Graduate Awards and Scholarships

Fall 2024 Graduate Award Applications are now open! Apply by October 31, 2024. 

To apply, please submit a graduate award application form to sexual.diversity@utoronto.ca by the application deadline. For engagement projects, students should include a one-page description of the planned project. For bursary applications, students should include a one-page explanation of their financial circumstances and any unexpected shortfalls.

Questions about graduate awards eligibility or the application process can be sent to sexual.diversity@utoronto.ca.

*Only students registered in the SDS Collaborative Specialization and with a registered “REG” status on ACORN are eligible to receive awards funding. Therefore, if you intend to graduate/take a leave of absence, you must submit receipts for any travel or other reimbursable expenses while your enrollment status is “REG”.

The Centre’s graduate funds are designed to supplement supports that are available through a student’s home department or faculty, and through the School of Graduate Studies.  They are not intended to replace the funding guarantee that is delivered to graduate students through their home units.  It is, however, intended to address research-related expenses beyond those covered in those home units, to support activity designed to bolster SDS student engagement, to reward academic excellence, and to respond to emergencies.

In general, applications for support will be considered twice per year, in the fall and winter terms, with deadlines posted well in advance.  Applications for support of unanticipated expenses may be considered at other times.

The categories of expenses that the award committee will consider are as follows:                                                              

Conference travel

Funding to support travel to conferences recognized as important for the student’s work, where the student is delivering a sexuality-related paper not delivered at other conferences.  Students will be expected to apply for department/faculty funding, where available, and SGS.  Maximum of one conference per student per year.  Awards received from other sources will be taken into account.

Research field trips

Funding to support field work or travel to libraries/archives or sources of expertise not available in Toronto, directly related to the student’s research. Maximum of one grant per student per year. Awards received from other sources will be taken into account.

Honorariums for “Engagement” Projects                                     

Funding to support graduate students in the organization of events, conferences, or initiatives of their own making. Engagement project examples include student colloquia, reading groups, conferences, performances, exhibitions, work-in-progress sessions, and other academic, creative, artistic, or activist events. Students should include a one-page description of their planned project. Maximum of one stipend per student per year.

Bursaries

Funding designed to meet unusual shortfalls, for example those faced by international students, or by all students close to the end of their program but beyond the stage of guaranteed funding.  Unforetold emergencies arising from other circumstances may also be considered. Students should submit a one-page description of their financial circumstances or shortfall, along with the graduate awards application form, to sexual.diversity@utoronto.ca.

Hallam Awards of Excellence

One or two annual awards will be given to SDS graduate students on the basis of their work in the SDS graduate core course SDS1000H – $1,000 each.