Put knowledge into action
Create and mobilise original research with the guidance of our faculty's strongly varied planning expertise.
Enter a broader world as planning scholars with the insights gained at UBC SCARP.
Learn how below...
Note: the application process described on this webpage has been updated! More updates are still to come. Read carefully.
Read this page and still have questions?
You can email admissions@scarp.ubc.ca with anything that still isn't clear. Or you can attend one of SCARP's or UBC's admissions infosessions. (Click here to see what's coming up!)
Put Knowledge in Action
We are proud to have one of the oldest planning PhD programs in Canada. Our alumni now occupy many leadership positions in academia, government, and civil society. Central to our vision of planning is to put our knowledge in action and plan in partnership.
This program has been shaped by major thought leaders in the field of planning, including Leonie Sandercock and John Friedmann. It’s also been shaped by our PhD students, who have come from all over the world and developed here at SCARP.
Today SCARP has unique strengths in engaged planning scholarship, participatory approaches, and recognition that the ways that we produce knowledge, not just the knowledge we produce, is key to achieving more just, healthier communities. We are passionate about planning as an intellectual discipline and as a practice for positive change, and we believe that theory and practice influence each other.
Curiosity, excellence, and courage in what we do
As a PhD student at SCARP you partake in Planning PhD-specific coursework that gives you a solid intellectual foundation within the planning discipline.
Planning is, at its best, transdisciplinary. That’s why our faculty supervisors’ strongly varied expertise reinforces students’ interdisciplinary expertise. You will also learn in a community of peers, with many opportunities to benefit from each other.
Full program overview
The SCARP PhD program is primarily a research degree, with a flexible component of course work as well as certain specific Required Courses. Doctoral students work under the guidance of a Supervisory Committee consisting of at least three faculty members, including the Research Supervisor.
Overall, PhD candidates should expect to spend at least 3 years in the completion of their degree requirements. Typical programs run 4-5 years. To successfully complete the degree, students must satisfactorily complete the following:
- Course work
- A two-year pre-candidacy residence requirement
- A comprehensive examination
- A research proposal
- Writing and defending a PhD dissertation
The SCARP PhD Program is governed by the general policies and procedures of the UBC Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (G+PS) and their more specific elaboration by SCARP.
On qualifying
See the minimum admissions criteria for graduate studies at UBC.
Beyond this, the SCARP Admissions Committee considers many factors in making admissions decisions. These factors include academic preparation, academic capability, experience, and fit with a prospective research supervisor and with the School.
Please review the 'Applying' tab for details on any prerequisite requirements.
Program requirements
SCARP's PhD Program is governed by the general policies and procedures of the UBC Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (G+PS). See their admissions guidelines, their handbook of Graduate Supervision, and SCARP's more specific requirements (as detailed below) for Thesis Preparation, Internal Defense, Final Oral Defense, and Thesis Submission. The Chair of the SCARP PhD Program is responsible for ensuring that the administration of each student's program is in compliance with these policies and procedures.
Students should be familiar with all information available.
Course Requirements
Students typically take 15-24 credits of course work in the first two academic years of SCARP's PhD program.
Required Courses
| PLAN 559 | Design of planning- and policy-oriented research | 3 credits |
| PLAN 602 | Advanced planning theory | 3 credits |
| PLAN 603 | Planning colloquium | 6 credits over 2 years |
| PLAN 649 | Dissertation registration required throughout the program to maintain active status | 0 credits |
| Additional requirement: An advanced research methods course selected in consultation with your supervisor | ||
Additional courses
- PLAN 505 (Planning theory, values and ethics) is recommended if you don't have a background in Planning, but optional depending on the faculty supervisor and student, and can be audited.
- Students may select other appropriate courses in consultation with their supervisory committee. The exact form and structure of the student’s PhD coursework is left to the discretion of the student and their committee and depends on the student’s background preparation and research focus. PhD students generally use their courses to develop disciplinary expertise relevant to their area of research.
