We host two types of Comics-to-Research opportunities. Our Graduate Awards are for UBC graduate students to collaborate with local cartoonists, comic artists, and graphic illustrators on knowledge mobilization projects and are always open but adjudicated on a rolling basis. Our Special Calls are posted whenever there is an active research project recruiting for graphic artists. Please see open calls below for more details.
Open Calls
Call for Applications: Research-to-Comics Graduate Awards
UBC Comics Studies Cluster
The UBC Comics Studies Cluster is excited to announce a new initiative supporting UBC graduate students in transforming their research into compelling short comics and graphic narratives!
We invite applications for awards to commission a cartoonist or comic artist to create an 8–12-page comic based on your graduate research. This is a unique opportunity to share your work with broader audiences through visual storytelling as arts-based knowledge mobilization.
Awardees will receive:
- Up to $1000 to cover the commissioning of a local cartoonist, illustrator or graphic artist
- Assistance in drafting an artists call for cartoonists, illustrators or graphic artists
- Support with artist recruitment and project onboarding
- Access to consulting, feedback and revision support from the UBC Comics Studies Cluster
- An open-access digital dissemination platform through the UBC Pop Culture Cluster’s Pop Pedagogies Initiative
Whether your research is in the humanities, sciences, or any field in between, we welcome proposals that think creatively about how academic knowledge can be communicated through comics as an arts-based method.
Deadline: Applications are accepted on a rolling basis—apply any time! Applications will be adjudicated on a quarterly basis.
To apply, please include the following in a single PDF doc and upload with the application:
- A brief description (300–500 words) of your research project and its key insights
- Your vision for the comic (150-300 words) including tone, audience, and goals
- A short statement (150–300 words) on how this opportunity would support your academic and/or public engagement work
- Your abbreviated CV (max. 2 pages)
- Simple budget if the project requires more than an artist’s fee
Send any questions to: pop.culture@ubc.ca
Past Calls
Project description
The Comics Studies Research Cluster at UBC is seeking applications from cartoonists to work on an exciting new graphic novel project. The project seeks to capture the lived experience of Canadian immigration detention through comics. The project will involve working with 2-3 individuals who arrived in Canada as refugees and were subject to immigration detention. The content of the graphic novels will then explore each individual’s story, based on interviews with the individuals and media produced in collaboration with them.
The goal of the project is to convey the day-to-day life of immigration detention – from the uncertainty and boredom to the trauma and loss. Each graphic narrative will be 20-30 pages long and will focus on different aspects of the experience as told by each individual.
What we are looking for
We are seeking 1-3 experienced artists from across Canada who are keen to engage with this topic and have the necessary background and skills to capture these complex human experiences through comics. Artists should be keen to work collaboratively (in person or via Zoom) with the subjects of their comics to co-produce the material and bring these stories to life. In particular, we seek applications from artists who have the capacity to engage with this difficult material and have the time to commit to the process of relationship-building required to create graphic narratives of roughly 20-30 pages each.
Project Timeline*
The project will begin on February 1, 2024, and will develop by way of the following stages (please note that date ranges are approximate and will be adjusted to account for vacation time and ensure workload balance):
Stage 1 (Feb 15-29, 2024): Meetings with the individuals whose stories we will be telling will be scheduled in person and /or via Zoom. The goal of these meetings is to allow the artist to learn about and understand immigration detention and its experiences.
Stage 2 (March 1-April 15): The artist will receive a preliminary account of one individual’s story and additional research material. The artist will be asked to produce thumbnails for graphic narratives for review and approval. Thumbnails are due March 31st.
Stage 3 (April 15-July 15): The artist will begin creating the first graphic narrative. Drafts of the first graphic narrative will be due on or around June 30, 2024 (to be determined). The artist will be provided with comments and requested revisions within two weeks. The final version of the first graphic narrative is due on or around September 15, 2024.
Stage 4 (Fall 2024): The artist will be invited to join in various dissemination and launch events.
*this timeline is subject to change depending on the artists’ and participants’ availabilities. Proposed timelines with later start dates are also possible.
Compensation
Artists will receive compensation that aligns with their experience. We are committed to ensuring meaningful compensation and have the funding to offer a generous honorarium (up to $10,000 per graphic narrative) commensurate with experience.
Application Instructions:
Application materials should include the following in one PDF document:
- Letter of Interest (maximum 1 page)
- 3 examples of comic art (maximum 10 pages)
- OPTIONAL Creative Statement for working with these themes
Please submit your application by email to Dr. Biz Nijdam, Director of the UBC Comics Studies Cluster, at comics.studies@ubc.ca.
Applications are due Monday, February 5th, 2024, by 5 pm PST. Shortlisted candidates will be invited for a brief interview via Zoom at a mutually convenient time. Artists notified of their selection by February 15, 2024.
Questions?
For more information or if you have any questions, please contact Dr. Biz Nijdam, UBC Comics Studies Cluster at comics.studies@ubc.ca.
