Canada Research Chairs – Robbins-Ollivier Award for Excellence in Equity: 2025 Competition
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Canada Research Chairs – Robbins-Ollivier Award for Excellence in Equity: 2025 Competition
Funding Value and Duration
- $100,000 for a one-year project carried out by eligible faculty members and/or institutional administrators (6 team members total)
- Up to three awards will be presented each year
Overview
The Canada Research Chairs Program (CRCP) is inviting eligible institutions to submit nominations to the Robbins-Ollivier Award for Excellence in Equity. This award recognizes the contributions that Marjorie Griffin Cohen, Louise Forsyth, Glenis Joyce, Audrey Kobayashi, Shree Mulay, Susan Prentice, Michèle Ollivier, and Wendy Robbins have made to increase equity in the CRCP and Canada’s research ecosystem more broadly. Its primary objectives are to:
- fund bold and game-changing institutional-level initiatives that will challenge the status quo, spark change, and take action to address persistent systemic barriers in the research ecosystem and academia;
- recognize faculty members who contribute their time, expertise, and lived experience to help address inequities in their institution, the research ecosystem, and academia; and
- provide opportunities for students and trainees to contribute to this important work.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for nomination, the faculty member(s) must:
- Be eligible to receive grant funding from the tri-agencies;
- Hold a full-time academic appointment at the institution at the time of nomination and for the duration of the award; and
- Be in good standing with CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC.
Institutional administrators who are eligible to hold grant funding from the agencies are also eligible to be nominated.
Components of the Nomination Dossier:
- Nomination form
- Description of the proposed project (4 pages max for English; 5 pages max for French)
- Budget (1 page max for English and French)
- Institutional nomination letter and rationale (3 pages max for English; 3.5 pages max for French)
- Institutional nomination process and support for the initiative (2 pages max for English; 2.5 pages max for French)
Internal Contacts
Potential applicants are encouraged to discuss this funding opportunity with their Faculty Research Facilitator.
VPRI Resource Contact: Rachel Barken
Information sessions
Applicants are invited to a virtual information session to learn more about this opportunity.
- Wednesday, July 30 @ 10:30-11:30 am, Teams
To register, please contact Rachel Barken (rachel.barken@carleton.ca)
Internal Selection:
Each institution may only submit one nomination per year for this award. An internal competition to identify and support the nominee or team will be held. Interested applicants are asked to submit the following parts of the dossier:
- Description of the proposed project (4 pages max) that includes:
- a detailed description of the proposed initiative that shows how it is bold and potentially game-changing;
- the expected impacts/outcomes, in terms of changing the status quo and sparking change towards a more equitable institution and/or research or academic ecosystem;
- who will be involved in helping implement the initiative (e.g., faculty, students, administrators) and what their specific roles will be;
- how co-creation with individuals from underrepresented groups (racialized individuals, persons with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples, women, individuals from the 2SLGBTQIA+ communities) will be conducted; and
- how best practices in equity, including intersectionality, will be applied within the project.
- Budget (1 page max) that clearly shows how the $100,000 award will be used to meet the objectives stated in the project description over one year.
- Short summary (2 pages total for English, 2.5 pages total for French) of each faculty member’s overall contributions to and leadership in addressing inequities at Carleton and/or the research ecosystem and academia more broadly, in alignment with the program’s selection criteria, which are available here.
Please submit these documents as one PDF by Thursday, September 4, 2025, at 4 pm to:
- Rachel Barken, Institutional Research Facilitator, rachelbarken@carleton.ca
The Office of the Vice-President (Research, Innovation and International) will consult with EDI experts including the Department of Equity and Inclusive Communities (EIC) to establish an internal review committee to determine which applicant or team will be nominated.
Deadlines:
Internal: Thursday, September 4, 2025, at 4 pm
External: Tuesday, November 4, 2025
Complete information about the award is available here. Questions may be directed to Rachel Barken (rachel.barken@carleton.ca).