Award Opportunities

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LA&PS Graduate and Post-Doctoral Research Events Fund

Deadline: Rolling deadline.

Value: Up to $5,000 per year

Eligibility: LA&PS-based graduate students and post-doctoral fellows (who must be applying for an event that occurs within the period of their fellowship) who plan to organize a scholarly conference or workshop at York University are invited to apply. This fund supports research-related events that engage LA&PS community members in fruitful exchanges with other members of the York community, scholars and students from outside York, or individuals and organizations that form part of the University’s neighbouring communities.

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LA&PS Graduate Student Travel Grant for Dissemination

Deadlines: Rolling deadline.

Value: Up to $1,000

Eligibility: This grant offsets costs associated with the public dissemination of research, scholarship or creativity undertaken by full- or part-time LA&PS-based graduate students and post-doctoral fellows (who must be applying for an event that occurs within the period of their fellowship). Applications must be submitted in advance of the presentation and include a budget, paper abstract or summary, confirmation of conference acceptance (paper or poster presentation) and confirmation from supervisor that the conference is an important part of the applicant’s professional development.

Frequency of Request: one application per LA&PS graduate student per Fiscal Year (May 1 – April 30). 

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LA&PS Dissertation Fieldwork Fellowship

Applications are open as of June 1, 2023.

Deadline: Tuesday, July 4, 2023 at 4 p.m.

Value: The Dissertation Fieldwork Fellowship supports up to a one-year leave from holding a teaching assistant (TA) position by replacing the value of portions of the graduate funding package – the grant-in-aid, the graduate financial assistance and tutorial wages – with Fieldwork Fellowship funding. Up to 20 Fieldwork Fellowships will be available in each academic year.

The Dissertation Fieldwork Fellowship amounts are equivalent to a 1.0 TA’ship.

Eligibility: Eligible applicants are doctoral students who need to complete fieldwork or other research in support of their dissertations that makes it impossible to take up a tutorial assistant (TA) position during the academic year. This includes traditional fieldwork conducted abroad or within Canada, it may be ethnographic research or participant observation and extended archival research.

As a doctoral student in a LA&PS-based graduate program, the Fellowship will allow you to fully engage in your research and finish your dissertation in a timely manner without foregoing the basic funding package.

• Applicants can apply in years two or three of their doctoral programs.
• Applicants cannot hold both a TA position and the Fellowship in the same academic year.
• Fieldwork must be conducted no later than the fourth year of study; applications for fieldwork to be conducted in years five or six will not be considered.
• Students applying to the fund with the intention of leaving on fieldwork must communicate their plans to their graduate program director.
• Applicants must have completed all course work, passed all qualifying examinations and submitted their dissertation proposals to the Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS) and, if required, to the Office of Research Ethics.
• Graduate students will receive instalments of the Fellowship in their student account at the beginning of the Fall, Winter and Summer terms.
• Upon completion of the Fellowship, students will be eligible to take up TA positions within the Faculty of LA&PS.
• Students who hold a Canadian graduate scholarship or other large scholarship designed to fund fieldwork are not eligible.

Application Requirements: Fill out an application online, ensuring you submit the appropriate documents:

• Statement of Support: Please send Statement of Support link to each faculty member submitting a letter of reference for your application
• Your two page statement describing the research project: make sure to describe in your application the reasons that you cannot conduct your research while remaining on-site at York University (for example, your research must be conducted abroad; or, the nature of the research and its time commitments – even if conducted closer to Toronto – make it impossible for you to be on site at York through one academic year). A timeline for the research, travel dates, site location, must be included in the statement.
• Upload your proposal, confirmation of FGS and Ethics approvals, risk assessment (if required by FGS).
• Students must request two statements, one from their supervisor and one from a committee member. Statements should address whether the student is in good academic standing; the student’s ability to carry out the activities proposed in the proposal; the merit of the intended dissertation and clearly indicating the name of the student in the header of the document.
• Students who have not yet submitted their proposals, research ethics and risk assessment documentation to FGS may still apply, but the statements of support must confirm expected timing of receipt of proposals and should speak to the work you have conducted thus far. The adjudication committee may contact your Graduate Program Director for feedback on your application.
• No funds will be deposited in student accounts until FGS approvals have been received. Please plan accordingly before applying to this fund.

