Applications are now being accepted for the 2025-2026 Ontario Women’s Health Scholars Award competition.
| Student and Referee Deadline to GDPHS: | November 8, 2024 at 11:55 PM |
| Value/Duration: |
2 Master’s – $25,000 plus $1,000 research allowance (for one year) 3 Doctoral – $35,000 plus $2,000 research allowance (renewable) (for one year) 2 Postdoctoral – $50,000 plus $5,000 research allowance (for one year) |
| Level of Study: | Master’s, Doctoral or Postdoctoral |
| Required Legal Status: | Domestic (Canadian citizens or permanent residents) |
| Results: | April 2025 by agency |
*Applicants must submit their application to their graduate unit, not the Dean of Graduate Studies as the COU announcement indicates.
*Applicants must also notify their referees that the deadline to submit the reference is November 8, 2024.
Purpose
The Ontario Women’s Health Scholars Awards Program aims to establish a research community that meets or exceeds internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence in its creation of new knowledge about women’s health and its translation into improved health for women, more effective health services and products for women, and a strengthened health care system.
Eligibility to Apply
- To be eligible for an Ontario Women’s Health Scholars award, an applicant must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada as of January 31, 2025.
- To be eligible for a master’s or doctoral award, applicants must be registered full-time in a master’s or doctoral graduate program at an Ontario university at the time of taking up the award (i.e., Fall 2025), and must remain registered full-time throughout the entire duration of the award. Master’s students remain eligible to the end of their 6th term of full-time study, and doctoral students to the end of their 15th term of full-time study.
- To be eligible for a postdoctoral award, applicants must be engaged in full-time research at an Ontario university at the time of taking up the award (i.e., September 1, 2025), and must have completed all requirements for the doctoral degree by May 31, 2025 and normally no earlier than January 31, 2022. In cases where an applicant completed all requirements for a doctoral degree before this date, an explanation (e.g., childrearing responsibilities) must accompany the application for the delay in application.
- While holding an Ontario Women’s Health Scholars Award, a recipient is precluded from holding any other award with a value of more than $30,000 for the same academic year (subject to the university’s own policies).
- Publications of any kind, written or oral, related to the research undertaken by a recipient while holding an Ontario Women’s Scholars Award shall acknowledge the support of the work from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care with the following notation:
“The Ontario Women’s Health Scholars Award is funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Ministry of Long-Term Care”
This acknowledgement shall precede all similar acknowledgements of financial support for the work of equal or lesser amounts, and shall also indicate that the views expressed in the publication are the views of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Long-Term Care.
Application Process
Nominees must be sponsored and endorsed by the Dean of Graduate Studies at the Ontario university at which they are undertaking graduate study or postdoctoral research. (Applicants do not need to obtain the Dean’s signature or endorsement when submitting the application. The Graduate Awards Office will provide this endorsement to applications that are selected by SGS to be sent forth to the COU.) Prospective graduate students should only apply through the Ontario university where they intend to hold the award.
The University of Toronto is permitted to put forth two applications per award category to COU. Therefore, each graduate unit may nominate one candidate per award level to SGS for central adjudication.
Applicants must submit their applications to Public Health Sciences not Dean of Graduate Studies) an electronic copy of their application as a single PDF file (excluding confidential letters) through this MS FORM by November 8, 2024 at 11:59PM, using the subject title “OWHSA 2025 App – NAME OF APPLICANT”. Please use the file naming convention “Last name, First name – OWHSA 2025 App”.
The applicant must ask for the appraisals to be emailed directly from the referee to awards.dlsph@utoronto.ca by November 8, 2024 at 11:59PM, with the subject title “OWHSA 2025 Reference – NAME OF APPLICANT”. For the PDF file, please use file naming convention “Applicant last name, first name – OWHSA 2025 Referee last name”. Applicants are responsible for notifying their referees in a timely manner. The graduate office will not contact referees on behalf of applicants. If you intend to apply, please notify your referee at least three weeks before the deadline to ensure they are able to write the reference for you—this is your responsibility.
For more information on application components and additional application reminders, please refer to the University of Toronto OWHSA webpage. To download the application form, please visit the Council of Ontario Universities OWHSA webpage.
Renewals
Current OWHS Doctoral Award holders may apply for a renewal of the award for 2025-26. Applicants should visit the COU website for information regarding their eligibility for renewing their award and to download the renewal application form. Renewal application packages and letters of appraisal may be submitted directly to SGS at janine.harper@utoronto.ca by December 6, 2024 for endorsement. Note that renewals are competitive and are based upon available funding.
Results
The Graduate Unit will communicate the results of the internal competition to their applicants. The SGS Graduate Awards Office will notify those forwarded to SGS the University competition results in late January. The Council of Ontario Universities will announce the Ontario competition results in April 2025.
Contacts & Resources
Please direct all questions regarding the Ontario Women’s Health Scholars Awards competition or nomination process to:
Janine Harper
Graduate Awards Officer
Phone: 416-978-3555
COU Inquiries
Phone: 416-979-2165, ext. 235