Black History Month

See what’s happening

February is Black History Month. While we should celebrate Black history and excellence every day, this is an opportunity for a focused, intentional and elevated reflection and recognition of Black history and achievement – and the many historical and contemporary contributions of Black Canadians, Black British Columbians and Black students, faculty and staff at UBC.

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Featured UBC Events

Black Excellence in STEM Speaker Series: Trauma-informed approaches in the design and evaluation of digital health solutions with Dr. Abdul-Fatawu Abdulai

Dr. Abdulai conducts research on health informatics, human-computer interaction and health technology design. His program of research seeks to explore how principles of human-computer interaction and trauma-informed care approaches can be leveraged to address inequities in sexual and reproductive health access for marginalized populations. He primarily conducts informatics-related research on endometriosis-associated sexual pains, sexually transmitted infections, and sexual health-related stigma.

February 1–29, 2025

Lighting the Ladner clock tower and University Commons

To raise visibility of and recognize Black History Month, the Ladner Clock Tower and University Commons outside of the AMS Nest will be lit up in red, yellow and green.

Black Excellence in STEM Speaker Series: Breathing Water in a Warming World: an Overview of the Gill-Oxygen Limitation Theory (GOLT) with Dr. Daniel Pauly

Dr. Daniel Pauly is a world-renowned fisheries scientist. He is currently the Principal Investigator of the Sea Around Us initiative, a large research project devoted to identifying and quantifying global fisheries trends. He is also a Killam professor at the University of British Columbia’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries.

From Radical Empathy to The Roots of Racism: How Positionality Impacts Research

Dr. Terri Givens will describe her research on immigration and race politics, and how it was informed by her family’s story, growing up in Spokane, Washington, and her experiences as a leader in academe.

Reading Shakespeare While Black

Who does Shakespeare—or, for that matter, any artifact of “Western cultures”—belong to? How might examining what Black writers, artists, and critics have done with Shakespeare not only expand our understanding of Shakespeare and his legacy, but also our appreciation of the complex ways that Black people use Shakespeare in their artists, intellectual, and political projects?

Join Dr. Dennis Britton in a conversation not only about Shakespeare, but also about what is to be gained by examining how racialized peoples use cultural artifacts that are assumed to belong to white culture.

Black Excellence in STEM Speaker Series: Bold Strides Forward – Non-traditional career pathways with Dr. Love-Ese Chile

Love-Ese is known for mobilizing research to drive meaningful change. Her approach is rooted in values of innovation, accessibility, and impact, incorporating storytelling to facilitate stakeholder dialogues.

She founded Regenerative Waste Labs, a research consultancy to support innovators in upcycling organic waste into circular products, where she led projects spanning biomaterials, climate adaptation policy, and the circular bioeconomy.

Now, Love-Ese is the manager of the BC Agricultural Climate Action Research Network (BCACARN). In her role, she leads a multi-institution network working to increase the climate resiliency of BC’s agricultural sector. Her team delivers knowledge mobilization events, develops plain-language research communications, and oversees the planning and execution of projects that build partnerships across research institutions, government, and industry. 

Love In Colour – A Panel Event

The Sexual Assault Support Centre (SASC) and the UBC Black Student Union invite you to Love In Colour, a thought-provoking panel exploring the beauty, challenges, and transformative power of love within the Black community. Discussions will cover relationships, self-love, family dynamics, and connection.

This event is open to all Black individuals, regardless of background or affiliation. Bring your questions for the interactive Q&A session at the end.

Advancing Anti-Racism and Resilience through Mentorship and Leadership: A BCBELA Black Leaders Symposium

This one-day symposium in partnership with UBC Connects and the BC Black Educational Leaders Association, will bring together racialized leaders, community advocates, and allies from diverse sectors and communities to engage in impactful conversations about equity and inclusion.

Black Excellence in STEM Speaker Series: Unravelling the mathematics for single cell dynamics with Dr. Anotida Madzvamuse

Dr. Madzvamuse recently joined the University of British Columbia as a Full Professor in the Department of Mathematics in October 2022. Before that, he was Professor of Mathematical and Computational Biology at the University of Sussex (2006 – 2022: rising from Assistant, Associate to Professor).

His research lies at the interface between fundamental disciplines (mathematics, numerical analysis, physics, scientific computing) and experimental sciences (developmental, cellular and plant biology, biomedicine) and seeks to propose, develop, analyse and simulate new mathematical and computational approaches applied to experimental sciences

Black Entrepreneurship and Research Symposium

This symposium brings together business leaders, academics, and policy makers committed to ongoing advocacy for Black entrepreneurship to discuss and initiate actionable policy changes.

Are you in a UBC department or student group planning a Black History Month event?
Please connect with us to have your event considered for this page info.events@ubc.ca.

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UBC Okanagan Events

Looking for UBC Okanagan Black History Month events or resources?
Visit https://events.ok.ubc.ca/black-history-month/

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Featured Community Events

February 2025

Black History Month Events, BC Black History Awareness Society

Join the BC Black History Awareness Society for five public events that recognize and celebrate the achievements and contributions of historical and contemporary people of African descent.

Are you community group planning a Black History Month event?
Please connect with us to have your event considered for this page info.events@ubc.ca.

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Of Interest

• Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence at UBC
• UBC’s Inclusion Action Plan

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Illustrations: blackillustrations.com