Scholarships and Fellowships

Eligibility: Applications are solicited from trainees who have been accepted into a full-time graduate program at the University of Calgary under the supervision of a full member of the Snyder Institute. The award can be used as an incentive to attract International Trainees or to promote Equity, Diversity and Inclusiveness within the trainee body of the Snyder Institute. Only one student in a given laboratory may hold a Beverley Phillips or Paul Kubes award at any one time. Students supervised by Dr. Kubes are ineligible to apply.

Citizenship: Unrestricted

Purpose of fund: The fund will be used to provide salary support for graduate students (MSc and PhD) studying any aspect of infectious or chronic diseases. Specifically, this award is designed to encourage a multidisciplinary approach involving PIs (other than the supervisor) from within or outside the Snyder Institute who bring complementary but distinct perspectives and methodological approaches to interrogate the proposed research project.

In addition to salary support, successful applicants will receive a $2,500 research allowance that can be used to attend research conferences or enroll in training workshops (on-line or in-person). This can include reasonable expenses related to travel, accommodation, meals (at the University of Calgary stipulated rate) and childcare (if applicable).

Where tenable: Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, University of Calgary.

Adjudication: The following criteria will be considered in the selection process:

• Focus on chronic disease research
• Quality of applicant, academic excellence, research experience, awards
• Supervisor’s multidisciplinary training plan and confirmation that funds are available to support the proposed research (these do not have to be tri-council)
• Project’s fit with the mandate of the Snyder Institute

Value of training awards: The award guarantees an annual stipend of $10,000/year plus a research allowance of $2,500/year.

Number of graduate training awards: Two (2) awards per year, subject to available funding.

Duration of training awards: Two (2) years. Renewal of a Paul Kubes award is contingent upon an annual review of progress, evidence the trainee has sought additional support from other studentships/fellowships/awards, and a letter of support from the supervisor.

Applicants must provide a letter of support from their supervisor that commits to provide the balance of the minimum annual stipend mandated by the Graduate Science Education office (currently $25,000 and $27,000 for domestic MSc and PhD trainees, respectively, and $26,000 and $28,000 for international MSc and PhD trainees, respectively).

Administration of awards: The Education Committee of the Snyder Institute will administer the selection process. The Education Committee will be responsible for maintaining meeting minutes, circulating calls for applications, and notifying successful and unsuccessful applicants. It is expected that PIs who supervise students holding an active Beverley Phillips or Paul Kubes award will serve as reviewers in the 2025 and/or future competitions.

The Education Committee Chair will be responsible for reporting to the Snyder Advisory Board on an annual basis regarding awardees and finances.

Applications deadline: The deadline for the next competition is Friday, May 16, 2025 at 5:00 pm. Completed applications (excluding references) must be submitted as a single .pdf file to snydered@ucalgary.ca.

Application form:

• Paul Kubes Trainee Award of Excellence Application

Terms of Reference and Instructions for Applicants:  The award recognizes an outstanding individual from an equity-deserving gender group (women, transgender individuals, non-binary individuals; see definitions section) , who is a trainee in the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases. The recipient will have achieved scientific excellence during their time in the Snyder Institute through publications, scholarships, speaking invitations, research-related knowledge mobilization, research-derived innovation, and other scholarly output relative to their career stage.

Eligibility: Trainees may be nominated by any member of the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases in recognition of Scientific Excellence.  All trainees (MSc., PhD., PDF) who self-identify as belonging to an equity-deserving/equity-denied/equity-seeking gender group  are eligible to be nominated. See below for definitions. Trainees may self-nominate, but still require a letter of support from a member of the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases. Nominees must remain a part of the Snyder Institute until December 24, 2025. 

Terms and Conditions: The purpose of this award is to recognize trainees who have achieved scientific excellence as members of the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases. 

