Ignite Grant

The Ignite grant is an initiative of U of T’s Black Research Network (BRN) developed to provide annual small-scale research funding to support Black faculty, librarians, and post-doctoral scholars working broadly in any disciplinary category at the University of Toronto.

The Ignite grant will offer awards of $5,000 – $10,000 towards research training, research dissemination and research support. Please see examples of expense items eligible and ineligible for the IGNITE grant below:

Eligible:

• Research training and networking e.g. professional development offerings for trainees
• Research dissemination e.g. publications, workshop and academic conference participation fees
• Research support e.g. travel costs to academic/research conferences, travel for invited speakers or visiting scholars, consumables and supplies for research activities, trainee (student or postdocs) stipends/fellowships are eligible

Ineligible:

• Equipment for training or research 
• Teaching relief
• Contract research (i.e. fees paid to outside organizations to pay for research activities
• Admin fees, salaries or overhead payments

Eligibility for the Ignite grant

• The award is open to all faculty, librarians, and postdoctoral scholars at the University of Toronto:
  • Who identify as Black
  • Work in any disciplinary category (any research discipline) 
  • Based in any of the UofT campuses

• Funding requests must be within the award range of $5,000 – $10,000
• Funding requests must fall within the following categories: 
  • research support
  • research dissemination
  • research training and networking
• Planned activities must be scheduled to take place or be completed within one year of receipt of the award
• If applying for travel support that involves travelling outside of Canada, ensure compliance with the Government of Canada travel advice on the Global Affairs Canada website and U of T policies and procedures.

Evaluation 

Applications that meet the eligibility criteria above will be adjudicated through a competitive review process and funding decisions will be based on recommendations of the adjudication committee. 

Evaluation Criteria and Scoring 

• Purpose for funding (50%): relevance of the requested funding to applicant’s research outcomes must be clearly articulated 
• Budget (25%): a detailed budget outline along with clear justifications for planned expenses in relation to the research, must be provided on the application form  
• Timelines (25%): feasibility of timelines of activities 

Application Process 

All interested applicants are required complete the Black Researchers Ignite Grant: Online Application Form by the deadline on Monday, February 21, 2022 by 11:59pm EST 
The online form will include the following: 

• 1000-word (max) description of your research 
• Purpose for requested funding 
• Budget outline and justification 
• Activity timelines 
• Current CV 

 Important dates:
Application opens: January 28, 2022
Application closes: 11:59pm ET on February 21, 2022
Results announced: April

Contact Us:
If you have any questions or require any clarifications, please do not hesitate to email us at BRN@utoronto.ca