Faculty: Dr. Denise Gabriel, Integrated Sciences Program
Project: Integrating a Map the System Toolkit into ISCI 360: Systems Approaches to Regional Sustainability
Responding to a Growing Need
Addressing today’s sustainability challenges requires more than understanding individual issues—it requires understanding the complex systems that shape them. Recognizing this, the Integrated Sciences (ISCI) program has adopted systems thinking as a foundation for its upper-level sustainability curriculum.
To strengthen this approach, Dr. Denise Gabriel proposed integrating the Map the System (MTS) toolkit into ISCI 360: Systems Approaches to Regional Sustainability. Map the System is a systems-thinking research competition that provides accessible tools and frameworks for analyzing complex societal challenges. By incorporating these resources into the course, the project aimed to help students connect systems-thinking theory with real-world sustainability issues they are passionate about.
Learning Through Systems Thinking
The redesigned course was planned to embed Map the System worksheets, activities, and reflective learning throughout the semester. Students would apply systems-thinking frameworks to investigate a sustainability issue of their choosing, document their learning through a term logbook, and complete a final systems analysis project. Students would also have the opportunity to further develop their work by participating in the Map the System competition.
To support student learning, the project also proposed bringing guest speakers with expertise in complex systems thinking into the classroom and developing new resources that could be integrated into future course offerings.
Strengthening Teaching Resources
Beyond redesigning a single course, the project sought to develop a formal Map the System toolkit that could support systems-thinking education across disciplines at UBC. An undergraduate academic assistant would help develop the toolkit and create pre- and post-course surveys to assess changes in students’ understanding of systems thinking and sustainability.
The Role of the ACEL Fund
The ACEL Fund was requested to support guest speakers with expertise in systems thinking and to hire an undergraduate academic assistant to develop learning resources and evaluation tools. These resources were intended to strengthen the ISCI 360 curriculum while creating materials that could be adapted by other UBC instructors interested in systems-based approaches to teaching sustainability.
Looking Ahead
The project proposed piloting the redesigned course in Winter Term 1 of the 2023 academic year, followed by an evaluation of student learning in Winter Term 2. In a follow-up communication with CCEL, Dr. Gabriel expressed enthusiasm for continuing the collaboration and advancing the development of the toolkit and related resources to support systems-thinking education.
Link to the resource: (Share the PDFs not the link): Denise
Faculty: Dr. Jasmin Ma, School of Kinesiology, Faculty of Education
Community Partner: Foundry BC
Responding to a growing need
The Research to Impact (R2I) Knowledge Mobilization Fellowship was created to address the growing demand for knowledge mobilization (KxM) skills by providing graduate students and postdoctoral fellows with applied training, practical experience, and opportunities to work directly with community partners. Supported by the ACEL Fund, the Fellowship was co-developed by the UBC Knowledge Exchange Unit and KxM Scholars in partnership with Foundry BC.
Learning Through Partnership
The inaugural program brought together 20 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, selected from more than 80 applicants across ten UBC faculties. Over seven weeks, Fellows participated in workshops, mentorship, and interdisciplinary teamwork while collaborating with Foundry BC to address a knowledge mobilization challenge focused on strengthening the use of research across its provincial network of youth service centres. Together, they developed knowledge mobilization plans that included partnership strategies, communication tools, and evaluation frameworks tailored to Foundry BC’s priorities. The Fellowship concluded with a pitch event where teams presented four proposals, including an evaluation framework, a revitalized Champion Program, a youth-led podcast, and a Youth Knowledge Collective.
Creating Lasting Impact
The Fellowship helped participants build practical skills in research communication, partnership development, implementation planning, evaluation, and interdisciplinary collaboration. One Fellow reflected:
“The KxM fellowship was truly life-changing. I learned so much in such a short amount of time. It’s hard to believe this was the program’s first year—everything ran so smoothly, and each session was so thoughtfully planned.”
For Foundry BC, the Fellowship generated four knowledge mobilization proposals in response to organizational priorities. Following the program, Foundry BC began exploring how elements from all four proposals could be incorporated into its operations and provincial network.
The Role of the ACEL Fund
According to the project report, CCEL support and funding enabled the development of the inaugural Research to Impact Fellowship, helping establish a new UBC initiative focused on building knowledge mobilization capacity among early-career researchers. Reflecting on the experience, Dr. Ma noted that the support from CCEL encouraged innovation and strengthened UBC’s leadership in teaching and learning.
Looking Ahead
Based on feedback from Fellows, mentors, and Foundry BC, the project team identified opportunities to strengthen future iterations of the Fellowship by enhancing participant orientation, expanding interdisciplinary learning resources, deepening community partner engagement, and supporting the implementation of Fellows’ proposed solutions.