Note: For the duration of the Fellowship, students shall:

1) Retain their placement status within the CUPE 3903 priority pool (this should not be understood to extend a participant’s years of doctoral funding or priority pool status);

2) Accrue applicable prior experience at the rate of .67 for the one-year duration of the fellowship; and

3) Retain their entitlement to health and dental benefits on the same terms as graduate students actively engaged in TA work.

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LA&PS Postdoctoral Fellowship

Deadline: November 1, 2023, by 4:00 p.m. EST. 

Value: Fellowships are effective from July 1, 2024, with an annual salary of $50,000 per year, paid monthly. Appointments will be for one year and cannot be renewed.

Program Objectives
Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) Postdoctoral Fellowships (PDFs) support promising Canadian or International new scholars in the humanities, social sciences and professional studies.   

LA&PS especially welcomes applications for research projects that aim to foster new collaborations with the York LA&PS community. Topics may be Canadian or international in scope. Applicants must indicate a full-time LA&PS faculty member who will act as supervisor, and projects should be closely aligned with the current research of that person, who will need to provide a letter of support. Proposals should also align with the York University Academic Plan.   

Eligibility for Applicants
Eligible applicants should have completed a PhD in a relevant field from a recognized postsecondary institution no earlier than July 1, 2021. PhD Candidates may only apply if a dissertation defense date prior to the start of the Fellowship (i.e., prior to July 1, 2024) has been confirmed and communicated to the LA&PS Research Office in advance of the Fellowship submission deadline. Awards to PhD Candidates are contingent on the completion of the doctoral degree. If a successful PhD Candidate applicant fails to complete the PhD before the start date of the Fellowship, the Fellowship offer will be rescinded. Successful applicants must be eligible to work in Canada. A extended application window of July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2021 is open to applicants whose research careers experienced interruptions due to relevant special circumstances. The career interruptions must have occurred after the completion of the doctorate and must be documented in the application’s CV section.

LA&PS PDFs are classified as Postdoctoral Visitors. Postdoctoral Visitors are included in the York University Faculty Association (YUFA). An electronic copy of the YUFA Collective Agreement is accessible through the faculty relations website.

Eligibility for Supervisors
Only Full-Time, Tenured or Tenure Track York University Faculty Association (YUFA) Faculty Members associated with LA&PS are eligible to be Supervisors for LA&PS PDFs.

Note: Up to four (4) Fellowships will be awarded in this call for submissions. No more than one (1) Fellowship will be awarded to an applicant who received their PhD from York University. 

2023 Special Initiative - Championing Emerging Indigenous & Black Scholars
In recognition of the lack of research development opportunities for emerging Indigenous and Black scholars, the 2023 competition will give priority for up to two Fellowships to qualified applicants who self-identify as an Indigenous Person of Canada and/or a Black person of African Descent (for example, Africans and African heritage people from the Caribbean, Americas, Europe). 

Questions may be directed to the LA&PS Research Office, lapsrsc@yorku.ca.

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Entrance Award Black and Indigenous Students

The Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies (LA&PS) wishes to recognize the historic under-representation of Black and Indigenous students in LA&PS graduate programs by creating a new entrance award of $5000 per student. We particularly wish to encourage applications to study in programs that have not traditionally seen participation from Black or Indigenous students. 

A limited number of these awards will be available on a first-come basis for both MA and PhD students beginning in Fall 2022. 

At the time of application an applicant must:

• Self-Identify as a Black and/or Indigenous person of Canada (either in their statement or in other written communication to the program).
• Be a domestic or international graduate student (MA or PhD).
• Receive an initial offer of admission to a full-time LA&PS graduate degree program (commencing September following the current competition).

Applicants must also demonstrate the following:

• Academic merit – they have achieved at least A- (or equivalent) in each of the last two completed years of study (full-time equivalent); or if the student has competed two years of graduate studies at the time of application, the student must only demonstrate an overall average of at least A- (or equivalent) on all graduate courses completed. 
• However, programs may put forward candidates who have not demonstrated that average provided they can show significant community experience or traditional knowledge.  

Graduate Programs are asked to indicate to the AD Graduate which of their applicants qualify and that they wish to put forward for this award, including a brief rationale. These awards are held on top of normal funding packages and any York Graduate Scholarships that may be provided.

​​Note: Recipients must maintain full-time registration throughout the academic year immediately following the current competition. 

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