and learning about where facets of Gender, intersectionality and positionality may be better incorporated and framing for their ongoing and future research endeavors. Pictured are some of the program participants with guest speaker Lerato Chondoma of UBC’s Indigenous Research Support Initiative.
Image 3: Food Stash Research Engagementship
This engagementship aimed to help Food Stash form a better foundation to collect, analyze and act upon data that reflects the rescued food market users that visit their monthly market to better understand the needs of their market community. Pictured are students and staff after a monthly market where surveys were administered to market users.
Academic Courses
ORICE offers academic courses that integrate classroom instruction with a community-based experiential learning opportunity. This could involve either an immersive placement with a community partner (international placement) or a remote community based research project.
Image 1: SOWK 440J: Global Mental Health
May 2022 - Photo from the placement in Nairobi, Kenya
Image 2: SOWK 440J: Global Mental Health
May 2022 - Photo from the placement in Nairobi, Kenya
Image 3: ORICE International Placement Program
March 2023 - Taken from our Pre-departure Learning Sessions
Image 1 & 2: SOWK 440J: Global Mental Health Placement in Nairobi, Kenya
SOWK 440J/571 Global Mental Health taught by Professor Mohamed Ibrahim is an immersive course which takes place in Nairobi, Kenya for four weeks in May 2022 with community-based attachments. Embedded in the course design are guest lectures by health care professionals, visits to local mental health organizations and a community-based organization placement. This course was the first post-pandemic program that we offered last summer involving international travel and this year we have a cohort of 15 students going to Nairobi again for the course.
Pictured in Image 1 are the students outside the Kenya Medical Training College where multiple classes were jointly taught with Kenyan students in various health disciplines and social work providing the students with an opportunity for cross-cultural dialogue and learning.
Image 3: Pre-departure Learning Sessions for the ORICE International Placement Programs
As part of the international placement programs, students have been participating in pre-departure learning sessions to prepare for their placement. This includes learning to critically reflect on their positionality, power and important histories in order to contribute meaningfully, and in ways that intentionally work to not reproduce ongoing power dynamics.
Events
In the past two years, ORICE has held multiple events from online to in-person and under both the Gender+ Collective and the Human Rights Collective. Two events are highlighted in the photo carousels below.
Image 1 - Human Rights and the Environment
Feb 2023 - Photo taken of Dr. Boyd speaking at an HRC event
Image 2: Human Rights and the Environment
Feb 2023 - Photo from HRC event with Dr. David Boyd and moderator Sasha Chaewon Lee
Image 3: Science, Academia and Politics
Nov 2022 - Online Event Zoom Screenshot with the honourable Dr. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim
Image 1 & 2: Human Rights and the Environment with Dr. David Boyd
The UBC Human Rights Collective, as a part of their Challenging Human Rights Stereotypes event series, hosted a session with Dr. David Boyd, who spoke on the relationship between human rights and the environment. During the event questions he discussed included: Are human rights only about humans? How can we use human rights to improve our environment? Pictured in Image 2 and 3 are photos from the in-person event at The xʷθəθiqətəm or Place of Many Trees at the Liu Institute.
Image 3: Science, Academia and Politics: Lessons from the Honourable Dr. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim
In collaboration with the Liu Institute Network for Africa (LINA), the Gender+ Collective created an event series titled African Women’s Leadership Series: Resilience, Intelligence and the Bedrock of Development. The final installment featured Dr. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, who spoke about her extraordinary life as an academic and political leader in Mauritius. Dr. Ameenah Gurib-Fakim was the first female president of Mauritius, serving from 2015 to 2018. Pictured in Image 1 is a screenshot just before the event began of the speaker, moderator, LINA and ORICE staff involved behind the scenes in frame.
Staff Feature
ORICE has three full-time staff members along with a host of student staff that work through UBC’s Work Learn program. In the past two years we have had many faces come and go, and are constantly grateful for all the work they’ve done!
Image 1: ORICE Staff at Plant Event
March 2023 - Photo from ORICE's community plant event.
Image 2: Staff Summer Social
August 2022 - Photo from the end of Summer 2022 staff social
Image 3: ORICE Staff Meeting
Nov 2022 - Photo from the Fall 2022 staff meeting
Image 1: Bridging Communities: Plants for Health and Wellbeing
ORICE was a successful recipient of the UBC Healthy Workplace Initiatives Fund where we proposed incorporating more plants in our spaces and sharing plants with other staff in our building. This event brought together staff situated in Mary Bollert Hall including the Arts Alumni and Development team and fellow SPPGA colleagues for a workshop on plant care and repotting their own plant. This was a fun chance for staff to connect and get to know each other better over food and plants!
Image 2: Staff Summer Social
Part of the ORICE staff team gathered for a beach potluck as a wrap-up for the end of the summer term (2022), saying goodbye to summer staff leaving and celebrating the work accomplished for that season.
Image 3: Fall 2022 Staff Meeting
ORICE staff at a team meeting back in November 2022, connecting with new and old members of the team and planning for the upcoming term. A rare occurrence to get the full team all in the same space!
