Internal Awards

UTSC Psychology Travel and Training Grant

Once per academic year, graduate students (experimental and clinical) and postdoctoral fellows can request funds to assist with expenses associated with conference or workshop attendance, whether in-person or online. There is no fixed submission deadline. Instead, there is a rolling submission procedure, where applications should be submitted prior to (i.e., one to two months before the conference/workshop) or after travel/attendance (i.e., one to two months after the conference/workshop).

Eligibility and Details:

For conferences, the applicant must be presenting original research findings from work completed under the primary supervision of a UTSC principal investigator. Similarly, workshop attendance must be related to research being conducted under the primary supervision of a UTSC principal investigator. Both conferences and workshops must be organized by a recognized academic society or institution.

High-impact conference presentations and financial need will be especially considered. Where possible, applicants are expected to take measures to minimize travel expenditure (e.g. sharing hotel accommodation). The amount of the award is $300.

An electronic copy of a completed and signed application form (available here) should be submitted to psychology.utsc.awards@gmail.com.


 

UTSC Clinical Psychology - Conference and Workshop Grant

GD-PCS will provide one Conference and Workshop Grant valued at up to $300 to each clinical psychology graduate student for each of their MA and PhD degrees. These funds are meant to support costs associated with attending academic conferences or evidence-based clinical workshops. The grants are intended to be supplemental to funds provided by students’ supervisor(s) and existing U of T funding opportunities (e.g., UTSC Psychology Travel and Training Grant, UTSC Graduate Student Travel Grant, School of Graduate Studies Conference Grant, U of T Graduate Students Union Conference Bursary). For clinical workshops, students should first consider whether the topic of the workshop is available in courses offered by other graduate units at U of T.

Students can request access to the grant before receiving acceptance to present at the academic conference or attend the clinical workshop but will only be reimbursed upon proof of attendance (and for academic conferences, proof of presentation acceptance). Requests should be made to: clinicalpsych.utsc@utoronto.ca (Subject Line: Last Name_UTSC Clinical Psychology - Clinical Science Grant Application.

In order to receive the conference grant funds, students must:

  • Be in good academic standing
  • Be attending an academic conference or evidence-based clinical workshop that is taking place during active full-time registration in the corresponding degree program
  • For an academic conference, students must be presenting research
  • Be compliant with U of T safety abroad procedures prior to all travel outside of Canada

The application materials and form can be found here.


 

UTSC Psychology Best Paper Award

The annual Best Paper Award will recognize outstanding peer-reviewed publications by graduate students (experimental and clinical) and post-doctoral fellows (including recent graduates).

Submission deadline:

  • March 1st

Eligibility and Details:

The paper must be first-authored by the applicant, and should represent work completed while at the University of Toronto Scarborough. The paper must be published or in press between February 2nd of the preceding year and February 1st of the year of application (e.g. for March 1st 2020 deadline, eligible period is Feb 2nd 2019 – Feb 1st 2020). Interested applicants should submit a copy of their paper, as well as a brief (< 200 words) statement outlining the importance of the work and justification for the award to psychology.utsc.awards@gmail.com. For papers in press but not yet published, please submit documentary proof of acceptance (e.g. proofs, editor acceptance letter, etc.). Two papers will be selected each year based on their theoretical importance ($250 award each) and award winners will have the opportunity to present their work to the department.

Previous winners:

 

2019:

  • Hause Lin
    Lin H, Vartanian O (2018). A neuroeconomic framework for creative cognition. Perspect Psychol Sci 13: 655-677.
  • Katie Walsh
    Walsh KM, Saab BJ, Farb NAS (2019). Effects of a Mindfulness Meditation App on Subjective Well-Being: Active Randomized Controlled Trial and Experience Sampling Study. JMIR Ment Health 6: e10844.

2020:

  • Shouyu Ling
    Ling SY, Lee ACH, Armstrong B, Nestor A (2019). EEG-based visual word decoding, feature derivation and image reconstruction. Hum Brain Map 40: 5056-5068.
  • Ian Roberts
    Roberts ID, Hutcherson CA (2019). Affect and decision making: Insights and predictions from computational models. Trend Cog Sci 23: 602–614.

