Early Researcher Awards

The internal deadline for submitting a notice of intent to apply for Early Researcher Awards is Oct. 8. The Faculty has had a lot of success with this program, and we currently have 24 award holders. The Early Researcher Awards are aimed toward new Faculty members who are within 10 years of their PhD and within 5 years of starting their first academic appointment. More information on the program and the application process can be found on the University of Toronto's research website.

Connaught Competitions and Deadlines in 2008-2009

Connaught Fund programs provide an important source of research support to faculty at the University of Toronto. More information and full guidelines and application forms are available on the University of Toronto's research website.

Start-up Grants for New Tenured and Tenure-Stream Faculty

The purpose of these grants, valued at $10,000, is to help meet some of the immediate costs of initiating research. The Connaught Start-Up Grant is awarded to all new tenured and tenure-stream faculty appointees regardless of professorial rank. The application must be received within one year of the faculty member’s appointment start date at the University of Toronto. The establishment of a grant account in the name of the new faculty member is contingent on the new faculty member submitting, to the relevant department head, a research plan that the division head deems worthy of support from the Connaught Fund. 


New Staff Matching Grants

Deadline:  Dec. 1, 2008

New Staff Matching Grants are awarded on a competitive basis to tenure-stream appointees at the Assistant Professor level who, at the time of the competition deadline, are within the first five years of their first full-time academic appointment at the University of Toronto. In addition to tenure-stream appointees, other junior faculty (i.e. contractually limited term appointees and certain status-only appointees) will be considered eligible if they have the support of the Dean and Chair of the appropriate University department. An essential element of any submission is evidence of the individual having obtained external research support, or a commitment to seek external research support at the earliest opportunity.

The purpose of these grants is to assist new faculty members to establish research programs to increase their competitiveness for outside funding. Successful applicants will receive Connaught funding under the following matching terms:

• Awards of up to $10,000 do not require a match.
• Awards in excess of $10,000 require a matching contribution by the applicant’s department or Faculty. This matching contribution must be equal to at least half of the Connaught award amount that exceeds $10,000. For example, the maximum Connaught award of $30,000 would require a match of $10,000 (half of $20,000).

The Committee reserves the right to award less than the amount requested, in instances where the Committee feels that the project can proceed with a reduced budget. The Committee will have approximately $1.23M to allocate through this program. Last year, 94 proposals were received across all disciplines and 58 awards were made. The total dollar value of requests was $2.3M and $1.25M (or 54%) was awarded. Funds will be released to successful applicants after May 1, 2009.

Please note that individuals who were unsuccessful in their first application to this program, and who continue to meet all eligibility criteria, are permitted to reapply once.


The McLean Award

Deadline: Jan. 12, 2009

This highly competitive award of $100,000 and the honorary title of McLean Senior Fellow is made once annually to an outstanding researcher who is within 12 years of his or her PhD who is conducting basic research in any of the following fields: physics, chemistry computer science, mathematics, the engineering sciences, or the theory and methods of statistics. 

The purpose of the award is to provide the recipient with extraordinary support relatively early in his or her career to assist in the recruitment and support of excellent graduate students and post-doctoral fellows as members of the research team. Funds awarded may be spent only on financial support of the student and post-doctoral members of the research team.

Grants for International Colloquia/Symposia

Deadlines: Oct. 20, 2008 and Mar. 16, 2009

The purpose of the International Colloquia/Symposia program is to further enhance and share knowledge in areas of international significance and to advance the international profile of the University of Toronto. Submissions for proposed events must be interdisciplinary in focus, international in terms of scholarly/scientific significance and attendance, include the meaningful involvement of graduate students, and be on or within close proximity to a University of Toronto campus. Financial contributions from the host department and/or Faculty as well as an external sponsor are also required. 

This program is primarily intended to help support one-off "special" events. Requests for support of regular/routine meetings of established scholarly or professional organizations or recurring events are less likely to be supported. Similarly, requests for support of satellite conferences linked to established societies, or conferences based on pre-contracted publications, are less likely to be supported.

The number and size of the Connaught Symposia grants awarded will depend on the nature and quality of the proposals received and the level of divisional/external funding provided for each. The Committee has allocated approximately $50,000 to each of this year’s competitions. Normally awards do not exceed $10,000. Events must take place within two years of the application deadline.

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