Cecil H and Ida Green endowed the Green Visiting Professors program to provide opportunities for UBC students and faculty, as well as interested members of the public, to interact with outstanding scholars, artists, and intellectuals from outside of British Columbia. This innovative program, inaugurated in 1972 with public lectures by Gerhard Herzberg, Canadian recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics, has now welcomed over 200 distinguished visitors. Since 1993, it has been hosted by Green College under the college's mandate for interdisciplinary studies. In addition to the conversations that they will have at Green College, these special visitors also offer seminars in UBC departments and/or public lectures elsewhere on campus, the city, and the province.

A generous gift from Dr Patricia Merivale, UBC professor emerita, established the Merivale Visitors in Residence program endowment in 2024 to support visiting scholars to take up residence at Green College. Visiting scholars will engage with graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, UBC faculty, and the broader community, fostering collaboration and the exchange of ideas on interdisciplinary topics. Please visit this page to learn more about this gift. 

The 2026 Call for Applications is now open! 

The Visiting Scientist from France at Green College program is a scientific residency launched in partnership with the Cultural and Scientific Office of the French Embassy in Canada. Inviting in scientific researchers based in France, the aim of this program is to facilitate and strengthen collaboration with academic researchers at UBC in scientific fields that are priorities for France and Canada, as defined at the first Joint Committee on Science, Technology, and Innovation between the countries in 2023.

This program is open to researchers working in the following areas:

• Emerging technologies: AI, quantum sciences, societal impact, etc.
• Health: global health, public health policy, genomics, etc.
• Oceanic and polar sciences: oceanography, biodiversity, marine ecology, etc.
• Energy: renewable energies, net-zero transition, sustainability, etc.
• Mathematics.

The successful applicant will reside at Green College for fall term (September – December) 2026 and is warmly encouraged to participate in the communal life of our interdisciplinary academic community.

The application deadline is February 8, 2026, at 11:59 PM (PST). 

To learn more about the call and/or share the application website with a fellow researcher in France, visit the Embassy’s website.

To learn more about the two previous laureates, visit our website: Dr Helloin and Dr Olmo.

Thanks to a generous gift from Dr Patricia Merivale, UBC professor emerita, this residency was established in 2021 in memory of John Grace (1943-2021), who as Dean of Graduate Studies oversaw the foundation of Green College. The residency allows the college to support visiting scholars, writers, artists, musicians, journalists, social activists, and other kinds of practitioners who take up residence at the college, sharing fully in the intellectual and social life of the community.