Spring 2025 Postdoctoral Fellowships — Call for Applications

About the Institute for Pandemics

The Institute for Pandemics (IfP) brings together transformative researchers and educators from across disciplines and around the world to address the complex, global public health challenges posed by pandemics and public health emergencies (PHE). Our work centers around three pillars: ‘readiness’ to prevent and track evolving pandemics and epidemics; ‘resilience’ of health systems and communities, and to improve public health policies and interventions during PHEs; and equitable ‘recovery’ to reduce health disparities, and to build back stronger and more fairly. Situated in Canada’s leading school of public health, IfP serves as a knowledge nexus informing public health responses, helping to strengthen systems, and equip future health leaders with a multi-faceted skillset to combat pandemics and PHE.

Purpose of the Postdoctoral Fellowships

The IfP Postdoctoral Fellowships aim to support the next generation of researchers through interdisciplinary research training in PHE and pandemic readiness, resilience and/or recovery.  Recent doctoral graduates or current postdoctoral fellows who are conducting research in such areas are encouraged to apply. Interdisciplinarity is vital to advance such research, so this fellowship must represent a new collaboration between at least two IfP members from different disciplines. Applications will be considered based on scientific merit of the research, novelty and interdisciplinarity, relevance to IfP’s research themes, communication and leadership abilities of the applicant.  

Successful applicants will be expected to contribute to the development and execution of IfP programming and activities, workshops and seminars, present their research at IfP events, and network with IfP members across divisions and campuses at the University of Toronto.

Funding information

Amount of Funding Available

Total funding of $210,000

Number of fellowships to be awarded

Expecting to award 3 fellowships at $70,000 each (plus benefits)

NOTE: Total compensation package can be supplemented with additional support from co-supervisors.

Award duration

One year from July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2026

Note: Extension availability is dependent on IfP receiving additional funding.

Eligibility

• Applicants are required to be either PhD students expected to graduate from a PhD program by June 30, 2025 or full-time postdoctoral fellows (with less than 3 years PDF training at the time of application).
• Applicants are not permitted to apply with their previous supervisor(s).
• Applicants who received their degree from U of T and postdocs working at U of T are eligible for the fellowship provided their research and host arrangements take them in new directions that are significantly distinct from their PhD research and forge new connections within the University.
• Co-supervisors (must have at least two)
  • One identified as the main (host) supervisor
  • At least two must hold a primary faculty appointment at U of T
  • Must be from distinct disciplines (priority to those from different Faculty/Division)
  • Registered members of IfP
• Applicants must independently secure a commitment of office and/or lab space from 1 or more U of T faculty members for the 1-year Fellowship
• Applicants cannot be awarded an IfP Fellowship in conjunction with any other external Fellowship award (excluding top-up, travel, research costs awards). Applicants holding an external award at the time of application must openly declare this and indicate the end date of the existing award. Fellows who accept another full-time Fellowship award during the term of the IfP Fellowship must immediately advise IfP of this and return the remaining award funds to IfP.
• Proposing a project related to at least one of the pandemic research themes of IfP

Additional guidelines to note

• Program funding can be used only to support salary and is provided at the amount indicated. Any additional costs (e.g., recruitment, additional salary expenses, and project supplies expenses) will be covered by the hosts.
• Employment as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto is covered by the terms of the CUPE 3902 Unit 5 Collective Agreement.
• Fellows who leave their positions for full-time employment or other educational opportunities during the fellowship will no longer be eligible for the award and any remaining award funds will be returned to IfP, effective their end date.

Important Dates

• Call for applications – March 17, 2025
• Deadline to submit all application components – April 30, 2025
• Anticipated notice of award – June 1, 2025
• Funding start date – July 1, 2025

Application

All applications must be submitted to ifp.dlsph@utoronto.ca by 11:59pm ET on April 30, 2025.

Application components:

1. Overview Please download and complete a copy of the attached form to include as the first page of your application.
2. Research summary (maximum 250 words) Provide a summary in lay terms of the proposal, highlighting project objectives and deliverables, and describing how the research is relevant to IfP’s research themes to address the challenges of PHE.
3. Research proposal (maximum 3 pages of text, with up to 20 references submitted as an attachment; maximum 1 additional page for supporting tables and figures) Provide an overview of the proposed research, including background, methods, and deliverables.
4. Curriculum vitae (maximum 4 pages) The CV must contain the following sections: education, relevant research/work experience, academic awards, conference presentations and other speaking engagements and publications.
5. Letter of support from the main (host) supervisor (maximum 1 page) The letter should address how the project represents an area of IfP-relevant research that is not covered by existing grants. It must also state a commitment to provide the fellow with office and lab space (if relevant) for the duration of the program. The letter should be emailed directly by the host to ifp.dlsph@utoronto.ca with the applicant's full name in the subject line for reference.
6. Academic letter of recommendation (maximum 1 page) Letter of recommendation should be emailed directly by the author to ifp.dlsph@utoronto.ca with the applicant's full name in the subject line for reference.

Application formatting requirements (sections 1 – 4)

• Please do not include cover pages.
• Please use Arial size 11 font, 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins, and 1.15-line spacing.
• Adhere to word and page limits for each section, as indicated above.
• Combine all documents (sections 1 – 4) into a single PDF file and send by email to ifp.dlsph@utoronto.ca. Do not send separate files. Notification of receipt will be sent within 1 week.

REMINDER: Sections 1 through 4 should be completed directly by the applicant and sent to ifp.dlsph@utoronto.ca and sections 5 and 6 should be sent directly by the authors of the letters to ifp.dlsph@utoronto.ca.

Demographic data collection

Applicants are asked to complete an optional EDI Survey after submitting their application. The purpose of the survey is to collect data for the Institute to reflect on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion practices in the studentship program. The data will only be collected and held by the Associate Director of IfP and shared internally as de-identified, aggregated information to inform the review committee.

Adjudication

Applications will be reviewed by the IfP Leadership who will make recommendations to the IfP Steering Committee for the final award decision.

Applications will be evaluated on the following criteria:

• Research ability and potential (40%)
• Interdisciplinarity and novelty of proposal (40%)
• Communication, interpersonal and leadership abilities (20%)

To foster gender and diverse representation IfP will aim to prioritize at least one of the awards for applicants self-identifying as women, non-binary, or from equity-deserving groups including those who identify as visible minorities, people with disabilities (including invisible and episodic disabilities), 2SLGBTQ+ and/or gender and sexually diverse individuals, and Indigenous Peoples.

Fellowship Responsibilities for the Institute

• Fellows are considered active members of the Institute for Pandemics and will be expected to contribute at least 20% of their time to the planning and execution of IfP programming and activities
• Fellows may be invited to present their research at an IfP Symposium, webinar, or seminar, or to IfP partners.
• Fellows are required to acknowledge IfP in publications, presentations, and communications resulting from their fellowship.

Contact

Questions pertaining to the Postdoctoral Fellowships can be sent to Associate Director, Tedd Konya (ifp.dlsph@utoronto.ca).