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Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships

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Scholarship at a glance

Internal Deadline: July 22, 2024 at 4:00 p.m.
Value: $70,000 annually for two years
Renewable: No

The internal application process for the 2024/2025 Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship competition will open on April 29, 2024

Description

The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship program supports world-class postdoctoral researchers. The fellowship provides $70,000 per year for two years. The program is open to both Canadian and international researchers who have recently completed a PhD, PhD- equivalent, or health professional degree. Applications must be completed in full collaboration with Dalhousie University.

You are strongly encouraged to collaborate directly with your intended supervisors when preparing your application. Dalhousie conducts a rigorous internal review process over the month of August, providing feedback to shortlisted candidates and their supervisor(s)/host departments. You are expected to integrate this feedback and finalize your applications in early September to allow for final review.

Eligibility criteria

  • You must have recently completed a PhD, PhD-equivalent or health professional degree.
  • Canadian and international students are eligible.

Application overview

Your internal application package is to be submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies through the FGS Online Scholarship Platform. The submission process requires you to provide the following:

  • Canadian Common CV (Vanier-Banting academic template)
  • ResearchNet application details
  • Names and contact information of your referees if you wish to have their assessments included in the internal review process
  • The Title of Research Proposal, Lay title, and Lay abstract 
  • Significance of research contributions
  • Significance of leadership contributions
  • Fulfillment of degree requirements form
  • If applicable, Special circumstances
  • Research proposal
  • Bibliography
  • Supervisor's statement

It is recommended you thoroughly review the application, research proposal, and supervisor statement requirements found on the Banting website. Page maximums are strictly enforced, and missing content will reflect poorly on application reviews.              

Arms-length referees must meet the requirements identified in the Banting Application guidelines and are ideally recognized international experts in the intended area of research. 

Please provide referees with a link to the Information for Referees site. The Banting competition is competitive at an international level, with successful applicants often already being identified as leaders in their field by referees. Generic reference letters are strongly discouraged and will negatively affect application support.

Following the internal application process, if you are nominated by Dalhousie for a Fellowship, you will receive an institutional Letter of Endorsement by September 15.

For complete details on eligibility requirements and the application process, please visit the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship website.


Accepting your award

If you have successfully competed for a Banting fellowship, you may be wondering what’s next. The Faculty of Graduate Studies is here to help you navigate this process so you can quickly focus on your fellowship activities.

Confirm your postdoctoral fellowship position

Once you have received a notice of award or funding offer from the funding agency, you will need to contact your supervisor/department to inform them that you have been successful in obtaining an award. You will also need to discuss a planned start/end date and request a letter of offer or letter of invitation.

To prepare the letter of offer or invitation, your supervisor will need a copy of your CV (resume), and a copy of the notice of award confirming the funding offer you’ve received.  Your supervisor will coordinate with Dalhousie’s Academic Staff Relations group to prepare the letter and confirm the start/end dates for your postdoctoral fellowship. Questions related to the letter of offer or letter of invitation can be directed to Academic Staff Relations (academic.staff.relations@dal.ca).

For Banting fellowship awards, you will need to complete a Request for First Installment form, available in the Tri-agency Research Training Award Holder’s Guide. Once all other sections are filled in, you can request the Confirmation of Status section to be completed by the Faculty of Graduate Studies (fgs.slo@dal.ca).

Setting up your funds with Dalhousie University

The Banting fellowship program requires your funding to be managed through Dalhousie University.  You will need to send the following information to fgs.slo@dal.ca:

  • A copy of your notice of award
  • A copy of your Dalhousie offer letter/letter of invitation
  • A completed Research Accountability Statement signed and submitted to fgs.slo@dal.ca by your supervisor.  Your supervisor will be taking financial responsibility for the funding while it is managed at Dalhousie University.

Once this information is received, FGS will coordinate with Financial Services to get an account set up to manage the fellowship funding.  This account must be created before your department will be able to process payroll forms to get your fellowship payment set up.  Please note that there can be a delay between when you submit your acceptance of an award to an external funding agency and the receipt of the funds at Dalhousie. Fellowship payments can only be approved once funding is received from the external funding partner.

For more information on maintaining your funding, interruptions or leaves of absence, please visit our internal myDal site (login required).


Managing your award

For more information on maintaining your funding, interruptions or leaves of absence, please visit our internal myDal site (login required).