2023 Inlight Research Fellowship Program

Inlight is an Institutional Strategic Initiative of the University of Toronto committed to improving post-secondary student mental health and wellness outcomes. By investing in high-quality, impactful research and driving research innovations into practice, Inlight is re-imagining how we support post-secondary mental health research on our campuses to enhance student mental health and wellness. We are working with students, faculty, researchers, staff, and administrators across our community to drive meaningful change in campus mental health. Inlight’s work is shaped by our vision and guiding principles.

Relevance to Inlight: The Inlight Research Fellowship program will support graduate students to conduct research projects that have a primary focus on post-secondary student mental health and wellness outcomes through research at the University of Toronto.  Post-secondary student mental health is inclusive of mental wellness, mental illness and substance misuse. It encompasses the full length of a student’s journey—from transitions into post-secondary education to graduation; and the full range of student mental health experience—from community and individual well-being to clinical intervention, inside the classroom and out.  

Inclusion of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Accessibility and Indigeneity Statement: Inlight strives to be an equitable and inclusive community. We proactively seek to increase diversity and representation among our members and strongly encourage applications from racialized persons/persons of colour, women, Indigenous/Aboriginal Peoples of North America, persons with disabilities, LGBTQIA2S+ persons, and others who may contribute to the diversification of ideas.  

The Inlight Research Fellowship program will support PhD or Master’s students. Normally, at least one will be awarded at each of the campuses (based on applications received).  

This stipend award is valued at $10,000, to be paid directly to the PhD or Master’s student in 3 installments. Students may use part of the award to support travel and other costs associated with knowledge translation activities, at their discretion.  

The Inlight Research Fellowship program is open to: 

• Domestic and international masters and doctoral students enrolled in the University of Toronto in a program of study that includes a research project requirement (this can be a primary or compulsory component, or an optional component) 

Student applicants must be leading the post-secondary student mental health research project, which may either be: 

• Part of their thesis, major research project, dissertation, scholarly publication and/or comparative exhibit that is expert reviewed and required for the completion of their graduate program. 
• Or, a new project that will be supervised by their primary graduate supervisor, and for which there is a plan to seek REB approval.  

The primary supervisor must be a full member of the University of Toronto School of Graduate Studies, be eligible to supervise graduate students and be eligible to hold research funding at the University of Toronto or at their primary institution.  

Co-supervisors can also be included, and do not need to meet the same eligibility requirements as the primary supervisor. Their role in the project should be described in the application template.

Please note:

We do not normally award more than two Fellowships to an individual during their combined academic graduate programs, and repeat applicants will not be given preference, but will be adjudicated together with new incoming applicants: 

• One award may be held during a Masters program 
• Up to two awards may be held during a PhD program 

The Research Fellowship application is a two-step process, with submission of a brief notice of intent (NOI; step 1) followed by submission of the full application (step 2).

Step 1 – Notice of Intent 

The NOI details should be submitted through this form by November 27th, 2023, and include: 

• Applicant information 
• Primary supervisor information 
• Title of the proposed research project (max 25 words) 
• Brief summary of the proposed research project (max 150 words)

Upon submission of the NOI, the applicant will receive a link to the Inlight Research Fellowship Application form. The primary supervisor will also receive a request via email to submit a recommendation. This has the same due date as the full application, and it is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that their supervisor follows up on this.  

Please note: 

• This step is to support planning for the adjudication of the full application, including identification of adjudicators who are representative of the divisions and research foci encompassed in the submissions – the NOI will not be adjudicated and all submissions may proceed to the full application stage 
• The Applicant and Primary Supervisor cannot change between the NOI and full application stage 
• The title of the application can be modified between the NOI and full application stage, but should not be substantively changed 
• No figures, references/knowledge mobilization products or hyperlinks should be provided at this stage. 

Step 2 – Full Application 

Applicants should prepare and submit the below documents. Once the applicant has prepared these documents, the applicant should complete the Inlight Research Fellowship Application Form (link will be sent via email upon submission of the NOI application form), and upload all of the documents through this form.  

