UBC Okanagan Postdoctoral Fellowships
The UBC Okanagan Postdoctoral Fellowship (UBCOPF) provides the opportunity to bring top talent to the research community at UBC’s Okanagan campus. These fellowships are awarded to the most highly qualified domestic or international postdoctoral researchers who will contribute to research excellence at UBC Okanagan.
Research excellence, as defined in UBC’s Strategic Plan, accommodates a “broad vision of accomplishment” based on disciplinary expertise as well as cross-disciplinary collaborations, demanding “the creation of new knowledge and its accelerated translation into action.” Facilitating competitive achievements in research fosters technological developments, but as our Strategic Plan acknowledges, supporting research excellence also engenders projects with a wide range of potential impacts “that lead to social innovations, that inform our understanding of history, or that enrich our world through creative works.”
In addition, equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. An open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the B.C. Human Rights Code, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Métis, Inuit, or Indigenous person.
The selection process is managed by the College of Graduate Studies.
Fellowship Details
Two fellowships are awarded annually: one for STEM disciplines and one for research in the Arts, Humanities, and/or Social Sciences.
Pre-Application Proposal Deadline: Wednesday, September 6, 2023 at 12:00 noon
Application Deadline: Monday, October 16, 2023 at 12:00 noon
Annual Value: $50,000
Duration: 2 years (non-renewable; second-year funding is contingent on confirmation of satisfactory performance via an annual report)
Award Status: Closed
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for the UBCOPF, applicants:
- May be citizens of any country.
- May be a UBC/UBC Okanagan PhD graduate or current UBC/UBC Okanagan Postdoctoral Fellow, but must produce a compelling rationale (justification must be provided in the Special Circumstances document) for choosing to remain at UBC.
- Acceptable reasons may include: family reasons (e.g., family obligations); health reasons (e.g., proximity to health care facilities); applicants conducting research with Indigenous communities in British Columbia; or reasons related to community or cultural responsibilities.
- Must have fulfilled all degree requirements for their PhD prior to taking up the Fellowship.
- Applicants who have not fulfilled all requirements for their degree at the time of application must submit proof of completion prior to taking up the Fellowship.
- Applicants must have received their PhD no more than five years before the start of the Fellowship.
- The window of eligibility may be extended by a cumulative maximum of three years if the applicant had their career interrupted by extenuating circumstances, such as parental leave, illness, health-related family responsibilities, mandatory military service, disruptions due to war, civil conflicts and/or natural disasters in the country of residence, socio-economic reasons, lack of research opportunities, etc. Eligibility will only be extended by the duration of the eligible delay(s) or interruption(s).
- Interruptions used to extend the eligibility window for degree completion must have occurred after the fulfilment of your degree requirements and before the application submission deadline.
- Must not currently hold a tenure-track or continuing faculty position at a university or college. Applicants who currently hold a temporary, term, or non-tenure track faculty appointment are eligible to apply.
- Applicants who currently hold or have held agency-specific (CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC) awards at the postdoctoral level are eligible to apply to the UBCOPF program only if the term of that funding officially ends on or before the start date of the UBCOPF. Early termination of an agency-specific postdoctoral award for the purpose of applying to the UBCOPF is not permitted.
- Cannot hold a UBCOPF in conjunction with the Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellowship.
- Cannot have previously held a UBCOPF.
Selection Criteria
A total of two fellowships will be awarded: one for research in STEM disciplines, and one for research in the Arts, Humanities, and/or Social Sciences.
In recognition of the importance of faculty career development, preference will be given to applicants whose proposed supervisor is at a developmental stage of their career.
Excellence in scholarly work and independent research: 60%
- quality of contributions to research to date;
- scholarships and awards held;
- duration of graduate studies, taking into account the nature of the program and relevant personal circumstances;
- determination and ability to complete projects within an appropriate period of time;
- critical thinking, judgment, and initiative;
- resilience and flexibility in adjusting research plans, particularly in response to COVID-19 impacts.
Quality of proposed research project: 40%
- originality in developing a research agenda;
- merit, potential significance, clarity, and feasibility of the proposed project;
- relevance of applicant’s work experience and academic training to field of proposed research;
- suitability and quality of research environment (such as proposed supervisor, facilities, and support of academic unit).
Application procedures and timeline
The applicant completes and submits a pre-application proposal form and, if recommended by their proposed faculty, a full application.
The Pre-application Proposal Form, full UBCOPF Application Form, and a detailed UBCOPF Application Guide, which includes this year’s timeline and instructions, are included in the ‘Additional Resources’ section below.
Applicants to the UBCOPF may also be eligible for the Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. To be considered for both fellowships, applicants must submit the UBCOPF Pre-Application Proposal form as well as the Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Pre-Application Proposal form, and select ‘yes’ to: “I have reviewed the eligibility criteria and would like to be considered for the UBC Okanagan Postdoctoral Fellowship”. It is not necessary to submit two separate full applications to the Killam and UBCOPF; a Killam application will suffice for both fellowship programs. For more information please visit the Killam Postdoctoral Research Fellowship webpage.