AARMS Postdoctoral Fellowships

The deadline for the 2010 AARMS Postdoctoral Fellowship Competition is December 15, 2009. Applications will be accepted through our online system which will be accessible from HERE from November 15.

Eligibility and place of tenure

AARMS postdoctoral fellowships are awarded, on the recommendation of its Scientific Review Panel (SRP), to beginning researchers who received their PhD no more than four years before applying. Applications will be considered from those who anticipate receiving their PhD before the proposed start time of the fellowship, however the PhD must be in hand before actually beginning the fellowship.

It is typically expected that the proposed supervisor will not be the same person as the applicant's PhD supervisor, and that the proposed Postdoctoral Fellowship will be at a different university than the one at which the PhD was awarded. The proposed supervisor must be a full-time tenure track or tenured faculty member at a university in Atlantic Canada.

Duration

Normally two years. Funding for the second year is dependent upon satisfactory performance demonstrated in the detailed progress report submitted by the supervisor(s).

Application

Applications should be made by the candidate through the PDF Application page. After registering on the system, applicants should send their username to their proposed supervisor(s). This enables the supervisor(s) to make their contributions to the application. The application should include:

• CV (in pdf format)
• Research Proposal: a detailed description of the research area and the research to be carried out during the tenure of the fellowship as well as a description of how the candidate would interact with the supervisor(s). (also in pdf format)

After the applicant has registered online each intended supervisor(s) should contribute, through the AARMS online page the following:

• A written reference (to be typed directly into the relevant web form).
• A list of the exact sources of matching funding (NSERC or other grant(s), department(s), …); to be typed directly into the web form provided. If there are more than one intended supervisors only one needs to submit this financial information.

The applicant should also arrange for two letters of reference to be submitted to the online system by persons who are familiar with the candidate's work and can comment on their suitability for an AARMS postdoctoral fellowship. The candidate will need to send their username to the external referee to enable them to make this contribution. These letters are to be typed by the referee directly into the web form provided for this purpose.

Assessment

Applications will be reviewed by the Scientific Review Panel, who will make a recommendation to the Director.

Timetable

• December 15 – Application deadline.
• February 1 – Final decision is made on applications. The department/university hosting a successful AARMS PDF applicant is requested to provide (to the Director of AARMS) a signed "funding package", showing the annual contributions by the supervisor(s), the department, and the university. Their amount has at least to match the AARMS contribution of $17,500 and may require that the fellowship holder teach up to one class each term (including spring/summer sessions).
• June 30 – Deadline for reports from supervisors of renewing PDFs. The supervisor must submit a detailed progress report, outlining the research work and listing publications, talks, etc. Electronic copies of all publications must be submitted to AARMS for archival purposes. The PDF is also expected to acknowledge the support of AARMS in their publications.
• August 31 – Latest possible termination date for the second year of a PDF.
• September 1 – Start time for the fellowship. AARMS will transfer $8,750 (first half of the annual amount) during the month when the PDF starts his programme, and the same amount six months later. This is done upon receipt of a formal invoice from the hosting department/university. It is acceptable for the start of a fellowship to be delayed up until December 1, but funding will be reduced proportionate to the delay. This reduction will be reconciled in the second year of funding.