Application Procedures for Student and Postdoctoral Fellowships

Application Procedure

The applicant should contact two or more faculty members who would be willing to jointly supervise the trainee in a collaborative, transdisciplinary research project. At least one of the supervisors must be a member of the program. The other supervisor need not be appointed to the University of Toronto or be located in Toronto. Preference will be given to projects involving two or more supervisors who are members of the program and who are from two different areas of protein folding research (i.e. In Vitro, In Vivo, Chaperones, Computational, Diseases of Misfolding/Aggregation). Only one collaborative project involving a mentor outside of Toronto will be funded per member of the program. In such a case, the trainee will be expected to spend an average of one or more weeks per year in the laboratory of this mentor, although there is flexibility in the distribution of these visits. The schedule for the visits must be described in the application.

The applicant, with the support of the prospective supervisors, should complete the appropriate forms and obtain the necessary transcripts and recommendation letters (see below).

A single PDF file of all the required documents including the scanned transcripts, but not the reference letters, should be emailed to Mr. Rob Reedijk at rob.reedijk@utoronto.ca. The reference letters should be emailed by the respective PI directly to Mr. Reedijk clearly indicating the name of the trainee applicant.

The contact information for Mr. Reedijk is as follows:
CIHR Training Program in Protein Folding
c/o Mr. Rob Reedijk
Department of Biochemistry
University of Toronto
Medical Sciences Building
1 King's College Circle
Toronto, Ontario M5S 1A8
CANADA
Phone (416) 978-0774
Email: rob.reedijk@utoronto.ca

Forms
The applicant, in conjunction with the two (or more) prospective supervisors, should prepare an application which includes the following components:
1. PF_CV_Module for trainee (click to download)
2. PF_Training_Module (click to download)
3. Undergraduate and graduate transcripts
4. Recommendation letters: three for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. Two of the letters should be from the sponsoring mentors who will supervise the applicant.

Application Deadline
The application deadline is indicated on the Home Page. Applications are typically reviewed by the Program Advisory Committee within 1-2 weeks of receipt.

Application Results
The decision of the Program Advisory Committee will be announced within a few weeks of submission of the application . Names of the successful applicants will be posted on our web page and their respective supervisors will be contacted.

Eligibility
This training program is open for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows. Students who have been accepted into the University of Toronto, St. George, Scarborough, or Mississauga campus in any relevant department are eligible to apply. Graduate students who are already enrolled in these departments are also eligible.

Prospective post-doctoral fellows should have obtained a PhD degree prior to the start date of the fellowship. Furthermore, candidates with more than five years of postdoctoral training by the competition deadline are not eligible to apply for this award. Any interruption in a candidate's postdoctoral training will be taken into account in determining eligibility.

Trainees who are supported by other external fellowships are not eligible; however, those with internal U of T Open and HSC Restracomp funding are eligible.

Funding levels
Graduate students: $15,000/yr for up to 3 years which can be extended to a fourth year subject to availability of funds and the approval of the PAC.
Post-doctoral fellows: $25,000/yr for up to 2 years which can be extended to a third year subject to availability of funds and the approval of the PAC.
In general, two trainees per program member can be funded at any one time by the Training Program; in exceptional circumstances, an application for a third may be considered.

All commitments made are contingent on availability of grant funds. Any new fellowships are awarded on a year-to-year basis.