John Charles Polanyi Prizes

In honour of the achievement of John Charles Polanyi, recipient of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the Government of the Province of Ontario has established a fund to provide annually up to five (5) prizes to outstanding researchers in the early stages of their careers who are continuing to postdoctoral studies or have recently started a faculty appointment at an Ontario university. The John Charles Polanyi Prizes are available in the areas broadly defined as Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Economic Science.

$20,000

Deadline

March 2, 2026

Eligibility

(PDF file) See link. (external link)

To be eligible for an award, an applicant must:

1. be normally resident in Ontario;

2. have received their doctoral degree from any recognized university in the world on or after September 1, 2022, or, if the doctoral degree has not yet been awarded, be confident that they will have completed all degree requirements by May 31, 2026 (an applicant who was on parental leave between the time of completion of the doctorate and the time of application may have their period of eligibility extended by six months);

3. either be planning to continue to post-doctoral studies, or hold a faculty appointment, in a recognized publicly assisted university in Ontario. Enquiries about these criteria may be directed to ExecDirectorQA@oucqa.ca.

Required Documents

(PDF file) Application form (external link)

A complete application requires:

• an application form completed by the applicant;

• the applicant’s curriculum vitae (updates to which will not be accepted after submission);

• a one-page summary of the applicant’s doctoral thesis, written by the applicant;

• a brief statement of the research or scholarship to be undertaken during the period of the award, prepared by the applicant and not to exceed two pages (one additional page is allowed for diagrams, bibliography, etc.);

• a non-technical summary of the statement of research or scholarship, written by the applicant and not to exceed 500 words;

• confidential letters from four assessors; at least two of the assessors must not have had any prior personal or professional association with the applicant (e.g., as a supervisor, a member of the applicant’s supervisory committee, or a co-author) and ideally are not at a university at which the applicant is, or has been, a student or an employee. Confidential letters from assessors must be emailed directly from the assessor to Natasha Mills –natasha.mills@torontomu.ca by the posted deadline.

Adjudication

The Toronto Met YSGPS internal committee will forward recommended candidates together with their applications to the Council of Ontario Universities for further review.

More information can be found at the Council of Ontario Universities webpage (external link) .