Connaught PhDs for Public Impact Fellowship Program
Supporting collaboration and communication to further research, scholarship, and creative practice for the public good.
What is the Connaught PhDs for Public Impact Fellowship Program?
The Connaught PhDs for Public Impact Fellowship Program is part of the core offerings of the Centre for Graduate Professional Development. Public impact scholarship, through the lens of higher education, is inquiry that makes meaningful contributions to the public. Public impact spans science and technological innovation, as well as cultural innovation, with the goal of social benefit. This covers all academic disciplines. With that in mind, fellows from PhDs for Public Impact program will focus on engaging the public through a scholarly agenda. This could involve a range of activities, from describing their work in a public forum to partnering with a school, community organization, or cultural institution in an ongoing two-way exchange of knowledge and practices.
Funding
Each fellow will be awarded $12,500 for the year (a $10,000 fellowship to be used as a top up to their stipend and $2,500 towards professional development and project expenses) to do innovative and impactful research, scholarship, and creative practice.
Programming
Fellows will participate in a broader program of specialized skills training in public scholarship, as well as networking opportunities.
Defining Public Impact
The key to defining public impact is explaining the societal benefit and relevance of the work to a general audience. Please note the categories and examples below are for illustrative purposes and not meant to be exhaustive; additionally, many research projects may cover multiple categories:
Program Goals
To broaden graduate education in order to:
Support accessible pathways between the university and the public that prepare doctoral students for a variety of careers.
Support partnerships so that research, scholarship, and creative practice can better serve the needs of the public.
Make scholarship more accessible to the public to increase its impact.
Program Learning Objectives
1. Conduct more impactful research, scholarship, and / or creative work;
2. Effectively communicate research to a general audience, including across the disciplines and the public;
3. Specifically articulate the impact of your research for a general audience;
4. Create more inclusive scholars that appreciate the diversity of perspectives regarding research methods and disciplines;
5. Explore and experiment with different mediums for public dissemination (e.g., blogs, podcasts, tweets);
6. Collaborate with a diverse group of colleagues;
7. Build your professional network;
8. Enhance civic engagement through focus on the public good; and
9. Enhance graduate student experience and wellbeing.
Fellow Responsibilities
Fellows are expected to:
Work on a finite one-year deliverable on their research, scholarship, or creative product (typically dissertation)
Students will work on their public impact research, scholarship, or creative practice with a one-year deliverable to be presented at an annual showcase.
Attend a public scholarship workshop
This introductory single-session workshop is designed to cover the basics of creating and sharing impactful scholarly work with the public.
Attend monthly fellows’ meetings
These monthly sessions include a mix of curricula, student-interest-driven programming, networking with and mentorship from alumni with a public scholarship profile, and meetings to allow fellows to share their own work with each other.
Engage in one or more forms of public communication
This could include developing a Twitter presence; creating a blog; writing a guest blog post; publishing an op-ed; creating a link with an organization outside the university, creating a YouTube series; hosting a podcast; giving a public lecture; or coordinating a Café Scientific. The fellow would choose their form of communication based on their interests and scholarship.
Participate in an annual showcase event
This event will showcase the fellows’ work, process, outcomes, experiences, and/or learnings through various modalities, which might include presentations, videos, dance performances, visual arts displays, storytelling, etc.
Participate in program enhancement
Fellows will be asked to participate in program development and quality assurance, including sharing their outcomes post-program and post-graduation.
Promote Connaught PhDs for Public Impact Fellowship Program
Fellows will credit the fellowship as appropriate for any work completed in the year related to their project (e.g., in acknowledgements, blogs, etc).
Attend Connaught PhDs for Public Impact Fellowship Program activities
Fellows are expected to attend all activities and specifically 75% of the activities in person to build a cohort and community.
Why should I apply?
Engagement in this program will offer students a transformative experience. Fellows will gain:
New opportunities for connection to the public and other fellows
“I’m looking forward to being part of a community of fellows who are leading the way in making an impact through creative expression, community advocacy, policy change, and more.“
Madison Giles, 2022-23 Connaught Public Impact Fellow
“Learning from and working with the cohort gives me a unique understanding of where the field is moving in a variety of disciplines.”
Peter Serles, 2022-23 Connaught Public Impact Fellow
Intellectual stimulation that comes from discussing a variety of topics from a variety of perspectives
A sense of purpose from translating inquiry to have a greater impact
“At this stage in my academic career, I have realized that the greater impact of research work comes from disseminating scientific information to the general public. Going forward, I can’t imagine not doing this sort of profoundly satisfying and meaningful work.“
Anam Shahil Feroz, 2022-23 Connaught Public Impact Fellow
Ready to apply?
Want to learn more about the Connaught PhDs for Public Impact Fellowship Program? You can watch a recording of our Dec 2022 information session to learn more about the program.
Get familiar with what you need to submit in your PhDs for Public Impact fellowship application.
Submit your application by March 1, 2023.
Fellows will be announced in Spring of 2023. In the mean time…
Advisory Committee
Our Events
| Date / Time / Delivery Format | Title | Details | Resources |
|---|---|---|---|
| December 13, 2022 1:00 PM ET Remote / Online | Connaught PhDs for Public Impact Fellowship Program (2023–2024) Information Session | The School of Graduate Studies and the Centre for Graduate Professional Development will host an information session for the Connaught PhDs for Public Impact Fellowship Program 2023-2024. Please register to learn more about the program, its application process, and ask your questions about the program. | Video recording Slides |
| November 30, 2022 7:00–9:00 PM ET Convocation Hall, 31 King’s College Circle | Big Ideas at U of T: 50 Years of the Connaught Fund | For the 50th anniversary of the Connaught Fund, the University of Toronto invites you to a FREE evening of talks and a roundtable discussion with four Connaught-funded researchers: Prof. Farzana Hemmasi (Faculty of Music), Prof. Renée Hložek (Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics), Prof. Ronald Deibert (Director, Citizen Lab), and Prof. Maydianne Andrade (Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology). | U of T News story |
| November 24, 2022 12:30–2:30 PM ET Remote / Online | Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Research Impact | Preparing trainees for a globally diverse research ecosystem is crucial to the impact and advancement of research and innovation. In this talk, Dr. Kaniki will discuss the negative impacts a lack of an EDI lens has had on research, where the issues may lie, and provide considerations for future researchers to implement better practices within the research environment and research design process. Dr. Nicole Kaniki is the Director of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Research and Innovation at the University of Toronto. In her role, she examines, advocates and advances EDI in all aspects of U of T research, innovation and entrepreneurship.  Dr. Kaniki is the former Special Advisor on Anti-racism to the President of Western University and has over seven years of experience in research administration and EDI roles in academia. Dr. Kaniki has a passion for social justice and uses an anti-racism and decolonization framework in her EDI work. | Video recording |