UBC Studios helps bring some of the university's most important ideas to life.
Working with researchers, educators, and campus leaders, the team transforms complex ideas into experiences that inform, engage, and inspire. Whether producing a recruitment campaign, creating an immersive learning experience, preserving cultural artefacts through advanced 3D capture, or developing training used across the university, UBC Studios brings together specialists in storytelling, design, film production, animation, and emerging media to solve communication challenges of every scale.
As artificial intelligence reshapes creative work, UBC Studios is embracing it thoughtfully, not as a replacement for creativity, but as another tool to improve quality, improve efficiency, and expand what's possible while maintaining the high standards expected of one of the world's leading research universities.
UBC Studios 101: Who Are They and What Do They Do?
UBC Studios is UBC Vancouver’s central digital media production unit. They have partnered with over 170 units across campus on everything from teaching and learning content to communications strategy, consulting, recruitment, training, and digital storytelling. Their work spans video, graphics, animation, photography, and immersive content. For example, UBC Studios has collaborated with the Soil Science Program for more than 20 years to create innovative digital experiences, from interactive videos to virtual and augmented reality, that transform how researchers, students, and the public understand soil science.
Behind the scenes of Bullying Interactive Scenarios project
"If you can think of it, we can find a way of creating it," says Chris Spencer, Team Lead and Supervising Producer. Part of the job is making sure university resources are used wisely. "We want prospective partners to know they can always come talk to us, regardless of whether or not we do the project," Saeed Dyanatkar, Executive Producer of UBC Studios says. "We are here to work alongside people who come to us for help.”
The UBC Studios team brings together a diverse range of creative and technical expertise, spanning cinematography, photography, editing, visual and immersive design, and emerging technologies such as AI. Together, these capabilities help transform complex ideas into clear, engaging stories and experiences.
UBC Studios also helps the university community create their own content through its “do-it-yourself" studios that are complimentary for staff and faculty. This includes an audio studio for podcasting, a recording studio for video, and a lightboard studio, which offers a creative and intuitive way to explain and illustrate complex ideas on camera. Beyond offering physical spaces for creation, UBC Studios also conducts media training workshops. Sometimes the team even works directly in classrooms, teaching students how to self-produce content for coursework.
Consultation services are also a large part of how UBC Studios helps units bring their ideas to life. Not every client knows exactly what they need, and in these cases, UBC Studios is available to help shape rough ideas into proposals, scope projects, and estimate budgets for funding applications. "Sometimes faculty members or other clients will come to us unsure of what they're looking for. They look to us as experts who can provide advice on what is possible,” Saeed explains.
What Makes UBC Studios Different from Commercial Studios?
UBC Studios is uniquely positioned as an in-house department whose services are aligned with the university's strategic direction and research, teaching, and learning priorities. UBC Studios collaborates with external creative agencies, although one of their strengths is that all members of the team are UBC staff and understand the strategic priorities and audiences behind each project in ways an outside agency often cannot. Working with departments and units across the university, they can connect people, spaces, and resources that might otherwise never intersect. "We're breaking down those silos and fostering more collaboration across campus," reflects Andrew Wang, Media Specialist.
Into the Archives: Examples of Previous Work
Ask the team about their proudest work, and the list gets long quickly. This reflects just how many corners of the university UBC Studios has touched since its inception in 2015.
Recent projects include:
- Pushing Forward with Development and Alumni Engagement, celebrating impact of alumni and donor support across UBC.
- Wildfire House Project, with the School of Architecture, exploring how Indigenous values and landscape knowledge can inform more wildfire-resilient design.
- Strategic Equity Reports, with the Equity & Inclusion Office, designing accessible reports and toolkits that communicate key insights with clarity and impact.
- Materials Engineering Videos, with the Faculty of Applied Science, showcasing how materials engineering shapes the technologies and innovations students encounter in the real world.
- Nursing: Bullying Interactive Scenarios with the School of Nursing, creating interactive learning experiences that help students build the confidence and skills to respond to workplace bullying in clinical settings.
Behind the scenes of Wildfire House project
UBC Studios - President's Service Award for Collaborative Excellence
Other milestones include virtual tours of the Museum of Anthropology during its major renovation closure, a Google Street View mapping car project, and keeping UBC's graduation ceremonies running through the pandemic.
The team has been recognized with more than 30 industry awards, as well as the President’s Service Award for Collaborative Excellence in 2025, and has seen its short documentary work reach film festival audiences.
Lasting Impact through Community of Practice
The lasting impact of UBC Studios extends beyond their creative projects. In 2014, the team founded the Digital Media Community of Practice, a campus network for people doing similar media work across UBC's many units. In 2024, a national community of practice, MAPLE-NET was established to connect media practitioners working at higher education institutions across Canada. In the following year, the Maple Awards were launched to celebrate their work. Now, the groups meets regularly to share knowledge, network and collaborate.
Stronger Together
Collectively, the staff agreed that their favorite part of working at UBC Studios is the people.
"For me, [my favorite part is] working with a group of very talented, creative individuals." Saeed says. Chris agrees. "We have an incredibly talented team that genuinely loves what they do. I think we have some of the most fun on campus, and there's a real culture of collaboration."
For Andrew, it's the variety and exposure that keeps the work rewarding. "We're so privileged to get to work on so many different projects and learn about the cutting-edge research and meaningful work that happens at UBC every day. Being able to put a smile on our colleagues' faces when we present to them a piece of work that they didn't know how to make possible - it always puts a smile on my face as well.”
Behind the scenes of the Pushing Forward project
Do you have a digital media project you’d like to work with UBC Studios on? Contact them and find out how they can help bring your project or story to life.
