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.

MURC Planning Committee

The MURC Planning Committee will be recruiting for MURC 2025 soon. Please check back at the end of May for more information.

Register to attend MURC

Delegate registration for MURC 2025 will open in Mar 2025.

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.

Applications for MURC 2025 will open in late fall 2024.

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 2023

In 2023, MURC had:

544 presenters
344 unique presentations
800 attendees
Over 65 volunteers

2023 MURC Journal publication

In 2023, MURC conference abstracts were published in the Canadian Journal of Undergraduate Research (CJUR). CJUR is a student-led, peer-reviewed publication for Canadian undergraduate research. The journal published a special edition in collaboration with MURC 2023 to promote accessible undergraduate research initiatives. View the MURC 2023 publication (pdf).

2023 MURC winners

Oral presentation (in-person)

First Place (Winner of MURC x Rogers Top Oral Presentation Prize of a $100 gift card)
Energetic consequences of freezing in the intertidal mussel, Mytilus trossulus
Presented by Josh Yang
Second Place
What happens in our brain when we imagine emotional scenes?
Presented by Isabel Wilson
Third Place (2 winners)
- Probing Broad Line Region Dynamics with Single-Epoch Line Profiles
  Presented by Lucas Kuhn
- Midnight Sun, Polar Night: Competing Histories of Greenland
  Presented by Nick Toney

Poster presentation (in-person)

First Place (Winners of MURC x Rogers Top Poster Presentation Prize of a $100 gift card)
- Ultrasound evaluation of intralesional muscle integrity following cervical spinal cord injury
  Presented by Hannah Ro
- Canadian dairy farmer perspectives on dairy cattle and calf welfare during the periparturient period
  Presented by Amalia Urloiu
Second Place (2 winners)
- Development of an ultra-rapid magnetic CRISPR screening method for genetic analysis of cellular glycosylation pathways
  Presented by Jimmy Kim
- Natural- and Vaccine-Induced Immunity against Future COVID-19 Infection
  Presented by Kayla Audreyartha and Sahar Elhag
Third Place (3 winners)
- Odd-One-Out: How infants and toddlers learn to associate word meanings
  Presented by Zahra Fallah and Ria Nair
- Optimizing a Mechanical Arterial Niche to Examine Blood Cell Emergence
  Presented by Taia Yuen-Joaquin
- Characterization of Daptomycin Use in the Leukemia Bone Marrow Transplantation, Intensive Care, and in Solid Organ Transplant Patients at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH)– A Quality Assurance Project
  Presented by Alyssa Azote

Virtual presentation

First Place (Winner of MURC x Rogers Top Virtual Presentation Prize of a $100 gift card)
Spatiotemporal prevalence of two Agriotes pest species at the UBC Farm
Presented by Nisa Chavez
Second Place
Implementation of the TLC-Act Drug Interaction Tool into Pharmacy Student Education as Part of Integration Activity Cases
Presented by Jessica Lee
Third Place
Current UBC E2P PharmD student interest in POC testing education
Presented by Esther Ko

Botany Awards (Canadian Botanical Association)

MURC partnered with the Canadian Botanical Association (CBA) in 2023. Their generous support enabled the following 2 awards of $100 each to the best Oral and Poster Presentations.

Oral Presentation ($100 cheque)
The influence of coralline species and morphology as substrate for Alaria marginata and Hedophyllum sessile settlement
Presented by Ruby Burns
Poster Presentation ($100 cheque)
Combat against Wilting Root Rot Complex; Possible New Weapon, Raspberry Bacterial Inoculation
Presented by Natalie Westereng

If you have questions

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

Conference sponsor

The 2024 MURC Conference is sponsored by Rogers Communications.