Special Call for Artists: Linguaphobia, Linguistic Indifference, Linguistic Disobedience, & the Monolingual University
Drs. David Gramling & Ervin Malakaj, UBC Comics Studies Cluster
Strangely, there’s a scarcity of visual art, photography, and graphic narratives when it comes to matters of language(s), translation, multilingualism and other aspects of linguistic life. Either you get clip art of diverse-looking people communicating with lots of hand gestures, an abstract representation of language conveyed in speech balloons with various alphabets, a clash of cultures, or a message “lost in translation”.
This project seeks to expand the visual language around these themes, inviting critical, conceptual, experimental, experiential, personal, and political work of various kinds that tests the boundaries and critical power of the concepts below.
We invite artists to compose a visual narrative on one or more of the following topics. Artists can interpret these themes freely, though we encourage artists to take topic’s associated survey (linked next to the concept) before making a proposal:
- Linguaphobia (fear of language(s)): https://forms.gle/G5ySdbp6cqZuWbbc8
- Linguistic Disobedience: https://forms.gle/aZTPyysJn9n6Nt4V7
- Linguistic Indifference: https://forms.gle/hZrNRHqdNFRGf4869
- The Monolingual University: https://forms.gle/7Z4xg6nxFw7n51RZ9
- Authoritarian Language: https://forms.gle/N9spkCFyitFnZvba7
Compensation
Each artist will receive $1500 for their contribution to this project, which includes an initial consultation meeting and ongoing conversations with the project team, participation in a one-day symposium to present works-in-progress, one round of revisions, the completion of a single 8-12-page comic, and a 500-750-word artist statement or reflection that elaborates on the comic by highlighting the artist’s intentions and motivations. Artists will also be invited to participate a final symposium and an exhibition of their works at the conclusion of the project.
The team will engage up to six artists. Artists are encouraged to work in any language or mix of languages. About half of the projects should either be in English-only formats or feature appropriate translations for an English-speaking readership. The remaining projects might be in French, Indigenous languages, or other languages or mixes of languages.
Timeline
- June 30: Deadline for applications.
- July 15: Artists will be notified of their selection.
- July 21: Depending on the topic, artists might receive (or request) additional research material.
- September 15: Thumbnails for graphic narratives will be due.
- October 1: Project Team will provide feedback.
- October 29: One-Day Symposium at UBC (Work-In-Progress Presentations)
- December 31: Drafts of graphic narratives will be due.
- January 31: Editorial comments and requested revisions will be provided.
- February 29: Final versions of the graphic narratives are due.
- April 2026: Exhibition & Final Symposium (Final Presentation of Works)
Application Instructions
Application materials should include the following in one PDF document:
- Letter of Interest (maximum 1 page)
- 3 examples of comic art (maximum 10 pages)
- OPTIONAL Creative Statement or Thumbnails (for one of the various themes)
For more information, please contact Dr. David Gramling, david.gramling@ubc.ca and cc Dr. Biz Nijdam, biz.nijdam@ubc.ca.
Awardees
Comics-to-Research Graduate Awards
May 2025
Laen Hershler (PhD Candidate, Language and Literacy Education) – Memory in Motion: Dialoguing with Holocaust Survivor Voices through Research-based Theatre and Performative Inquiry
Memory in Motion is a performative research project that explores Holocaust memory through the embodied practice of theatre and audience reflection. Grounded in Dr. Hank Greenspan’s monologues based on long-term dialogues with Holocaust survivors, the project features performances by a team of actors, followed by Playback Theatre sessions that invite communal engagement with survivor voices. Rather than treat memory as static, the project foregrounds its relational and evolving nature. As a doctoral candidate, Hershler aims to document the project’s affective and reflective dimensions through a graphic narrative created in collaboration with a Jewish visual artist. This comic medium offers a contemplative and accessible form of scholarly and public engagement, capable of conveying the project’s emotional and dialogic depth. The graphic work will circulate at academic conferences and in community spaces, expanding the reach of arts-based research and modeling creative, relational approaches to Holocaust education and memory work.
Cynthia Liu (MFA Candidate, Creative Writing) – Splendid China, USA
Splendid China, USA is a graphic novel project by MFA candidate Cynthia Liu, blending historical research, feminist critique, and speculative fiction to explore immigration and reproductive justice. The story follows two Chinese acrobats who escape a PRC-run theme park in 1990s Florida and navigate the contradictions of U.S. asylum laws shaped by the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. Liu highlights how this legislation merged anti-immigration sentiment with anti-abortion narratives to criminalize undocumented women while presenting coerced abortion in China as a justification for asylum. The comic juxtaposes political critique with vibrant, Gen Z-friendly storytelling set in surreal American landscapes, drawing inspiration from YA media and diasporic graphic novels. Through humor, satire, and stark political insight, Liu seeks to illuminate how migrant women’s reproductive rights are manipulated by state agendas. The work will serve as a vehicle for broader public dialogue, especially within diasporic and BIPOC feminist communities.