• The fellowship application template, which includes:
  • Applicant and supervisor(s) information  
  • Signature from graduate coordinator from Applicant’s program of study – to confirm that the student is in good academic standing, and that their funding policy allows for an award to be made on top of their package
  • Title and Lay Summary for the project 
  • Outline of research project including background/rationale, objectives, design and methodology, and impact in student mental health  
  • Summary of the strategic alignment with Inlight’s vision, mission and guiding principles  
  • Summaries of the plans to incorporate student engagement and EDIAI 
  • Statement summarizing relevant training and experiences, and commitment to student engagement and EDIAI  
  • Appendices of references and figures 
• A recent CV (maximum 3 pages) or the Inlight abbreviated CV template – if student is submitting their own CV it is recommended that they highlight relevant experience and significant contributions 
• Copy of applicant’s academic transcript for graduate studies  
• Optional attachments – documentation confirming REB approval and access to all necessary data sets (these attachments are optional at the application stage, and will not affect the adjudication process – however, they will be required prior to release of funding) 

The primary supervisor’s recommendation (emailed to them separately upon submission of the NOI) is also due by December 11th, and it is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that the supervisor follows up on this.  

Self-identification Survey: Please note, a self-identification survey is linked to at the end of the Inlight Fellowship Application Form; however, completion of the self-identification survey is not compulsory and will not impact the adjudication of your fellowship application. 

Data is being collected through this survey to ensure Inlight is proactively seeking to increase inclusion of racialized persons/persons of colour, women, Indigenous/Aboriginal Peoples of North America, persons with disabilities, LGBTQIA2S+ persons, and others who may contribute to the diversification of ideas. 

Your data may be used for the purposes of program operations, planning, performance measurement and monitoring, evaluation, and audits. Only the Inlight Leadership team will have access to the survey responses. Individual data will not be shared as part of the adjudication process, or be accessed by anyone external to the Inlight Leadership Team. Aggregated data will be shared internally with Inlight team and advisory committee members to support review and redesign of programs. Aggregated data will only be shared publicly where data volume is sufficient to prevent identification of any individual. 

Letter of Intent 

1. Letter of Notice submission form 

Application  

1. Fellowship Application Form (where all documents are submitted by Monday December 11th– link will be sent via email upon submission of the NOI application form)
2. Fellowship application template   
3. A recent CV (maximum 3 pages) or the Inlight abbreviated CV template  
4. Copy of applicant’s academic transcript for graduate studies  

Adjudication 

1. Fellowship adjudication rubric  

A one hour Zoom webinar will be hosted on Thursday November 16, 2023, at 12pm EST to support those applying for an Inlight Research Fellowship. This webinar is an opportunity to learn more about the application and adjudication process as well as expectations for student engagement in research. 

Register for the webinar here.

Prior to the adjudication process, a relevance review will be performed by Inlight leadership team members to determine that the research project has a primary focus on post-secondary student mental health, and that it aligns with the Inlight vision, mission and guiding principles. Applications deemed not relevant will be withdrawn from the competition.  

An adjudication committee will be formed that aims to be representative of the diversity of the University of Toronto community, including faculty (research and teaching stream), staff and students, as well as cross division and tri-campus involvement.

All members of the adjudication committee will declare any conflict of interest and remove themselves from application review if a conflict exists. Where student applicants are supervised by an Inlight team member, Inlight team members will recuse themselves from the panel discussion while the application is under consideration. Inlight follows the CIHR guidelines of conflict of interest: “a conflict of interest means a conflict between a participant’s (e.g., reviewers and observers) duties and responsibilities with regard to the review process, and a participant’s private, professional, business or public interests.”  

All relevant applications will be reviewed by adjudicators and scored according to the provided rubric. All elements of the rubric will be equally weighted, and scores will be normed and averaged following the process developed by the School of Graduate Studies.  

• Applicants must provide documentation demonstrating that REB approval has been granted, and that all necessary approvals have been obtained for access to any data sets, prior to funding being issued.  
• Award recipients will be asked to provide ongoing confirmation that the objectives and milestones of their project remain substantively unchanged prior to each stipend payment.  
• All applicants (and their supervisors) will be automatically enrolled into the Inlight Network and will receive communication on future Inlight opportunities and knowledge events.  
• Once funded, we expect all Fellows to actively engage with the training and networking components of this award. This includes attending and presenting at Inlight events, including the upcoming Inlight Symposiums (Winter 2024 and 2025; possible presentations include podium, tabletop or poster), completing Inlight e-Modules, and attending Inlight seminars. 
• Students selected for Fellowships (and their supervisors) may be asked to join Inlight grant program adjudication panels in subsequent years.  
• Students must respond within four weeks to requests for updates on project progress (no more than a quarterly basis) during the year of funding, to support Inlight’s reporting activities, as well as to ensure continued timely payment of stipend installments.  
• A final summary and impact report must be submitted to Inlight two months after the end of the funding period (March 1, 2025) or the research project conclusion (whichever occurs first) – a template will be provided by the Inlight team. Requests for an extension should be addressed to the Inlight email address, where possible 2 months in advance of this date.