Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conference (MURC)

About the conference

The Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research Conference (MURC) is a conference for UBC undergraduate students to present their research with fellow UBC students, family, and friends.

Since 2003, the conference has been led by undergraduate students and is centred on showcasing and celebrating undergraduate student research through presentations, workshops, and keynote speakers.

MURC is free to attend and open to the UBC community. Other students, including graduate students, can support the conference as volunteers or adjudicators.

You can view the MURC 2023 conference schedule (pdf) and program guide (pdf).

MURC 2023 will be taking place in-person, with an online component, on Sat, Mar 18, 2023 at the UBC Vancouver campus.

Join the MURC Planning Committee

If you’re interested in undergraduate research and student leadership, have a knack for event planning, and love work that is complex and detail oriented, apply to plan the conference.

Applications open in summer 2023. Check back for details.

Current planning committee executive

Role	Name
Co-Chairs	Isabel Huang (she/her, Food, Nutrition and Health) Monica Leca (she/her, Honours Microbiology and Immunology)
Workshops and Presentations Co-Directors	Lynda Li (she/her, Kinesiology) Silas Yip (he/him, Biology)
Logistics and Programming Co-Directors	Henry Luo (he/him, Cell and Developmental Biology) Amy Wang (she/her, Pharmacology)
Volunteers Co-Director	Evi Dorsch (she/her, Neuroscience) Julia Do (she/her, Political Science & Chemistry)
Communications and Promotions Co-Directors	Hamrah Riyaz (she/her, Neuroscience) Ananya Gupta (she/her, Psychology)
Creative Content Designer	Mehak Fatima (she/her, Psychology)
Staff Advisors	Sheker Mammetgurban (she/her, Coordinator, Learning Initiatives) Selynn Yeap (she/her, Program Coordinator, Workplace Learning)

Register to attend MURC

Delegate registration for MURC 2023 is now open. If you’re curious about UBC undergraduate student research, are a family or friend of a presenter, or anything in between, attend the conference free-of-charge as a delegate. You can register by Thurs, Mar 16, 2023.

Register now

Presenting at the conference

If you’re a UBC undergraduate student and you’re currently participating in or have completed your own UBC faculty-supervised research project, consider presenting at MURC. Students from all faculties and programs are welcome to apply.

Find out more

Volunteer at MURC

MURC volunteers are important to the success of the conference. At the event, volunteers can network with other student leaders and researchers on campus and learn about the research being conducted by their peers.

Help out with the conference or sign up to be an adjudicator for the conference presentations.

Get details

Past conference information

MURC 2022

In 2022, MURC had:

469 presenters
269 unique presentations
445 attendees
Over 63 volunteers

2022 MURC Journal publication

In 2022, MURC conference abstracts were published in the Undergraduate Research in Natural and Clinical Science and Technology Journal (URNCST). URNCST is a leading open access, indexed, and international peer-reviewed publication for undergraduate research. The journal publishes abstracts for undergraduate conferences and case competitions and promotes innovative undergraduate research education initiatives. View the MURC 2022 publication.

2022 MURC winners

Poster presentation (in-person)

First Place (Winner of MURC x Rogers Top Poster Presentation Prize of a $100 gift card)
Perspectives of Hospital Pharmicists on Quality Improvement Initiatives in Patient Care
Presented by Ting-An Cheng
Second Place
OFWs in Canada: Transnational labour at the intersection of colonial, imperial, and state-sanctioned violence after Philippine Independence
Presented by Jasmine Manango
Third Place
Development of an Omnidirectional Surrogate Neck
Presented by Genevieve Bonnor

Oral presentation (in-person)

First Place (Winner of MURC x Rogers Top Oral Presentation Prize of a $100 gift card)
How does a galaxy die? Determining the star formation history from a galaxy's spectrum
Presented by Shannon MacFarland
Second Place
Priming is Affected when Navon Dimensions are Modified: Examining Visual Search Performance
Presented by Kevin Zhang
Third Place
SIDEKICK: A co-design approach to social robot development with families living with pediatric anxiety
Presented by Jaya Kailley

Virtual presentation

First Place (Winner of MURC x Rogers Top Virtual Presentation Prize of a $100 gift card)
Platinum (II) Salphen Complex for Cost & Energy Efficient OLED Displays
Presented by Bennett Tan
Second Place
From Victims to Visionaries: Representations of Older Asian Adults in Canadian News Media during COVID-19
Presented by Lynda Li
Third Place
Application of Random Forest in Predicting Breast Cancer Progression
Presented by Lotus Wei

Past conference winners

Take a look at the list of past conference winners (pdf) and their research projects from 2010 to 2021.

Past program guides

MURC 2021 Program Guide (pdf)
MURC 2019 Program Guide (pdf)

If you have questions

For more information about the conference, email undergraduate.research@ubc.ca.

Conference sponsor

The 2022 MURC Conference was sponsored by Rogers Communications.