2025 UBC Vancouver Campus as a Living Lab (CLL) Fund Competition

The CLL initiative provides a collaborative framework that enables faculty, staff, students, and external partners to incubate, test, and demonstrate innovative research ideas in real-world settings—embedded on the UBC Vancouver campus and within its surrounding communities.

“The Campus as a Living Lab at UBC is a testament to innovation and collaboration. We’re not just envisioning the future of sustainability; we’re creating it on our campus.” – John Metras, Associate Vice-President, Facilities, UBC

Since 2020, the CLL Fund Competition has supported 16 cross-disciplinary projects involving over 10 academic departments and 15 operational units at UBC Vancouver. This year introduces our new bi-annual competition model, piloting a two-stream funding approach and offering up to $500,000 in total seed funding.

We are seeking bold, creative proposals led by UBC Vancouver faculty and staff that address urgent sustainability challenges in our local context. Projects are encouraged to explore diverse dimensions of sustainability—social, cultural, technical, ecological, infrastructural, organizational, or procedural—and to demonstrate the following key characteristics of a UBC living lab:

• Innovation

• Research excellence

• Relevance to the UBC campus and community

• Student engagement and learning opportunities

• Potential for impact

• Knowledge sharing

Key Deadlines:

• Notice of Intent (NOI) due: September 30, 2025 at 11:59 PM (PDT)

• Full application due: November 28, 2025 at 11:59 PM (PDT)

Late submissions will not be accepted.

To learn more about eligibility, evaluation criteria, and how to apply, visit the 2025 CLL Fund Competition webpage and join our Information Session on September 16, 2025 at 10am.

For questions or additional information, please contact us at CLL.team@ubc.ca.