School of Kinesiology

Message from Professor Robert Boushel, Director of the School of Kinesiology
With your financial support, you can help us lead the way to a healthier society.

Physical activity is part of our human nature, our biological and cultural heritage, and is essential to health and wellbeing across the lifespan. Over the course of human history, our identities, cultures, and even our genes were shaped by high levels of physical activity. Here in BC, robust physical activity was part of Indigenous Peoples’ everyday life and cultural orientation. Today, insufficient daily physical activity now threatens the health of Canadians from coast to coast and contributes to a burdened healthcare system.

Here is the good news: the UBC School of Kinesiology is dedicated to the creation, advancement, and dissemination of interdisciplinary knowledge that fosters individual and societal health and wellbeing through physical activity. We deliver on this mission by creating synergies across the outstanding research, education, and community engagement activities of the School.

The School’s remarkable scholars are addressing these challenges across the disciplines of sociology, culture, psychology, biology, and medicine. From the molecular to organ system level, to lifestyle and behaviour, to cultural identity, social justice, indigeneity, and equity to public policy, our faculty and students are making research discoveries that reach across borders and offer worldwide solutions for the future.

Our students come to us with a strong desire to contribute to the integrated health and wellbeing of society and to making sustainable system changes. We believe that by providing them with a rich and experiential learning and mentoring environment, and with opportunities to apply their knowledge in our vibrant community and co-op programs, we can enhance their education and help them develop the skills they need to make their mark.

The School of Kinesiology is striving to support its 1,250 undergraduate and 120 graduate students, so that financial barriers that impede their success can be overcome. Scholarships are crucial to the recruitment and retention of the best and brightest students who will be leaders in their field. Our current priority funding areas include our research centres and clusters, including the Centre for Sport and Sustainability, the Origins of Balance Deficits and Falls, our new professional Master’s program in High Performance Coaching and Technical Leadership, the Chan Gunn Centre for Exercise Medicine, Indigenous Studies in Kinesiology, and the BC Diabetes Research Network.

Issues in health and wellbeing that matter to you, matter to us too.

Dr. Robert Boushel, Director and Professor
School of Kinesiology