Nomination Procedure:

The nomination package is comprised of 3 parts:

1. A nomination letter written by a member of the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases. This letter must explain why the trainee is being nominated and must place the nominee’s research outputs and scientific contributions in context (impact in their field). The maximum length of this nomination letter is 2 pages. Examples of contributions that could be discussed are listed below.
2. An application form to be completed by the nominee
3. A modified Tri-Agency Narrative CV to be completed by the nominee 

Examples of scientific contributions:

• Communication and knowledge translation of research to specialist or non-specialist research users, including the public (e.g., magazine/newspaper articles, media interviews, blogs, social media, or public lectures).
• Community service that leverages expertise, such as membership on scientific or advisory committees, or journal editorships.
• Contributions to advancing equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility in the research ecosystem.
• Contributions to policies, guidelines, regulations, or standards.
• Contributions supporting traditional knowledge or Indigenous ways of knowing including cultural practices in the natural sciences and engineering/health/social sciences and humanities context.
• Creation, curation, sharing, or re-use of datasets.
• Creation, leadership, facilitation and/or strengthening of partnerships or collaborations in the research community or with other communities, including through research networks, large collaborative projects, or community-engaged research/citizen science.
• Creation of new companies or organizations furthering the production or use of research.
• Development of tools, including software, for use by other researchers or users in the public or private domain.
• Intellectual property, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, or trade secrets.
• Products, technology, processes, services, or advice useful to, co-created with or transferred to specific organizations (from the private, public, or not-for-profit sectors), communities, or society.
• Publications (including articles, communications, pre-prints, monographs, memoirs or special papers, review articles, conference/symposia/workshop proceedings, posters and abstracts, government publications, and reports documenting industrial contributions or contributions to engineering practice).

Nomination Process for External Awardee: Nominees will be selected by the Snyder Institute Trainee Committee (SITC) together with the Snyder Education Committee with input from the Snyder Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Action Group portfolio lead.

Award Process for Internal Applicant: Applications will be assessed by a committee comprised of 1 faculty member from the Snyder Education committee, 1 faculty member from the Snyder Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Group and 2 faculty members-at-large from the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases. The Review committee shall include at least two members who self-identify as belonging to an equity-deserving/equity-seeking/equity-denied group (as defined by Statistics Canada). All members of the scholarship review committee will complete implicit bias training prior to assessing applications. Reviewers must disclose any conflicts of interest with applicants, which includes personal or familial relationships and mentorship/supervisory relationships. Reviewers cannot partake in assessing the applicant if there is a conflict of interest. All nomination information will be held confidentially by the awards committee and not shared with Institute leadership or the various Institute portfolios. 

Adjudication of this award is based on scientific excellence as detailed above, focussing on the trainee’s achievements during their time at the Snyder Institute. Consideration will be given for degree/career stage and will be guided by best practices as outlined in the Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA)

Citizenship

Unrestricted

Number of Awards

Up to 1 trainee may be recognized per year, subject to available funding.

Where Tenable

Snyder Institute, University of Calgary

Value

The award consists of two parts:

• $10,000 scholarship offered directly to the awardee; and a
• $5,000 research allowance

If the awardee receives major funding during the duration of this award, the value of this award will convert to a $5000 top-up. If the nominee graduates or departs the Snyder Institute during the duration of this award, funds will be awarded as an honorarium. 

Duration 

One year. 

Applications Deadline

The deadline for the inaugural competition is August 8, 2025 at 5:00 pm MST. Completed applications must be submitted as a single .pdf file to snydered@ucalgary.ca .

Definitions:

• Equity-deserving/equity-denied/equity-seeking groups: communities and groups that experience significant collective barriers in participating in society. This could include attitudinal, historic, social and environmental barriers based on age, ethnicity, disability, economic status, Indigeneity, gender identity and gender expression, nationality, race, sexual orientation, etc. Equity-denied groups are those who identify barriers to equal access, opportunities and resources due to disadvantage and discrimination and actively seek social justice and reparation.  
• Equity-deserving* gender groups: groups who have experienced attitudinal, historic, social and environmental barriers based on the sex at birth, gender identity and/or gender expression.

*Alternative terminology: Equity-Denied, Equity-Seeking

• Transgender: refers to people whose reported gender does not correspond to their reported sex at birth.
• Non-binary: refers to people whose reported gender is not exclusively man or woman. Herein, non-binary is used to describe all genders that are neither exclusively man nor woman, although individuals might self-identify with other terms.
• Women: refers to people who identify as women, this may or may not match their reported sex at birth. 

Application form:

• Joan Snyder Award for Research Excellence Application