[SGS] Award Announcement: 2011-12 Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships Program

SGS Award Announcement

To: Chairs, Graduate Coordinators and Graduate Administrators
Cc: Berry Smith, Vice Dean Students, School of Graduate Studies
From: Laura Stathopoulos, Senior Awards Officer, Graduate Awards Office
Date: August 29, 2011
Re: 2011-12 Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships Program

The objective of the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships Program is to attract and retain top-tier postdoctoral talent, both nationally and internationally; develop their leadership potential; and position them for success as research leaders of tomorrow, positively contributing to Canada's economic, social and research-based growth through a research-intensive career.

The fellowships are administered by Canada's three research granting agencies – the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

There are several significant changes to the Banting program this year which have been attached for your review.

Complete program information including eligibility requirements, host institution responsibilities, step-by-step application instructions and access to the e-submission platform on ResearchNet is now available on the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships website.

2011-2012 Competition Timelines
• August 2011: Posting of updated program literature on the Banting website and activation of ResearchNet (electronic application system)
• October 14th 2011: Deadline for supervisors to request the Institutional Synergy and Letter of Endorsement on behalf of applicant. See SGS website for instructions
• October 14th 2011: Deadline for applicants to request Fulfillment of Degree Requirements Form from UofT. See SGS website for instructions
• October 28th, 2011: Institutional Synergy and Letter of Endorsement provided by email to endorsed candidates
• November 2nd, 2011 (8pm EDT): Deadline for submitting ResearchNet applications to the Banting competition
• March 30th, 2012: Communication of results to applicants

Value and Duration
$70,000 per year (taxable) for two years.

70 new two-year awards offered annually with a total of 140 awards active at any one time. The fellowships will be distributed equally across Canada's three federal granting agencies (SSHRC, NSERC and CIHR)

Eligibility Criteria (compete details are provided on the Banting website)

1. Citizenship
Canadian citizens, permanent residents of Canada and foreign citizens are eligible to apply to the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships Program.

2. Eligibility Window for Degree Completion

Applicants for the 2011/12 Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships Program must fulfill or have fulfilled all degree requirements for a PhD, PhD-equivalent or health professional degree:
a. on a date within the eligibility window of November 2nd, 2008 through December 31, 2011. Applicants who have not fulfilled all requirements for their degree at the time of application must do so no later than December 31, 2011 and submit related proof to the Banting program accordingly no later than January 15, 2012. Applicants who do not submit such proof will be automatically withdrawn from the competition; or
b. no earlier than November 2, 2006 if they have had their career interrupted or delayed for the purpose of childrearing, illness, or health-related family responsibilities or, for health professionals only, have engaged in post-degree non-research related clinical training (residency, etc).
Applicants must document any interruptions, delays, or post-degree clinical training in the Special Circumstances attachment.

3. Eligibility Requirements Related to Host Institution

4. Eligibility Restrictions Related to Prior Agency-Specific Postdoctoral Funding (CIHR/NSERC/SSHRC)

5. Other Eligibility Restrictions

Application Process
1. Applicants should contact the supervisor of the host research institution whose endorsement they wish to receive to request and obtain the four institutional support documents.
2. Supervisors endorsing an applicant must request the Institutional Synergy and Letter of Endorsement from the SGS Graduate Awards Office on behalf of the applicant. Supervisors are limited to endorsing one applicant; see SGS website for instructions and institutional letter requirements
3. Applicants must obtain and upload a Fulfillment of Degree Requirements Form that has been completed by the institution that conferred their degree. Applicants who require this form from UofT must request it by Nov 14th; see SGS website to request this form.
4. The Banting application is initiated by the applicant through the ResearchNet Application System with the CV data components created using the Common CV system.
5. Applicants must complete, obtain and upload all attachments, submitting the application package via ResearchNet by the application deadline of November 2, 2011 at 8:00 p.m. (EDT).
Further information and questions may be directed to: banting@sgs.utoronto.ca attention Arianna Capotorto, Financial Counsellor, School of Graduate Studies or to Banting@researchnet-recherchenet.ca


Laura Stathopoulos
Sr. Awards Officer | Graduate Awards Office
School of Graduate Studies | University of Toronto
Voice: 416-978-2150 | www.sgs.utoronto.ca
SGS Award opportunities are now available on Ulife

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M E M O R A N D U M

To: Chairs, Graduate Coordinators and Graduate Administrators
Cc: Berry Smith, Vice Dean Students, School of Graduate Studies
From: Laura Stathopoulos, Senior Awards Officer, Graduate Awards Office
Date: August 29, 2011
Re: Changes to 2011-12 Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships Program
________________________________________

This memo is to inform you of upcoming changes for the 2011-2012 Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships competition. I have summarized these changes below for your information:

REVISED—Institutional Endorsement
In light of the number of applications received in the first year (716) and the number of annual awards that are available (only 70 in total), institutions have been instructed by the tri-agencies to endorse only the very best potential postdoctoral candidates for a Banting award. In addition, more detail must be provided in the institutional support letters about the process by which the institution chose to endorse the applicant and the specific reasons why they were endorsed. Therefore, each supervisor may nominate only one candidate for a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship. For more details on the four documents applicants required from host institutions as part of the endorsement process, please refer to the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships website and the SGS

REMINDER—International Recruitment
In keeping with the program’s aim to attract postdoctoral fellows to Canada, Institutions are encouraged to continue to strengthen their efforts to endorse new foreign candidates. If an applicant applies for a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship in collaboration with the same institution (or its affiliated hospitals, research centres and other laboratories) at which they obtained their PhD, PhD-equivalent or health professional degree, a solid justification will be an absolute requirement. The more similar the proposed research environment is to that which existed during the applicant's PhD, PhD-equivalent or health professional degree, the stronger the required justification. Such special circumstances, however, are expected to be exceptionally rare in the context of the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships Program.

REVISED—Adjudication Process
For future competitions, the adjudication of the Banting PDF applications will be done in a single step. The “synergy” aspect of the nominations will no longer be evaluated by the Selection Board, however, the Board will maintain its role in program and review oversight and provide important policy and strategic advice to the Steering Committee. The agency-specific Banting PDF Selection Committees will continue to score and rank the applications against all three selection criteria (research excellence and leadership, proposed research program, and institutional commitment and synergy). Each selection committee will recommend to the Selection Board, for endorsement, the top 23 or 24 most meritorious candidates (for a total of 70 candidates among all three granting agencies). The Steering Committee, to be made up of the Presidents of the three federal granting agencies, and the Deputy Ministers of Industry Canada and Health Canada, will then make the final decisions about the recommendations for Banting PDF awards.

I hope you find this information helpful, please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions at laura.stathopoulos@sgs.utoronto.ca.