Faculty/Student International Opportunities

October 2009:  2 opportunities as of Oct 19

1:  Canadian Studies Grant for Faculty and Students

The Canadian Government, through its Embassy and Consulates in the United States, supports research, conferences, teaching, and program activity related to Canada and/or Canada-U.S. relations. The Canadian Studies grant program seeks to encourage comparative research and teaching, faculty exchanges, student mobility, and collaboration between American and Canadian researchers. The program also seeks to build stronger ties between American and Canadian universities and colleges. We ask that you forward this grant notice to faculty and doctoral students who may be interested in our grant program. Applications for the following grant programs are due soon. Research Grant Program assists individual scholars or teams of scholars in writing an article-length manuscript of publishable quality with a focus on Canada or Canada-U.S. relations. Applications due: November 2, 2009. Doctoral Student Research Award offers doctoral students an opportunity to conduct part of their dissertation research in Canada. The program is intended for students whose dissertations are related in substantial part to the study of Canada. Applications due: December 1, 2009.

      Faculty Enrichment (Course Development) Program

The Faculty Enrichment (Course Development) Program provides faculty members an opportunity to develop or update a course with substantial Canadian content that will be offered as part of their regular teaching load. Applications due: December 1, 2009. The Canadian Government is particularly interested in projects that have policy relevance for Canada and Canada-U.S. relations. Topics that are highly relevant to Canada-U.S. relations include smart and secure borders; North American economic competitiveness; regulatory cooperation; Canada-U.S. trade and investment partnership; energy security and sustainability; environmental sustainability; emergency planning and management; Canada-U.S. security and defence cooperation; Canada in Afghanistan; global health policy; and changing demographics in North America. In 2008-09, the Canadian Studies Grant Program provided support to faculty, researchers, and graduate students at 79 universities, colleges, and institutions in 29 states. More than 100 projects were funded on a wide range of topics and in many disciplines. Click here for a list of recent grant recipients and their projects. Prospective applicants are encouraged to discuss their interest in the grant program with a Canadian government officer in their area. We invite faculty and students to subscribe to Canada Watch , a weekly summary of the publications and commentaries from Canadian think tanks and research centers on a wide range of Canadian and Canada-U.S. issues

2:  UK:   NIH-Oxford-Cambridge Fully-Funded Doctoral Program in Biomedical Research

Dear Goldwater Scholarship Representative,

We would like to bring to your attention to the NIH-Oxford-Cambridge Biomedical Scholars Program, an interdisciplinary, accelerated training program with some innovative features that may appeal to your top students. Since 2001, scientists at NIH have collaborated with colleagues in Oxford and Cambridge to create a partnership PhD training program spanning the full breadth of research in these institutions. Every student admitted to the program is fully funded for the length of training.

When compared with traditional U.S. PhD programs, the NIH-Oxford-Cambridge partnership is designed to significantly reduce the time it takes to earn the doctoral degree. Our partnership students generally earn their degrees in four years, and graduates are easily obtaining excellent post-doc positions, faculty appointments, and positions with biotech companies, to name a few of the opportunities awaiting these highly qualified individuals.

As we work to recruit the Class of 2010, we will be searching for highly self-directed students with significant research experience who are ready to focus on a particular dimension of biomedical research in their chosen fields of study. Each year, we receive applications from the nation’s top science students. Additionally, the NIH has cultivated agreements with the Rhodes Trust, the Marshall Commission, and the Churchill and Gates Cambridge scholarships, enabling these talented scholars to extend their master’s degree programs into a PhD with a U.S. lab component. The program is also compatible with the NIH MD/PhD Partnership Training Program, which offers funding for combined M.D./Ph.D. training in collaboration with over twenty U.S. medical schools participating in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP). For details about the M.D./Ph.D. options and training tracks, please consult http://gpp.nih.gov/Prospective/InstitutionalPartnerships/MSTPatNIH/ .

