IHPME Black and Indigenous Peoples Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

Purpose

Against a backdrop of longstanding, systemic, anti-Black and anti-Indigenous racism in Canadian society and Canadian universities, including the University of Toronto, the Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation (IHPME) is establishing the IHPME Black and Indigenous peoples Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. The program responds to the historical and contemporary underrepresentation of Black and Indigenous faculty in the academy and to the underrepresentation of Black and Indigenous leadership in other public and private sector entities.

Value

Funding will be available for two postdoctoral fellows per year. The value of each fellowship will be equivalent to that of the most prestigious and highest-value postdoctoral fellowship in Canada. At the time of development of this program, the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship matches this description, and provides $70,000 gross salary per year for two years. In addition, IHPME will provide the standard benefit rate (at the time of writing, this is 10%), and the University of Toronto health plan contribution for each postdoctoral fellow, individual or family rate, as applicable to each postdoctoral fellow, (at the time of writing, this is roughly $50/month for Green Shield). Each selected postdoctoral fellow will also receive an unrestricted research start-up fund of $10,000.

Eligibility Note

This fellowship is open to both domestic and international post-graduates.

Nominees must:

Identify as a Black or Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit, or Metis) person
Demonstrate academic excellence and high potential for success in their chosen field.
Have obtained a doctoral degree, normally within five years from the start date of funding (though this may be waved for exceptional cases), or will have obtained their doctoral degree at the time the fellowship commences.
Not have held a DLSPH Black Postdoctoral Fellowship, or IHPME Black and Indigenous Postdoctoral Fellowship previously.

Recipients must:

Have a primary supervisor who is a core faculty member of IHPME (Tenured, Tenure Track, Academic CLTA, and Term appointees who draw all or part of their salary from IHPME)
Be a postdoctoral employee at the University of Toronto
Register and remain registered with the postdoctoral office at the School of Graduate Studies
Not hold this award concurrently with another major fellowship
Not hold a tenure-track faculty position, or be on leave from such a position

Submission

Interested applicants will identify a faculty member whom they are interested in having as a supervisor, and work with that supervisor to develop a research plan. Interested supervisors will provide a letter of support that details (a) how their experience and expertise will facilitate the postdoctoral fellow’s proposed research and future academic trajectory, (b) the people and organizations whom the supervisor will provide as opportunities for the postdoctoral fellow to expand their academic networks, particularly in preparation to take on a tenure-track, academic appointment (with specific examples) and, (c) how the supervisor will ensure a secure and respectful environment.

The following documents should be submitted as a single PDF document:

Postdoctoral applicant cover letter, describing academic trajectory thus far, and future research and career aspirations;
Postdoctoral applicant CV;
Postdoctoral applicant proposed research plan for the duration of the fellowship;
Three reference letters;
Letter of support from proposed supervisor

Relationship to the University of Toronto Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program for Black and Indigenous Scholars

Successful candidates will also be asked to apply for the University-wide postdoctoral fellowship program and should they be successful in the University-wide competition then this will be the funding source for the postdoctoral award.

Applications

Please send an e-mail to ihpme.awards@utoronto.ca indicating your intent to apply and your proposed supervisor by Monday, February 14, 2022.

The above documents should be submitted as a single PDF document to ihpme.awards@utoronto.ca by Monday, February 28, 2022.

Please direct questions to Aviv Shachak aviv.shachak@utoronto.ca, Graduate Coordinator.