Undergraduate Summer Research Awards

2023 Undergraduate Summer Research Awards (UROP)

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO UROP COMMITTEE GUIDELINES

Departmental Deadline: Friday, March 17, 2023 - 12 p.m.

Please submit a copy of your unofficial transcript and the completed application form to physiology.undergrad@utoronto.ca.
2023 UROP Application.pdf

In accordance with its mandate and with the aim to foster advanced research experiences for undergraduate students at the University of Toronto, an Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) was established in 1973.

The Office of the Vice Dean, Research and Health Science Education at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine, as in previous years will oversee the administration of the UROP allocations for departments within the Faculty.

UROP award amount will be $2,500/award. The student must be guaranteed at least an additional $2,500 in compensation from other sources managed by the sponsoring department.
In addition, we have a summer research award under the "The Dr. John Mitchell" name award under disease area Cancer. Each department will still be allocated the annual one award per department from this trust account. An award letter to the student must state the name award.

The following student eligibility criteria are in effect for the UROP.

Students must have successfully completed a term in a full-time undergraduate program directly prior to the award period.
Students who have completed their undergraduate program are not eligible, unless they have been accepted into or are currently enrolled in an undergraduate professional program (medical undergraduate degree program). In addition, students who have completed an undergraduate degree and have been accepted into a graduate program but have not yet begun are also eligible to apply.
University of Toronto and non-University of Toronto students may apply, including international students.
Students may submit only one application to this program. Departure from this rule will result in the application being accorded a lower priority or even denied.
Students cannot accept multiple summer research awards at the same time.
Supervisors cannot accept multiple summer research awards at the same time through one unit to this Program. Maximum of 2 UROP application per eligible supervisor. Departure from this rule could result in the application being accorded a lower priority or even denied.

In addition to these conditions, the submissions should have the following attributes:

A designated faculty member appointed as coordinator of the summer program for each department or group.
A continuity of supervision for each student for the duration of the summer program.
An academic structure with clear accountability at the end of the summer program, e.g. required seminar presentations of students' own work. A plan for encouraging regular interaction of the students with each other, with graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, research associates and assistants, and other investigators. All or part of the program should be conducted in a single geographic location to give maximum opportunity for contact between researchers and students.
Each student receiving stipend support should have a minimum B+ average in the two terms of undergraduate studies immediately preceding acceptance of the award.
Recruitment of students should include outreach beyond the physical location of the department.
In the event of award(s) not being allocated/cancelled, please contact Natasha Lowe to arrange for the award to be returned to the Office of the Vice Dean, Research and Health Science Education.

Research involving the use of human subjects, vertebrate animals or biohazardous materials must be undertaken with the prior written approval of the appropriate University Review Committee. It will be the responsibility of the supervisors and administering department to ensure that their students are covered by the appropriate protocols.

The following breakdown of allocation by disease specific area:

Dr. John P. Mitchell:(Cancer) - 1
GM - General Medicine : 4
CA - Cancer: 4
CH - Cardiovascular, Heart: 2
KD - Kidney : 6
EM - Epilepsy or Muscular Dystrophy - 1

A final decision to run the program (or not) will be made in March/April 2023 based on COVID-19 restrictions that may be in place at the time the program is scheduled to begin.