Internal Funding Opportunities for Trainees
O'Brien Institute/CSM support program
The O’Brien Institute for Public Health is pleased to support research capacity building, providing opportunities to O’Brien Institute members recruiting excellent graduate trainees. A common goal of all internal University sponsors, including the Institute, is to offer initial financial stability for incoming trainees, while encouraging them to compete as soon as possible for prestigious, external funding. This approach ensures the Institute and Institution remain competitive — provincially and nationally — and supports internal financial sustainability.
To leverage the matching opportunities offered by the Cumming School of Medicine’s support programs, the O’Brien Institute process aligns with those programs’ guidelines. Please note that the CSM programs are eligible only to trainees of faculty with primary affiliation in the Cumming School of Medicine. The Institute may be able to contribute matching funding for a limited number of post-doctoral trainees not eligible for the CSM opportunities. See the coversheet to the funding application form for further explanation.
- Through the Cumming School of Medicine’s Graduate Student Scholarship the CSM and the individual graduate supervisor will cost share a $30,000/year stipend for four years of a PhD program (two years for MSc).
- The Faculty of Graduate Awards offers Indigenous graduate awards, including the Anne and Armando Pradella Graduate Scholarship in Public Health.
As explained in the Cumming Postdoctoral Scholar Program (PSP) guidelines, applications for postdoctoral funding are made through the Research Institutes and will be considered by the Cumming PSP committee throughout the year. Eligibility for this program aligns with the definitions of CIHR trainees and AIHS Postdoctoral applicants, as noted here. To apply through the O'Brien Institute for Public Health, supervisors and candidates complete and submit this form to iph@ucalgary.ca, with submission deadlines of June 1 and November 1. Applications are reviewed and prioritized by the O'Brien Trainee Funding College of Reviewers, for potential submission to the Cumming PSP committee. Supervisors are notified of results by the O’Brien Institute, and candidates eventually approved for Cumming School of Medicine matching support become part of the CSM process, including having to report annually to justify renewal. All recipients of O'Brien Postdoctoral Scholar funding will be asked to report their progress annually.
To support professional development of the candidate and financial sustainability of the Institute, recipients of an O’Brien PDS award are required to apply for external scholarship funding to replace the O’Brien award. Any other salary funding secured following the award of an O'Brien Postdoctoral Scholar Award must be used to replace as much as possible of the Institute's contribution to the matching funding matrix. O’Brien funding for a second year will be contingent on efforts and demonstrated success in fulfilling award requirements (listed in the Terms of Reference for the CSM PDS) as determined by review of the O’Brien PDS Annual Report. The Annual Report should be submitted at least 2 months prior to the required award extension date, and ideally near June 1 or November 1, to accommodate review by the O’Brien Trainee Funding Committee.
Interested CSM faculty can obtain more information, including new procedures for hiring foreign applicants, from postdoc@ucalgary.ca.
O’Brien Institute Student Travel Award - Health Systems and Policy
The O’Brien Institute for Public Health Student Travel Award will provide funding to support travel for students who are presenting their first-author research at an academic conference.
Funding Details
- Use of Funds: Travel (mileage, parking, airfare, bus or train fare), per diem for meals and incidentals, accommodations, baggage fees.
- Funds Available: The award amount is up to $500 CAD depending on the breakdown of estimated expenses provided by the student.
- Deadline: There will be rolling deadlines until the annual budgeted amount is expended each fiscal year (April 1 – March 31).
Eligibility:
- Students enrolled full-time in a master’s or PhD degree program at the University of Calgary and engaged in research relevant to either the O’Brien Institute’s Health Systems Portfolio or Centre for Health Policy priorities.
- The student’s primary supervisor must be a member of the O’Brien Institute for Public Health.
- The work must be aligned with the Better Health Care area of focus.
- Students can only receive this award once per research program.
See complete Terms of Reference here
For Health Equity student opportunities, please visit the Health Equity Hub
Students can apply for this funding using this application form.
O'Brien Institute Summer Studentship
The Institute may fund a limited number of summer students each year, with no requirement for matching funding. For Summer 2025, the Institute is accepting applications for students interested in working within the focus areas of one of the Associate Scientific Directors’ portfolios (Population Health, Health Systems, and Health Policy).
Students can apply to the Institute, by January 28, using this application form, for student salary funding at the standard rate of $7,500 for a 16 week position, $5,625 for 12 weeks, and $3,750 for 8 weeks. Of note:
- The O’Brien Institute process and application package have been adapted from the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) competition for Summer Studentships, and in addition to the Institute-specific guidelines/criteria in the Institute’s application template, the CSM Summer Studentship information is applicable.
- O’Brien Institute-specific guidelines/criteria include prioritization of trainees who are members of equity-deserving groups, wanting to work on projects relevant to the Institute’s areas of focus.
- There is often confusion between the O’Brien Institute for Public Health and the O’Brien Centre (for the Bachelor of Health Sciences), which works with the CSM to fund hundreds of summer students through a separate CSM/O’Brien Centre Summer Studentships (OCSS) process. Applicants to this O’Brien Institute process may apply separately through the OCSS process, to increase their chance of success.
- Applicants will receive the Institute’s funding decisions before February 28, to facilitate allocation decisions being made within the CSM OCSS competition.