Additional Requirements
Doctoral students can proceed to candidacy (the research phase of the PhD degree) upon completion of:
- Required coursework
- The comprehensive exam
- Defence of the research proposal
Candidacy
The basic requirements for the status of "Admitted to Candidacy" are:
- All required course work successfully completed
- Completion of the comprehensive examination
- Successful defense of the research proposal
- Completion of a two-year residency as a full-time student in the PhD program
- Candidacy requirements should normally be completed within the first twenty-four months in the program and, in any case, within the thirty-six month limit established by G+PS.
Thesis
Preparation
Detailed requirements for the thesis document have been established by the UBC Library. The Faculty of Graduate Studies has developed regulations that govern innovative thesis formats and media.
Final Steps
When a PhD student has completed a final draft of their thesis and all Supervisory Committee members have approved it the thesis must be sent to The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (G+PS) for transmittal to the External Examiner and for the final UBC Oral Examination. If a student wishes to proceed directly to the UBC Defense, the Supervisory Committee must agree that the thesis is ready and submit a memo to that effect to the PhD Chair (or Department Head, in cases where the PhD Chair is supervisor).
The thesis transmittal memo and the final thesis are due in the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies a minimum of six weeks before the University final oral examination.
University Final Oral Examination
The final step in the Doctoral Program is a formal oral thesis defense administered by the Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. Regulations pertaining to the University's final oral examination can be found in a reference booklet entitled " The Final Oral Examination Guide for Doctoral Candidates ".
Important timelines highlighted in the booklet are:
Three months before the expected completion of the thesis, the Appointment of External Examiner form must be submitted by SCARP to G+PS
Six weeks before the final oral examination, submit the thesis and departmental memo to G+PS.
Six weeks is the earliest date that a defense can be scheduled after the thesis has been transmitted to the External Examiner by G+PS.
Four weeks before the final oral examination, the Research Supervisor must confirm the date and time of the final oral examination and submit the Examination Program and the Approval of University Examiners forms to G+PS.
Timelines are subject to change. Students should check for documentation updates a minimum of six months prior to their expected thesis defense date.
Formal Preparation and Submission to the Faculty of Graduate Studies
Admissions dates for the 2027 intake:
| Applications open: | October 5, 2026 |
| Applications/references deadline: | January 11, 2026 |
Click each section below to expand:
What to know first about applying
Because our admissions process depends on supervisors advocating for the students they would like to recruit, it is imperative that you reach out to prospective supervisors well before you apply, to determine overlap in research interests and intellectual approach, and to confirm that your prospective supervisors are taking on PhD students this year.
Many faculty members may receive a dozen emails from prospective students every week during admissions season. It is often not possible for faculty to answer all messages of interest. Generic, inauthentic, or misaligned email messages will likely not be answered. We highly discourage the use of generative AI to mass produce email inquiries to potential supervisors.
Learn more about the process further down on this webpage.
On our application process
The admissions process for the PhD Program at SCARP is a multilevel process that includes review by prospective supervisors, review by the SCARP’s PhD admissions committee, and meeting criteria set by UBC.
The supervisor-supervisee relationship is perhaps the most influential factor in your experience of a PhD program and you should consider the intellectual match (the topic or expertise area you would like to focus on) and, to the extent possible, the personality and work-style match with a prospective supervisor. In SCARP’s admissions process, your prospective supervisor will be advocating for your admission to the program, and are also responsible for securing your funding for four years of the program. If, by the time of application, it is not clear that you have a research faculty member willing to advocate on your behalf, this may be an indication that your application is not likely to be successful before the School PhD admissions committee.
SCARP’s PhD admissions committee is responsible for evaluating each year’s pool of applicants according to criteria established by our faculty.
