Staff - Union

Job Category

CUPE 116

Job Profile

CUPE 116 Hourly - Research Assistant /Technician 3

Job Title

UBC Botanical Garden Research Assistant - Technician 3

Department

Program Support | Botanical Garden and Centre for Horticulture

Compensation Range

$31.06 - $33.86 CAD Hourly

Posting End Date

August 12, 2026

Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

Job End Date

March 31, 2027

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.

Job Summary The Collections Technician accessions plants in the UBC Botanical Garden collection, and assists in the identification and name verification of plant specimens, organizes and leads the collection of plant specimens for deposit as vouchers in the UBC herbarium, organizes and photographs key identifying features of living plants and vouchers of UBC Botanical Garden's plant collections. *Please note: this is a part-time position, working 2 days a week.

Organizational

Status The Collections Technician reports primarily to the Associate Director, Collections & Horticulture

Work Performed

Accessions plants in IrisBG plants database

Maps plant accessions using IrisBG plant database

Produces laser-engraved accession labels and accessions related signage

Supports inventories of accessions with curators and horticulturists and performs collections audits as determined by the Associate Director, Collections and Horticulture

Assists in maintaining the IrisBG plant database

Develops statistical and report-generating procedures





Participates in Botanical Garden committee and student support work

Coordinates the depositing of herbarium vouchers with UBC Herbarium staff

Collects and processes UBC Botanical Garden plant specimen material for germplasm and tissue requests, including correspondence and fulfillment

Collects UBC Botanical Garden plant material in support of Garden and other university classes

Enters and retrieves data associated with tissue, herbarium vouchers and images

Photographs key identifying features of living plants and vouchered plant specimens

Processes digital images for inclusion in image database and uploads images and associated metadata

Produces laser-engraved name tags, signage and other items for use in the Garden

Assists Associate Director Horticulture and Collections and research team with identification and name verification of plant specimens

Corresponds with taxonomic experts to assist with identification and name verification of plant specimens

Provides data to researchers to assist with identification of difficult plants

Supports researchers in the Garden by assisting in the location of plants, identification of plants, removal & supply of plant material and related work

Contributes to the Garden's public outreach channels, including creating blog posts and moderating the UBC Botanical Garden Forums

Participates in plant collecting field trips or research trips on behalf of the Garden or Garden-affiliated researchers

Supervises and trains temporary staff/students





Ensures a secure, clean working environment around equipment and supplies

Orders supplies needed for sign-making and sign-making equipment, herbarium vouchers, tissue banking, germplasm requests and research projects

Maintains/operates research equipment

Performs other related duties as assigned

Organizational Status The Collections Technician reports primarily to the Associate Director, Collections & Horticulture Consequence of Error/Judgement

Works within established procedures exercising independent initiative and judgment. Poor choices regarding development of strategies for documentation of specimens and storage of information will result in repeating tasks or loss of key information. Careless attention to detail in handling of data may result in difficult-to-fix errors in the biological databases or plant specimens.

Improper documentation of plant specimens may jeopardize the accuracy of the plant accession records, compromise the efficient transfer of information, and impede local, national and international research using the garden's collections or databases.

Supervision

Received

Works independently under administrative direction from the Associate Director Horticulture and Collections Supervision Given

Temporary staff and students Minimum Qualifications

Completion of a relevant technical program or a university degree in a relevant discipline and a minimum three years of related experience or an equivalent combination of education and experience.

- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own
- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

University Degree in a relevant discipline

📌 UBC Botanical Garden Research Assistant - Technician 3 (Vancouver)
🏢 University of British Columbia
📍 Vancouver