Students are encouraged to apply for all scholarships and awards for which they are eligible.

All graduate students are expected to apply for external scholarship support (e.g. OGS, CIHR, NSERC etc.) when eligible.

A student who receives $15,000 or more as a major, competitive, external scholarship will receive a $4,000 merit bonus, which is added to his/her stipend for the duration of the award.

Students who receive an awards of greater value than the total stipend plus $4,000 merit bonus (ie. Doctoral or Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships) will be ineligible for a further merit bonus.

The School of Graduate Studies and the Faculty of Medicine’s Graduate and Life Sciences Education Office (GLSE) maintain a list of available awards.

Teaching Assistant Positions

There is a limited number of Teaching Assistant (TA) positions, which allow students to gain teaching experience while supplementing their stipend income. Money earned from TA positions is income that can be added to their stipend. Students may work a maximum of 10 hours per week out of a 40 hour school week. This limit is to ensure that graduate students devote sufficient time to their thesis work.

Approximately 35 % of graduate students hold some type of TA position. These positions range from marking and invigilating exams, to running tutorial sessions and laboratory courses. The department will notify students via email and bulletin board postings as TA positions become available.

Entrance Scholarships

Outstanding applicants will be considered for University of Toronto Fellowships and nominated for University entrance scholarships. Applicants enrolled in undergraduate programs at Canadian universities who wish to be considered for these awards must submit an application with all supporting material through the undergraduate university at which they are enrolled prior to January 10. We encourage all non-Canadian applicants to meet this deadline.

Ontario Student Opportunity Trust Fund (OSOTF) Awards

Students who receive funding from needs-based / merit awards, such as OSOTF’s (Ontario Student Opportunity Trust Funds) are required to consider such funds as part of their total stipend.

Lounge and eating area, Mars 2 research tower

Departmental Awards

University of Toronto Fellowship

All eligible students are considered for this award which is valued at $12,000. U. of T. Fellowships do not qualify as competitive awards and the merit bonus does not apply. No application is needed.

Excellent Teaching Assistant Awards

Two awards will be given annually in recognition of excellent performance as a Teaching Assistant in any of the courses offered by the Department of Biochemistry.

Outstanding Ph.D. Thesis In Biochemistry Award

The award will be based on having a well written and scholarly thesis document that provides important contributions to new knowledge (not strictly publications) and outstanding performance at the oral defense.

Any faculty member may nominate a student who has defended their PhD between August 1st, 2021 and July 31st, 2022.

The application should include:

  1. A nomination letter
  2. At least one letter of reference from the supervisor and a second letter from an exam committee member, the letters should comment on the importance of the thesis and the performance of the student during the thesis exam
  3. The student’s CV
  4. The thesis abstract

The awardee will receive a $500 award and give a talk about their work to the Department.

The deadline for awards submissions and all reference letters is midnight August 19th. All applications must be emailed to Carrie Harber (carrie.harber@utoronto.ca).

David A. Scott Award

This award is for the “best all-round Biochemistry graduate student using as criteria performance at seminars, readiness and willingness to assist fellow graduate students and staff, abilities as teaching assistant, etc.” The award is provided from an endowed fund set up by the estate of David Scott in his honour and is currently valued at $500.

David Scott was one of Canada’s most distinguished biochemists. He played a key role in the development of methods for large scale preparation and purification of insulin. He was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 1939 and the Royal Society of London in 1949.

Nomination Procedure: Any faculty member or student may nominate a student currently enrolled in the M.Sc. or Ph.D. program in the Department of Biochemistry.

The application should include:

  1. A nomination letter
  2. At least one letter of reference
  3. The student’s CV

The awardee will receive a $500 award and give a talk (typically focus on their career, life choices or extracurricular activities) to the department.

Deadline for receipt of nominations: early May; e-mail notification will be sent out.
The winner will be announced at our annual Research Day in mid-May.

The deadline for awards submissions and all reference letters is midnight August 19th. All applications must be emailed to Carrie Harber (carrie.harber@utoronto.ca).

Connell Award for Top Graduate Student Publication of 2021

The graduate student being considered for the prize must be the first author of the paper. Joint 1st authors will be considered if both authors are Biochemistry grad students, but the prize will be shared. The nominated paper must have been published in the 2021 and must indicate that the student is affiliated with the Department of Biochemistry.

A student’s paper can be nominated by the student or by his/her supervisor.

The application should include:

  1. A pdf file of the published paper (NOT the original manuscript or an advance e-publication)
  2. A one-page letter that summarizes the significance of the paper

The awardee will receive a $500 award and present their published work to the department.

The deadline for awards submissions and all reference letters is midnight August 19th. All applications must be emailed to Carrie Harber (carrie.harber@utoronto.ca).

Connell Award for Best All-Round Postdoctoral Fellow

The criteria used to judge the applicants will encompass excellence in research, leadership within the laboratory and the Biochemistry community, scientific communication and outreach, and contributions including presentations and intellectual property.

Any faculty member or postdoctoral fellow may nominate a postdoctoral fellow working in a lab that is in the

Department of Biochemistry.

The application should include:

  1. A nomination letter
  2. At least one letter of reference
  3. The applicant’s CV

The awardee will receive a $500 award and give a talk about their work to the Department.

The deadline for awards submissions and all reference letters is midnight August 19th. All applications must be emailed to Carrie Harber (carrie.harber@utoronto.ca).

Centennial Award in honour of Sela Cheifetz

The award is for the top Ph.D. student in the Biochemistry Graduate Program who is beyond their 3rd year.

Any faculty member or student may nominate a student currently enrolled in the Ph.D. program in the Department of Biochemistry.

The application should include:

  1. A nomination letter
  2. At least one letter of reference
  3. The student’s CV

The awardee will receive a $1,000 award and give a talk to the Department about their thesis work.

The deadline for awards submissions and all reference letters is midnight August 19th. All applications must be emailed to Carrie Harber (carrie.harber@utoronto.ca).

The Pfizer Graduate Scholarship

To be awarded to a graduate student in the first or second year of the PhD program in the Department of Biochemistry*. The student’s project must be in the areas of cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, inflammation and immunology, cancer, pain or vaccine research.

The application should include:

  1. A statement of intent (1 page on why you deserve this award)
  2. Graduate Transcript(s)
  3. The applicant’s CV
  4. An abstract of the proposed research (1 page maximum)

The awardee will receive a $34,000 fellowship for one year. Students cannot simultaneously hold this award with any other major award (OGS, CGS-M, CGS-D, Vanier etc.) Students who have been accepted and placed in a lab starting in September 2021 are eligible for this award.

* This includes students who entered into the MSc program and transferred to the PhD program in 2019 or later. For students who entered the PhD program, they must have been registered by 2019 or later.

The deadline for awards submissions and all reference letters is midnight August 19th. All applications must be emailed to Carrie Harber (carrie.harber@utoronto.ca).

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