2022 Acceleration Consortium (AC) Postdoctoral Fellowships
We’re excited to launch the Acceleration Consortium’s (AC) inaugural postdoctoral fellowship program. Based at the University of Toronto, the AC is a global community of academia, government, industry and entrepreneurs dedicated to accelerating the discovery of new materials and molecules.
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Overview
Fellowship value: $75,000 (salary support of $70,000 and $5,000 for lab consumables) per year for up to 5 fellows
Fellowship duration: 2 years (January 4, 2022 – January 3, 2024)
Theme areas:
Applications of AI in molecular or materials discovery (including but not limited to energy production and storage, construction materials, electronics, healthcare, life sciences and the circular economy)
Integrating machine learning with computational and experimental methods
Laboratory automation
High throughput data analysis
Multidisciplinary approaches are required
Deadline: September 22, 2021 by 5:00pm EDT
Submission: Applications are to be submitted via email (apply@accelerationconsortium.ai) by the deadline
How to apply: See application guidelines below
Purpose
The Acceleration Consortium (AC) is a global coalition of academia, industry, and government focused on accelerating materials discovery. Using materials acceleration platforms (MAPs), the AC leverages AI, robotics, engineering, and chemistry to dramatically reduce the time and cost of bringing advanced materials to market. The AC will invest in bold ideas in the areas listed above, to enable high-risk, high-reward research projects that are initiated and supported by University of Toronto’s (U of T) AC faculty. Proposed projects cannot be funded by existing grants to the supervising faculty members.
The AC Fellowships, based at U of T, will provide funding to top candidates who demonstrate outstanding potential to become independent researchers in accelerated materials discovery. Each award provides up to $70,000 per year in salary support along with $5,000 for lab consumables for 2 years (January 4, 2022–January 3, 2024). Funds cannot be used for travel or other expenditures. Renewal of funding will not be considered for existing fellows.
The AC Fellowships will be awarded to individuals with experience working on cutting-edge, high-risk ideas that represent new collaborations between at least 2 AC members (hosts), one of which must have a faculty appointment at U of T. The second host may also be from U of T or from the AC’s extensive pan-Canadian and international membership (see acceleration.utoronto.ca for a complete list). If your potential supervisor would like to join the AC, please email acceleration@utoronto.ca.
Commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
The Acceleration Consortium strives to be an equitable and inclusive community, and proactively seeks to increase diversity among its community members. Diversity is a research strength and so we welcome and encourage applications from racialized persons / persons of colour, women, Indigenous / Aboriginal Peoples of North America, persons with disabilities, LGBTQ2S+ persons, and others who will contribute to research excellence and innovation. Our values regarding equity and diversity are linked with our unwavering commitment to excellence in the pursuit of our academic mission.
Eligibility
Applicants are required to be either PhD students expected to graduate from a PhD Program by January 4, 2022 or full-time postdoctoral fellows (with less than 4 years PDF training at the time of application).
Applicants are not permitted to apply with their previous supervisor(s).
Applicants who received their degree from U of T and postdocs working at U of T are eligible for the fellowship provided their research and host arrangements take them in new directions that are significantly distinct from their PhD. research and forge new connections within the University.
Applicants who have already received an offer for a postdoctoral position from U of T will only be considered under exceptional circumstances.
The proposed project must be co-supervised by 2 or more hosts from the Acceleration Consortium, one of which must have a faculty appointment at U of T. The second host may also be from U of T or from the AC’s extensive pan-Canadian and international membership (see acceleration.utoronto.ca for a complete list). Preference is given to collaborative or cross-departmental proposals.
Applicants must independently secure a commitment of office and lab space from 1 or more U of T faculty members for the 2-year AC Fellowship.
Applicants cannot be awarded an AC Fellowship in conjunction with any other external funding award. Applicants holding an external award at the time of application must openly declare this and indicate the end date of the existing award. Fellows who accept another award during the term of the AC Fellowship must immediately advise the committee of this and return the remaining award funds to the AC.
Awards can be deferred for a maximum of 3 months with approval of the awards committee.
Additional guidelines to note:
Program funding can be used only to support salary and is provided at the amount indicated. Any additional costs (e.g., recruitment, benefits, additional salary expenses, and project supplies expenses) will be covered by the hosts.
Submissions are limited to 1 candidate per host lab.
Fellows who leave their positions for full-time employment or other educational opportunities during the fellowship will no longer be eligible for the award and any remaining award funds will be returned to the AC, effective their end date.
Review process
All applications will be adjudicated by the AC Awards Committee, chaired by the AC Director. The committee may request input from internal and external reviewers from across academic disciplines. Shortlisted candidates will be required to give a 10-minute presentation to the committee as part of the review process.
Evaluation criteria
Applicants will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
Research ability and potential (60%)
Novelty of proposal (20%)
Communication, interpersonal and leadership abilities (20%)
Competition timelines
Competition announced: July 13, 2021
Full applications due: September 22, 2021 by 5:00pm EDT
Application review: September 20 – October 4, 2021
Presentations from shortlisted candidates: October 18 – 22, 2021
Notice of award: Early November 2021
Public announcement and fellowship start date: January 4, 2022
Fellowship end date: January 3, 2024
Accessibility statement
We are committed to the principles of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). As such, we strive to make our recruitment, assessment and selection processes as accessible as possible and provide accommodations as required for applicants with disabilities. Please let us know if you require any accommodations as part of this application process.
For more information
To learn more about the Acceleration Consortium, please visit acceleration.utoronto.ca or sign-up for our mailing list via bit.ly/acceleration-c. If you have any questions, please reach out to us at acceleration@utoronto.ca.
Application
Applications should be submitted by email to apply@accelerationconsortium.ai on September 22, 2021 by no later than 5:00 pm EDT. The application must include the following:
Overview
Please download and complete a copy of the attached form to include as the first page of your application:Research summary (maximum 250 words)
Provide a summary in lay terms of the proposal, highlighting project objectives and deliverables, and describing how the research is globally competitive and translatable to accelerated materials discovery.Research proposal (maximum 2 pages including up to 20 references; maximum 1 additional page for supporting tables and figures)
Provide an overview of the proposed research, including background, methods, and deliverables.Curriculum vitae (maximum 4 pages)
The CV must contain the following sections: education, relevant research/work experience, academic awards, conference presentations and other speaking engagements and publications.Letters of support from supervising hosts (maximum 1 page per host or a single joint letter of 2 pages maximum)
The letter(s) should address how the project represents an area of high-risk, high-reward research that is not covered by existing grants. The letter(s) should be emailed directly by the host(s) to apply@accelerationconsortium.ai with the applicant's full name in the subject line for reference.Two letters of recommendation (maximum 1 page each)
Both letters of recommendation should be emailed directly by each author to apply@accelerationconsortium.ai with the applicant's full name in the subject line for reference.
Application formatting requirements (sections 1 – 4)
Please do not include a cover page.
Please begin each section at the top of the page and label with the corresponding section title and number.
Please use Arial size 11 font, 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins, and 1.15-line spacing.
Adhere to word and page limits for each section, as indicated above.
Combine all documents (sections 1 – 4) into a single PDF file and send by email to apply@accelerationconsortium.ai. Do not send separate files. Notification of receipt will be sent within 1 week.
Reminder: Sections 1 through 4 should be sent directly by the applicant; sections 5 and 6 should be sent directly by the authors of the letters.