Popular culture is one of the most influential and pervasive forms of cultural production, capable of both reflecting and driving social and political change. However, it often remains on the fringes of academic inquiry. With the Pop Pedagogies Initiative, the Pop Culture Cluster aims to bring popular culture into the centre of scholarly and pedagogical work, exploring its potential to illuminate and catalyze social transformation while developing critical thinking and media literacy skills.
The Pop Pedagogies Award Program is now open, the Pop Pedagogies Archive will go live in fall 2025, and the Pop Pedagogies Symposium will take place in the 2025-2026 academic year.
Pop Pedagogies Award Program: Call for Applications
The Popular Media for Social Change Research Excellence Cluster is excited to announce the launch of the Pop Pedagogies Award Program for the 2025-2026 academic year. This program will provide a $500 CAD award to exemplary pop pedagogy scholars and $1,000 CAD in reimbursable expenses to support UBC community members in the development of innovative lesson plans, modules, or units that meaningfully integrate popular media and culture (imagined broadly) into teaching and learning. Six grants will be awarded in each of the next two years, with the expectation that award recipients contribute their materials to the Pop Pedagogies Lesson Plan Archive and present their work at the 2026 Pop Pedagogies Symposium at UBC.
The application is open to UBC community members, with priority given to contingent faculty, junior faculty, and graduate students. We also welcome co-applications from the Vancouver community for execution in K-12 education and the non-profit sector.
DEADLINE: May 9, 2025
VALUE: up to $1,500 CAD
For more details and information on how to apply, visit our website here.
