Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships

To be eligible for the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships, applicants are required to confirm if the applicant and the host institution meet the criteria before applying. The eligibility criteria for the fellowship is mentioned below:

• Citizenship: Citizen or a permanent resident of Canada or International students
• Degree Completion Eligibility:
  • Fulfilled all degree requirements for Ph.D., Ph.D. equivalent or health professional degree
  • Degree must be completed between September 15, 2018, and September 30, 2022, and before the start of their award
• Host Institution Eligibility: 
  • Canadian universities
  • Foreign universities
  • Affiliated research hospitals, colleges and not-for-profit organizations.
• Applicant will be considered ineligible if he/she holds a previous Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship

Applications that do not meet all of the eligibility criteria will be deemed ineligible. This fellowship is not intended for students (including Health Professionals) to complete a degree.

Note: In some cases, the eligibility window may be extended by a maximum of 2 years like parental leave, illness, health-related family responsibilities, mandatory military service, and disruptions due to war, civil conflicts, and or natural disasters in the applicant’s area of residence.

Before beginning the application process for Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships, applicants are advised to read the Application guide carefully. To apply, the applicant needs to go through the following steps:

1. Confirm Eligibility: Applicant must make sure that they fulfill the eligibility for Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships
2. Contact desired Host Institution
   • Must be an eligible host institution
   • Applicant must confirm the eligibility of the host institution
   • The host institution will provide students with two documents that are to be included in the ResearchNet
3. Register for Canadian Common CV (CCV) and ResearchNet accounts
   • CCV account- a web-based tool to generate CVs
   • ResearchNet Account- web-based application tool and database used by Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships program
4. Create CCV (Vanier-Banting academic template) and Link to ResearchNet
   • CCV required irrespective of the citizenship of the applicant
   • A confirmation number will be provided once the CCV is validated
   • Confirmation number is to be used in ResearchNet to link CCV to Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship application
5. Start ResearchNet application: A list of tasks will be listed upon successful login that needs to be completed before submitting an application
6. Identify Area of Research: Proposed Field of Research determines the assigned selection committee. It will be assigned based on the area of research.
7. Identify Participants: Information such as applicant name, name of applicant’s institution at the time of application has to be provided. Furthermore, input confirmation number of CV.
8. Attach Documents:
   • Significance of research contributions
   • Significance of leadership contributions
   • Fulfillment of degree requirements form
   • Special circumstances
9. Identify Referees: Three references are required. The references must be either in English or French.
10. Degree Information: Information regarding Ph.D., Ph.D. equivalent or health professional degree
11. Proposal Information and Supporting Documents
    • Information regarding the research project needs to be submitted
    • Must include overview, details, descriptors or keywords and attachments
12. Consent and Submit Application: Consent regarding the terms listed in ResearchNet. On successful submission, an email will be sent entitled- “Successful Submission- Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships program/ Soumission acceptée – Programme de bourses postdoctoral Banting."
13. Ensure Attached Documents meet Presentation Standards: All submitted documents must meet the standards provided. Failing which can lead to the application being deemed ineligible.

All the above-required application documents must be submitted as a single PDF. Applicants must make sure to complete the carefully go through the details from the official website. Applicants can submit only one application per year.

All the eligible Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships applications go through the review process by the selection committee. First of all, the applications are sorted and sent to the respective federal granting agencies.

• Applications pertaining to health research will be sent to the (CIHR) selection committee
• Applications related to natural sciences and/or engineering to the (NSERC) selection committee
• Applications related to social sciences and/or humanities will be directed to the (SSHRC) selection committee.

The selection of a candidate is based on three equally weighted selection criteria:

1. Applicant's research excellence based on the previous records demonstrated research contribution to the target groups and leadership qualities in his/her respective domain.
2. Quality and potential of the applicant’s proposed research programs and the impact on the society the research program are likely to bestow if finished successfully.
3. Host institutions research-oriented environment and the relationship it holds with the applicant

Following approval from the selection committee, the Vanier- Banting Secretariat notifies the applicants of the results in February. A decision letter is posted to the respective ResearchNet account.