Campus living lab projects address low-carbon food and plant viruses
March 20, 2026 – UBC’s Campus as a Living Lab (CLL) Competition results are in and LFS faculty members are leading two of the eight projects. Using Vancouver campus as a testbed, these projects bring together researchers, students, staff and external partners to address sustainability challenges. The 2025 CLL competition funded $500,000 in total across the eight projects, each of which brings a visionary approach to respond and adapt to pressing sustainability challenges.
Congratulations to these faculty members!
Growing pods integrated into UBC food systems
Dr. Anubhav Pratap-Singh will work in collaboration with David Speight, Executive Chef & Culinary Director, UBC Food Services, and external partners on a project called Transforming UBC Food Systems & Built Environment – Building Integrated Agriculture. They will install custom-built growing pods at UBC Farm and Orchard Commons, turning campus spaces into living demonstrations of hyperlocal, low-carbon food production. They will integrate nutritional results into dining programs, while the public installations will enable social research and community engagement.
Using genomics to map plant viruses
Drs. Mark Paul Rivarez and Siyun Wang will collaborate with Phillip Beck, Head of Soft Landscape in UBC Facilities’ Municipal Services on CURE: Campus Unified Research on Ecosystem’s ‘Good and Bad’ Viruses. Their project will map UBC Vancouver’s urban virus diversity or ‘virome’ to identify plant-infecting viruses and beneficial bacteriophages. Using genomics, their aim is to develop native biological controls for plant diseases to protect vital carbon-sink trees, and landscape or ornamental plants. This aligns with UBC’s Climate Action Plan 2030 and transforms the campus into a “living classroom” for student-led research and innovation.
For full details on the funded projects, visit the UBC Campus as a Living Lab webpage.
Tagged with: Applied Biology, Plant Science, UBC Farm