2021: 

  • Bilgehan Çavdaroğlu

    Çavdaroğlu B, Riaz S, Yeung EHL, Lee ACH, Ito R (2021). The ventral hippocampus is necessary for cue-elicited, but not outcome driven approach-avoidance conflict decisions: a novel operant choice decision-making task. Neuropsychopharm 46: 632–642.

  • Greg Depow

    Depow GJ, Francis Z, Inzlicht M (2021). The experience of empathy in everyday life. Psychol Sci 32: 1198-1213

2022:

  • Haley Kragness
    Kragness HE, Anderson L, Chow E, Schmuckler M, Cirelli LK. (2023). Musical groove shapes children’s free dancing. Developmental Sci 26: e13249.
  • Angela Smith
    Smith AM, Willroth EC, Gatchpazian A, Shallcross AJ, Feinberg M, Ford BQ (2021). Coping with health threats: The costs and benefits of managing emotions. Psychol Sci 32: 1011-1023.

2023:

  • Anna Michelle McPhee
     
  • Yi Yang Teoh

    Teoh, Y. Y., & Hutcherson, C. A. (2022). The Games We Play: Prosocial Choices Under Time Pressure Reflect Context-Sensitive Information Priorities. Psychological Science, 33(9), 1541-1556. https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976221094782
     


 

 

UTSC Psychology Doctoral Dissertation Award

The annual Doctoral Dissertation Award will recognize outstanding research contributions from recently-examined PhD students. Up to two awards will be given, one to an experimental student and one to a clinical student.

Submission deadline:

  • March 1st

Eligibility and Details:

The dissertation should represent work completed while at the University of Toronto Scarborough, for either the Experimental Psychology program or the Psychological Clinical Science program, with a completed final oral examination held between February 2nd of the preceding year and February 1st of the year of application (e.g. for March 1st 2020 deadline, eligible period is Feb 2nd 2019 – Feb 1st 2020). Interested applicants should submit a copy of their dissertation to psychology.utsc.awards@gmail.com and should request a nomination letter from their primary supervisor in support of the award, to be sent to the same address. One dissertation will be awarded each year ($500) and the award winner will have the opportunity to present their work to the department.

Previous winners:

 

2020:

  • Experimental: Olivia Podolak Lewandowska

​2021:

  • Clinical: Nadia Al-Dajani
  • Experimental: Zoë Francis

2022:

  • Clinical: Achala Rodrigo
  • Experimental: Sathesan Thavabalasingam 

2023:

  • Clinical: Dean Carcone
  • Experimental: Dylan Yeates

 

UTSC Psychology TA Award

The Teaching Assistant Award is open to all graduate students and post-doctoral fellows who have served as a teaching assistant for a Psychology/Neuroscience course at UTSC over the past academic year.

Submission deadline:

  • 1st April

Eligibility and details:

Eligibility and adjudication criteria will follow the UTSC Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) guidelines for their annual Teaching Assistant Awards. Please visit the CTL Graduate Teaching Assistant Awards overview for complete details.

If you are a course instructor or TA who would like to make a nomination/self-nomination, please liaise with your respective TA/course instructor and put together a nomination package by following the steps outlined in the CTL requirements. A single pdf file of this nomination package should then be submitted to psychology.utsc.awards@gmail.com.

Up to 3 awards will be made, each worth $250. Award winners will then be forwarded automatically for consideration for a UTSC CTL Teaching Assistant Award.

Previous winners:

2019:

  • Nadia Al Dajani
  • Olivia Podolak
  • Marco Sama

2020:

  • Sadia Riaz

2021:

  • Tahira Gulamani
  • Trenton Johanis

2022:

  • Anna Michelle McPhee

2023:

  • Nisma Khan
  • Moaz Shoura
  • Vignash Tharmaratnam