Ontario Women’s Health Scholars Awards at University of Toronto 2026

The Ontario Women’s Health Scholars Award Program aims to establish a research community that meets or exceeds internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence in its creation of new knowledge about women’s health and its translation into improved health for women, more effective health services and products for women, and a strengthened health care system.

Table of Content

• Summary
• Benefits
• Requirements
• Interview Process
• Application Deadline
• How To Apply

Summary

• Application DeadlineDecember 5, 2025
• Value$25,000 - $50,000
• Study LevelMasters , PhD , Postdoctoral Fellowships
• SponsorUniversity of Toronto
• City to studyToronto
• School to studyUniversity of Toronto
• Eligible CountryCanada

Benefits

2 Master's Awards—$?25,000 plus $1,000 research allowance; 3 Doctoral Awards—$35,000 plus $2,000 research allowance; 2 Postdoctoral Awards—$50,000 plus $5,000 research allowance

Requirements

• To be eligible for an Ontario Women’s Health Scholars award, an applicant must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada as of January 31, 2026.
• To be eligible for a master’s or doctoral award, applicants must be registered full-time in a master’s or doctoral graduate program at an Ontario university at the time of taking up the award (i.e., Fall 2026), and must remain registered full-time throughout the entire duration of the award. Master’s students remain eligible to the end of their 6th term of full-time study, and doctoral students to the end of their 15th term of full-time study.
• To be eligible for a postdoctoral award, applicants must be engaged in full-time research at an Ontario university at the time of taking up the award (i.e., September 1, 2026), and must have completed all requirements for the doctoral degree by May 31, 2026 and normally no earlier than January 31, 2023. In cases where an applicant completed all requirements for a doctoral degree before this date, an explanation (e.g., childrearing responsibilities) must accompany the application for the delay in application. Additionally, a postdoctoral award winner will not be eligible to apply again as a new postdoctoral applicant.
• While holding an Ontario Women’s Health Scholars Award, a recipient is precluded from holding any other award with a value of more than $30,000 for the same academic year (subject to the university’s own policies).
• Publications of any kind, written or oral, related to the research undertaken by a recipient while holding an Ontario Women’s Scholars Award shall acknowledge the support of the work from the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care with the following notation:
  “The Ontario Women’s Health Scholars Award is funded by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Ministry of Long-Term Care.”
  This acknowledgement shall precede all similar acknowledgements of financial support for the work of equal or lesser amounts, and shall also indicate that the views expressed in the publication are the views of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Long-Term Care.

Selection Process

Applicants for master’s and doctoral awards will be assessed on their talent, the excellence of their work, the vision that they bring to their endeavours, and the impact that the committee expects to result from the applicant’s work, as indicated by:

• The program of study and research and its potential contribution to the advancement of knowledge about women’s health;
• Past academic results, demonstrated by transcripts, awards and distinctions;
• Relevant professional and academic experience, including research training, as evidenced by papers presented at conferences and the applicant’s publication record;
• Written letters of appraisal; and
• The appropriateness of the choice of institution and supervising investigator.

Applicants for postdoctoral awards will be assessed on their talent, the excellence of their work, the vision that they bring to their endeavours, and the impact that they foresee resulting from their work, as indicated by:

• The program of study and research and its potential contribution to the advancement of knowledge about women’s health;
• The degree of originality and expected contribution to the advancement of knowledge about women’s health;
• Significance of the research for women’s health, understood to encompass scholarly or intellectual significance as well as social and cultural significance;
• The suitability of theoretical perspectives;
• The appropriateness and expected effectiveness of the research strategies or methodologies;
• The suitability and expected effectiveness of plans to communicate research results both within, and, as appropriate, beyond the academic community;
• Where appropriate, the nature and extent of research training;
• Written letters of appraisal; and
• The appropriateness of the choice of institution and supervising investigator.

Check also:
Shopify Dev Degree Program 2026 (Fully Funded)
York University President's International Scholarship of Excellence 2026

Application Deadline

How To Apply

All applicants must be sponsored and endorsed by the Dean of Graduate Studies at the Ontario university at which they are undertaking graduate study or postdoctoral research (Applicants do not need to obtain the Dean’s signature or endorsement when submitting the application. The Graduate Awards Office will provide this endorsement to those applications selected by SGS to put forth to COU).

Applicants must submit to their graduate unit (not Dean of Graduate Studies) an electronic copy of their application as a single PDF file via email by the graduate unit application deadline. All applications must include:

1. The completed application form from the COU website
2. A curriculum vitae – no page restrictions (must include information concerning the eligibility criteria)
3. A statement of research written by the candidate (maximum 1,000 words; must describe the research to be undertaken during the period of graduate or postdoctoral study and any progress already made in this research)
4. A non-technical summary written by the candidate (maximum 500 words)
5. One additional page is allowed for diagrams, bibliography, etc.

An application for a master’s or a doctoral award must also include:

• The applicant’s undergraduate and (if appropriate) graduate transcripts, which may be either:
  • Official transcripts issued by the university’s Registrar’s office (legends must be included for all transcripts including those from U of T); or
  • Copies verified and certified as accurate by the Registrar’s office of the nominating university. ACORN print-outs are acceptable for the departmental and university-wide review; however, nominees selected to be forwarded to the COU must provide official U of T transcripts in order to be forwarded. All other transcripts must be official.
• Confidential letters of appraisal of the applicant from two assessors***

An application for a postdoctoral award must also include:?

• A brief summary of the doctoral thesis (maximum 300 words)
• Confidential letters of appraisals of the applicant from four assessors, signed and on letterhead***.
• Mandatory arm’s length assessors: Postdoctoral applications must have two arm’s length assessors from among the four assessors. The arm’s length assessors:
  • Must not have been associated with the applicant as a supervisor, a member of the applicant’s supervisory committee, or a co-author; and
  • Are, if at all possible, not at the university at which the applicant was a doctoral student.

***The letters of appraisal for all awards (master’s, doctoral, or postdoctoral) should focus on an evaluation of the applicant’s research to date, and on the research the applicant proposes to undertake during the period of the award, paying particular attention to the criteria for selection described below. Assessors should also provide a short description of the relationship, if any, with the applicant.

The applicant must ask for the appraisals to be emailed directly from the referee to the Graduate Administrator at the graduate unit/department by the student deadline.

The University of Toronto is permitted to put forth two applications per award category to COU. Therefore, each graduate unit may nominate one candidate per award level to SGS for central adjudication.

For more details, visit University of Toronto Scholarship webpage