Students admitted to the program choose a research project from a pre-existing list of collaborations (see our web site for the list) or are free to design their own project, often bridging different disciplines. They write a detailed research proposal during their first summer in the program and begin their thesis research immediately. We require that Scholars spend two years at the NIH and two years in the UK, working in the labs of their chosen mentors. They earn the doctoral degree from whichever UK institution they select for their doctoral work.

 The application deadline for 2010 is January 4th, so please forward the email below to interested students. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me. More information can be found at the program website (http://oxcam.gpp.nih.gov <http://oxcam.gpp.nih.gov/> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Prospective Student,

I am writing to tell you about a groundbreaking biomedical research doctoral program—the National Institutes of Health-Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program. This innovative program grew from the realization that the next generation of research scientists will increasingly need to adopt interdisciplinary approaches as they strive to produce high impact research outcomes whether basic or clinical.

This is an accelerated program, and students typically receive a doctoral degree in approximately four years. There is no standard curriculum or required coursework. Rather, each student pursues an individualized course of study in which thesis work is initiated at the beginning of the first year. The thesis project is carried out as a collaboration between two labs, with half the research undertaken at NIH and half at one of the UK universities and each student being mentored by a senior scientist at each location. The program takes advantage of the superb resources and training environments at Oxford, Cambridge, and the NIH, the world’s largest biomedical research facility, the main campus of which is located in Bethesda, Maryland where a diverse community of scientists conduct their research in over 1000 laboratories and the world’s largest clinical research center conducts more than 1000 clinical research protocols.

 From its first class that matriculated in 2001, NIH-Oxford-Cambridge Scholars have achieved at the highest levels of biomedical research, publishing first-author papers in journals such as Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Immunology, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and The Journal of Experimental Medicine. Graduates have gone on to do post-doctoral training in top academic institutions and industry labs, and a few have gone directly to faculty positions.

 All students are fully funded by the NIH for the duration of their doctoral work at both research sites and receive a stipend, health insurance, and travel assistance. Through the NIH M.D./Ph.D Partnership Training Program, we also offer funding for combined M.D./Ph.D. training in collaboration with over twenty U.S. medical schools participating in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP). For details about the M.D./Ph.D. options and training tracks please consult http://gpp.nih.gov/Prospective/InstitutionalPartnerships/MSTPatNIH/ .

 The application deadline for Ph.D. and M.D./Ph.D. candidates is January 4th, 2010. The free application is available online through the program website at http://oxcam.gpp.nih.gov <http://oxcam.gpp.nih.gov/> via the “Apply Now” button. On our web site you will find additional program details, FAQs, student biographies, descriptions of some of the exciting research projects underway, and more. We would also like to invite you to participate in a teleconference call to learn more about our programs. Please email us at oxcam@mail.nih.gov <file:///C:Documents%20and%20SettingsschulmanrLocal%20SettingsTemporary%20Internet%20FilesOLK1Coxcam@mail.nih.gov> or mdphd@mail.nih.gov <file:///C:Documents%20and%20SettingsschulmanrLocal%20SettingsTemporary%20Internet%20FilesOLK1Cmdphd@mail.nih.gov> if you would like more information or would like to participate in a conference call.

 Please take a look at the flyers through the links below and feel free to contact me if you have any questions. We hope to hear from you soon!

 http://oxcam.gpp.nih.gov/prospectiveStudents/documents/OXCAM2010Flyerwdeadline.pdf

http://oxcam.gpp.nih.gov/prospectiveStudents/documents/MSTPflyer2010.pdf

 All the best,

 Michael Lenardo, M.D.

Program Director

NIH-Oxford Cambridge Scholars Program

 

Richard Siegel, M.D., Ph.D.

Program Director

NIH M.D./Ph.D. Partnership Training Program

 

Bridget Lampert, M.S. Ed

Managing Director

NIH-Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program

NIH M.D./Ph.D. Partnership Training Program

(301) 496-6083