• Applicants must be full-time graduate students in the Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto. Students must be registered with the School of Graduate Studies by August 31, 2008 in order to receive funding.
• NEW: M.Sc. Students: Applicants must be within the first 2 years of an M.Sc. program (as of September 2008) to be eligible to apply for this award. (The BBDC will not support M.Sc. students in their 3rd or greater year of their program.)
• Ph.D. Students: Applicants must be within their first 3 years of a direct entry Ph.D. program (as of September 2008) to be eligible to apply for this award. (The BBDC will not support direct entry Ph.D. students in their 4th or greater year of their program.) Applicants who have transferred from a previous M.Sc. program must be commencing their 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th year (as of September 2008) to be eligible to apply. (The BBDC will not support transfer Ph.D. students in their 5th or greater year of their program.)
• To qualify, the student must be carrying out studies in diabetes research.
• The research must be carried out at the University of Toronto or one of its fully affiliated institutions.
• The student's supervisor (and co-supervisor if applicable) must hold a full-time faculty appointment with the University of Toronto and must also be a registered member* of the Banting and Best Diabetes Centre. (*Faculty who are new to the field of diabetes research and are not members of the BBDC can request free membership by contacting the Centre prior to submitting an application. For more information, please see the Membership section of the BBDC's web site at www.bbdc.org).
• Applicant must demonstrate financial need and must be either a Canadian citizen or have "permanent residence" status in Ontario by August 31, 2008. If the student is not a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident at the time of application, proof must be supplied before funding will be initiated.
• NEW: Supervisors may submit a maximum of 2 applications.
• Students who have received BBDC studentships in the past may submit an application for this year's competition.
• IMPORTANT: Students must apply for external funding such as OGS, CIHR, NSERC, CDA, Heart & Stroke Canada , etc. by June 2, 2008. The BBDC will NOT fund applicants who have not applied to external funding agencies. (Exceptions may be considered for students who will be commencing their first year of Masters [M.Sc.] studies in September 2008.)

One year beginning on September 1, 2008 and ending on August 31, 2009.

$21,000 for one year. Award will be administered in two equal installments payable in September 2008 and January 2009. (Outstanding student fees may be deducted from the January installment.)

Students must accept external funding if awarded. The BBDC will top up external awards to the maximum stipend allowed by the Faculty of Medicine (i.e. $23,900 for M.Sc. students/$24,900 for Ph.D. students, or less if mandated by the regulations of the external funding agency). M.Sc. students who are applying to transfer to a Ph.D. program will be eligible to receive the Ph.D. stipend if they successfully transfer by August 31 (proof of transfer must be provided to the BBDC by this date).

Applications are reviewed by the BBDC Research Committee and will be evaluated on the following criteria:

• The research project, including relevance to diabetes
• Achievements of the student (i.e. grades, accomplishments, awards, and publications)
• Perceived potential of the student as indicated by letter of recommendation submitted with the application
• The research training environment
• A minor component of the evaluation may be based on any other factors that the reviewers consider relevant to this competition

Applicants must submit the following by the deadline date:

1. A completed BBDC Graduate Studentship Application Form (PDF)
2. A completed OSOTF Financial Needs Assessment Form (PDF)
3. C.V. (3 pages maximum)
4. Copy of cover and signature pages of studentship application(s) submitted to other agencies
5. One letter of recommendation
6. Letter of support from proposed supervisor
7. Official University transcript(s)

Items 1 - 7 listed above must be submitted together.

4 p.m., Monday, June 2, 2008.
Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.

All applicants will be notified by August 2008. Funding decisions will also be posted on the BBDC's web site.

Preference will be given to those students whose primary area of study is vascular problems of diabetes.

Awards are limited to 2 per supervisor. Supervisors may not submit more than 2 applications.

In cases in which a successful studentship recipient requests a subsequent change in supervisor and/or change in the research project, the BBDC must be notified as the awarding of the studentship may need to be reconsidered by the BBDC Research Committee.

All BBDC-UHN Graduate Award recipients are required to present a poster of their work at the BBDC's Annual Scientific Day to be held in May 2009. Trainees are encouraged to submit an abstract of their work for the BBDC Annual Trainee Awards Competition to be held in January of 2009.

Successful candidates must acknowledge support from the "Banting and Best Diabetes Centre Tamarack Graduate Award" in publications arising from the supported research. Failure to acknowledge this support will result in future ineligibility of both the student and supervisor for BBDC funding programs.

For further information, contact the Banting and Best Diabetes Centre:
Phone: (416) 978-4656 Fax: (416) 978-4108
E-mail: diabetes.bbdc@utoronto.ca