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UBCDS and Competition
UBCDS at the Waterloo 2026! Humam Aziz and Emily Chen won the tournament, with breaks from our other participating team!
Left to Right: Giann Lai, Hannah Choi, Nathan Yan, Henry Gong, Annabelle Katz, William Chen, Emily Chen, Humam Aziz, Michelle Han
Three of our lovely 25-26 Novices! They brought multiple awards back the first year in the club!
Left to Right: Michelle Han, Henry Gong, Nathan Yan
The UBCDS competes across Canada as well as internationally. While we subsidize our members’ flights to select tournaments, they are always welcome to represent us to any competition they chose to self-fund to. We belong to a Canadian debate circuit known as CUSID (Canadian University Society for Intercollegiate Debate), but also attend tournaments in US and international circuits. Although most of our travels are to North American cities, the Society does fund our top debaters to the World University Debate Championships (WUDC), which is hosted by a different country each year, most recently: Vietnam, Panama and Bulgaria.
Funding to more competitive tournaments is allocated based on multiple factors, including contribution hours to the club, which can be earned through volunteering. The other factor is a tryout system, where participants are given a speaker score. For more information on tournament selections and funding, click here or contact the VP External.
UBCDS and Community
The UBCDS hopes to make accessible the unique combination of public speaking, quick thinking, and teamwork that our sport develops to anyone who wants to tap into it. We strive to create an impact in the community around us, both on and off campus.
On campus, our training sessions are open to all, so that anyone can drop in to learn a little bit about debate. Members are also encouraged to organize their own practice debates and engage in online discussion. This is in an effort to foster key public speaking skills in students of all faculties. We also host multiple campus events, including show debates and the opening and closing of the house, to promote better campus culture and create fun opportunities for all members of the UBC community.
Outside of campus, the UBCDS strives to have a positive influence on our community by fostering a love of debate in our youth. We host numerous tournaments at High School levels, and also volunteer to provide coaching resources for young debaters in the area. For more information on our High School Outreach programme, click here.
Outside of debate, the UBCDS community sticks together in our socials. Every year, paying UBCDS members participate in pumpkin carving social, Christmas Market social, Board Game and Hot Chocolate social, Galentines, and much more! After meetings, club members often go out for dessert and dinner, open to anyone at the meeting! The UBCDS community tries create a positive environment for all our members.
Our practice meetings are open to all UBC students
Our yearly pumpkin carving contest, open to all UBCDS members!
Our annual Christmas Market social!
Drop in Anytime!
We meet twice every week: Wednesday and Friday 6 pm in person in ANGU 241! Meetings are open to all, no matter your skill level and no matter how late in the year! We look forward to seeing you there!