About the BCPSA
Founded in 1994, the British Columbia Political Studies Association is a province-wide community for the study and teaching of politics.
BCPSA reflects the unusual breadth of British Columbia’s post-secondary system. Our members work and study at research universities, teaching-focused universities, colleges, and other institutions across the province.
We aim to create connections that are difficult to build within any single institution: between scholars in different parts of BC, between students and faculty, between teaching and research, and between academic political studies and the wider public.
Our work encompasses political science, political studies, public policy, and public administration.
What We Do
Bring the BC political studies community together
Our annual conference provides an accessible and collegial place to present research, exchange ideas, discuss teaching, and build connections across institutions and career stages.
Support teaching and learning
We create opportunities for faculty to share approaches, materials, and experience across BC’s diverse post-secondary institutions, including workshops, online resources, and communities of practice.
Create opportunities for students
We support undergraduate and graduate students through prizes, conference participation, mentorship, information about academic pathways, and connections to careers in government, policy, civil society, law, and related fields.
Connect research and researchers
BCPSA helps scholars working on related questions find one another, develop collaborations, and build research networks across institutional boundaries.
Connect scholarship and public life
We help connect political studies expertise with government, media, civil society, educators, and the public through public events, expert networks, and other forms of engagement.
Strengthen political studies in BC
BCPSA provides a forum through which departments, programs, and faculty can identify common concerns, share resources, support student mobility, and represent the value of political studies within British Columbia.
About the Association
BCPSA was founded in 1994 and held its first conference at Simon Fraser University in 1995.
The association grew partly from British Columbia’s Political Science Articulation Committee and has always combined the functions of a scholarly association with a broader interest in teaching, student mobility, institutional cooperation, and public life.
BCPSA is affiliated with the Canadian Political Science Association while maintaining its own distinct provincial role.