How to apply
Step 1:
Make contact and forge a connection
(Summer before applications period in Fall)
The Faculty Directory and each faculty members’ bio are good places to start for initial information on faculty members’ research specialties, methods of inquiry, and areas of interest in the world of planning. You should also check out recent publications and faculty websites for more in-depth understanding. Beginning in August, the SCARP Faculty pages and the PhD program page of the SCARP website will also indicate faculty members who are actively recruiting in the current cycle.
Begin by reaching out to faculty members through email. As a suggestion, your email should clearly indicate details such as:
- Your name and where geographically you are writing from
- Previous academic and professional experience
- Most recent degree awarded and institution
- Other indicators of preparation for a PhD program such as: specific lived/professional experience, research training, peer-reviewed/policy publications
- Rationale and goals for pursuing a PhD degree
- The research topic or questions you would like to spend your PhD working on, and why this topic is important to you
- Reason for alignment with the faculty member you are reaching out to
- If you are corresponding with other SCARP/UBC faculty members about potential supervision, and if so, their names
* Faculty are sometimes interested in co-supervision and this can sometimes help an application. Even if co-supervision does not work out, if a student can be supervised by multiple faculty, this is often an indication of good fit with the program as well.
Note that at this stage (before application) some SCARP faculty be interested in meeting with you virtually/in-person to discuss fit and preparation, or even iteratively workshopping your application materials with you. This serves a dual purpose: to assess ability to work together, and, to improve your application so that it is as competitive as possible when it is evaluated by SCARP’s PhD Admissions Committee.
Step 2:
Apply
(Before application deadline in January)
Applicants need to demonstrate they:
- Are academically well-prepared, so that they are likely to succeed in our program
- Have a well-articulated connection to the academic discipline of planning
- Have articulated an important and interesting research area to focus on
- Promote our goals of ensuring intellectual and identity-based diversity and reconciliation for the School and the broader discipline.
The option to submit your formal application will appear on this webpage once the application period begins. You will be redirected to UBC’s application portal.
Full applications AND reference letters must be submitted before the application deadline. However, requests will not be sent to your reviewers until after you have submitted your application. This means that you should plan on submitting your application weeks before the indicated deadline so that your reviewers have enough time to upload their letters.
As a reminder, if it is not yet clear that you have a SCARP research faculty member willing to advocate on your behalf by the time you apply, this may be an indication that your application is not likely to be successful.
The university handles requests for application fee waivers. Unfortunately, the School does not have the capacity to provide application waivers outside of the university’s policies.
Step 3:
After you apply
Protocols may be subject to change. Due to the volume of documents received we are unable to confirm receipt of documents by email or phone. Therefore, after you submit your application, regularly check:
- This webpage
- Your online application
Application Requirements
G+PS admissions requirements
Please consult or contact the UBC Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies to understand their requirements, such as:
- Application fees
- Online application problems
- Minimum academic requirements
- Transcript requirements
- Translations of transcripts
- Letters of Reference requirement
- GRE requirements
- Evidence of English Language requirements
Research Statement of Intent
Applicants are required to prepare and submit a research statement of intent (approximately 1,000 words). The statement should outline the thesis project you wish to undertake, the research methods you expect to use, and how the work builds on or draws from your previous training or experience.
Evidence of Research Competence
Applicants must submit a copy of their Master’s thesis for their application. Previous academic publications, or previous academic projects are also considered acceptable writing samples.
CV/Resume
Each applicant must submit a CV/resume detailing educational background, work and/or volunteer experience, publications, and any academic or professional awards earned.
Deferred Admission
It is not possible to defer admission. If you are accepted but do not register you may apply again by submitting a new application form and paying the fee. Your admission would be considered along with others applying for that year.
Time of Admission
Applicants selected for consideration for admission will be invited to an interview with their prospective research supervisor and Program Chair. Final admission decisions will be made after the interview.
Applicants admitted to the program will commence full-time studies in September. The School of Community and Regional Planning does not admit students at any other time of year.