DOCTORAL FUNDING WORKSHOP

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DOCTORAL FUNDING WORKSHOP

• Philosophy

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Outline

• Major external scholarships
• Conference travel grants or awards

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1) Major Scholarships

• Government funded (lifetime max. of 4 years of
  government student funding)
• OGS
• One academic year (2010-11)
• 2-3 terms, 5000 per term
• SSHRC
• CGS35,000/year for 36 months (years 1-3 or 2-4)
• SSHRC Doctoral Award20,000/year for up to 48
  months (years 1-4, 2-4, 3-4, or just 4)
• (CIHRup to 26,000 for the Doctoral Award and
  30,000 for the CGS, with a research allowance)

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Why apply?

• You might surprise yourself (and win!)
• Department requirement that all eligible PhD
  students apply for OGS and SSHRC (or CIHR)
• If you feel you should be exempt, come talk to me
• Forces you to think through what your thesis
  really is, ought to be, might be
• You would lose the WGRS but gain much more,
  financially and also professionally because of
  the addition to your CV

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Your timeline

• What you should be doing nowwriting your
  programs of study, finding referees for your
  applications, ordering transcripts
• Thurs. Oct. 1get programs of study to readers
• Thurs. Oct. 15Department deadline for receipt of
  all OGS and SSHRC application materials,
  including transcripts and letters of reference

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What comes next?

• Dept. committee (Grad Chair, 3 Field Directors)
  rank the applications
• Grad Affairs Committee (whole department) reviews
  and approves rankings (Nov. 3)
• Grad Chair does Dept. appraisals of each
  applicant
• Grad Program Assistant submits all applications
  to SGPS (Nov. 6-20)
• SGPS selects which applications will make it out
  of the university for review (i.e., by OGS or
  SSHRC)

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SGPS

• PowerPoint presentations and other information
  for OGS, SSHRC, CIHR, etc.
• http//grad.uwo.ca/financial_support.htm

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OGS

• http//osap.gov.on.ca/eng//not_secure/Plan_Grants_
  full_sepapp_OGS_12345.htm
• Pdf of referee form is here

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General Eligibility OGS

• Canadian citizen, Protected Person, or Permanent
  Resident or have received a temporary resident
  visastudent class
• Plan to be enrolled full-time in an eligible
  program leading to a masters or doctoral degree
  at an eligible institution in Ontario

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SSHRC

• http//www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/site/apply-demande/pro
  gram_descriptions-descriptions_de_programmes/fello
  wships/doctoral-doctorat-eng.aspx
• Pdf of referee form is here

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General Eligibility SSHRC

• Canadian citizen or permanent resident at time of
  application
• Not be applying in the 2009-2010 academic year to
  NSERC or CIHR
• Not have already received an award at the same
  level from SSHRC, NSERC or CIHR
• Conducting research in an area that falls within
  SSHRCs mandate

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Program of Study

• Not binding documents
• Must be,
• Well-written (density of writing is a common
  problem)
• Free of jargon or technical termsthe review
  committee will be multi-disciplinary
• Conform to instructions from the funding agency

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Program SSHRC instructions

• Regardless of whether you are currently a
  doctoral student, you are asked to
• Provide an outline of your doctoral thesis
  proposal, including the research question,
  context, objectives, methodology and contribution
  to the advancement of knowledge
• Max. length is 2 pages single-spaced (OGS max. is
  1 page)

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My instructions

• Answer the following
• What is your research question? (Research
  Question)
• Why is this question both important and
  difficult?
• What have others said in response to it?
  (Context)
• What will you say that is different or new (and
  from what philosophical perspective)?
  (Objectives Contribution to Advancement of
  Knowledge)
• What will you do to answer the question?
  (Methodology)

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more

• Why are you well suited to pursuing this
  research?
• How will you disseminate the results of it? (If
  you have dissemination plans, then state them
  briefly)
• Why is Western (or X university) a good place for
  you to do this research? Who is/could be your
  supervisor and why?

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Methodology

• What sort of approach will you take? Do you have
  a preferred philosophical method (that you could
  describe clearly but briefly)?
• If not, you could simply say that you will do a
  thorough analysis of the literature on X, Y, Z
  and then a critical normative analysis that
  proves your thesis
• You could also give a timeline for completing the
  work (that says what youre going to do when)

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Reviewers of your proposal

• PhD advisor or supervisor
• Faculty in your area if youre currently an MA
  student
• Referees
• One another
• SGPS Experts at a Consult the Experts session
  (which youve been notified about)

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Consult the Experts

• Have a draft of the program of study vetted by
  the Vice-Provost or by an Associate Vice-Provost
• Sessions held in Grad Club conference room
• Remaining sessions
• Monday, September 21 (7-9pm)
• Thursday, October 1 (730-9)

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What to send referees

• Pdf of the referee form
• Your program of study (or a draft of it)
• Any information about you that theyll need to
  fill out the form (e.g., student number)
• Give them ample time to do the letter!

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2) Awards for Conference Travel

• From academic organizations for travel to their
  own conferences (e.g., CPA, CBS, FAB)
• Mary Routledge Fellowships
• Joint Fund for Graduate Student Research
• (If I get information on any others, Ill pass it
  along)

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Mary Routledge

• Cover expenses incurred as a result of a need to
  consult archival materials off campus, or to
  otherwise travel in the context of their
  research
• Need a minimum A average and to exhibit research
  ability or potential
• Awarded on the basis of applications submitted to
  the Office of the Dean of Arts no later than
  January 15 of any calendar year
• Total of 6000 available annually

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Joint Fund

• Joint between Research Western, SOGS, and SGPS
• Application must be submitted one month prior to
  the event
• Award amount will depend on budget submitted,
  though funding is limited
• See SOGS website www.uwo.ca/sogs/Programs/jointFu
  nd.html