Robbins-Ollivier Award for Excellence in Equity

Eligibility

Description

The three federal research funding agencies—the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) (the agencies)—are pleased to launch the annual Robbins-Ollivier Award for Excellence in Equity. Awarded through the tri-agency Canada Research Chairs Program (CRCP), the award recognizes the significant and impactful contributions that Marjorie Griffin Cohen, Louise Forsyth, Glenis Joyce, Audrey Kobayashi, Shree Mulay, Susan Prentice, Michèle Ollivier and Wendy Robbins have made to increase the level of equity in the CRCP and Canada’s research ecosystem more broadly, by way of their 2003 Canadian Human Rights complaints and their concerted efforts in the mediation processes, which led to both the 2006 Settlement Agreement and its addendum in 2019.

The award recognizes the contributions of the entire group, while being named after the late Michèle Ollivier and Wendy Robbins, who passed away in 2010 and 2017, respectively, prior to the signing of the 2019 Addendum.

Summary

Changes from the previous competition

For 2024 nominations and going forward, a title and a summary of the proposed initiative is required. The nomination package section has been updated to indicate this requirement.

Research excellence

To attract and retain excellent research talent, Canada’s research system and environment must be free of systemic barriers so that all researchers have access to opportunities and equitable outcomes. In addition, for Canada to reach its full potential in research and innovation, it is critical that the research ecosystem facilitate the equitable participation of racialized individuals, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, women, and individuals from the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, and that it recognize and value the excellence of their contributions. For this reason, it is important that all participants in the research ecosystem contribute to identifying and eliminating the documented systemic barriers that impede the career advancement, recruitment and retention of these individuals in research.

Bold and game-changing action

Despite decades of efforts to address inequities in postsecondary institutions and research and academia more broadly, systemic barriers persist. The historical underrepresentation of racialized individuals, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, women, and individuals from the 2SLGBTQIA+ community in the CRCP reflects the barriers that exist in academia and Canada’s research ecosystem more broadly. These barriers often exist in research programs, institutional policies, practice, and culture, and in the organizational environment.

To address the persistence of these barriers, bold and potentially game-changing measures and actions that challenge the status quo and spark change are needed.

Objectives

The objectives of the annual Robbins-Ollivier equity award are to:

• fund bold and potentially game-changing institutional-level initiatives that will challenge the status quo, spark change and take action to address persistent systemic barriers within the institution research ecosystem and academia more broadly;
• recognize faculty members who contribute their time, expertise and lived experience to help address inequities in their institution, the research ecosystem and academia; and
• provide opportunities for students and trainees to contribute to this important work.

The objective of the award is not to fund research in equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) disciplines, but rather to fund initiatives to be implemented within the institution to identify and/or address systemic barriers.

The award provides a total of $100,000 over one year, with the potential for a one-year no-cost extension, to a faculty member or a team of faculty members nominated by an eligible institution, to fund the implementation of bold and potentially game-changing initiatives led by the nominated individual or team that:

• contribute to the understanding of the persistence of systemic barriers in the nominating institution and, by extension, the research ecosystem and academia more broadly; and/or
• identify innovative measures that could be implemented within the institution to change the status quo and break down those barriers in the long term.

The awardee(s) and their initiative will be featured on the CRCP website and social media. The individual or team will also be invited by the agencies to present their initiative and its impacts in a public forum (e.g., a conference).

The institution whose nominee(s) receive(s) the award will be required to provide the CRCP with a promotion strategy (two pages maximum for English; 2.5 pages maximum for French) outlining a proposed approach for promoting and celebrating the award winner(s) and the impact and outcomes of their initiative.

Institutional eligibility

To be eligible to submit a nomination, the nominating institution must, at the time of submission:

• have a current allocation of chairs from the CRCP;
• be meeting its December 2022 equity targets for the program;
• be meeting all public accountability and transparency requirements; and
• for institutions with five or more chairs allocated, have a CRCP EDI action plan in good standing.

Faculty eligibility

To be eligible for nomination, the faculty member(s) must:

• be eligible to receive grant funding from the agencies;
• be holding a full-time academic appointment at the institution at the time of nomination and for the duration of the award (adjunct professors are not eligible); and
• be in good standing with CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC (e.g., they cannot have eligibility limits placed on them due to not meeting grant reporting requirements for the CRCP or have sanctions in place tied to the agencies’ responsible conduct of research policy).

Institutional administrators who are eligible to hold grant funding from the agencies are also eligible to be nominated.

As the CRCP is an institutional program, the Robbins-Ollivier award does not accept applications from or fund individuals directly. A senior manager responsible for the administration of the CRCP at the institution, at the vice-president level, must submit the nomination.

Award funds

Eligible expenses include, but are not limited to:

• teaching/administrative release for the individual(s)
• student/trainee stipend(s) or salary
• research costs according to the Chairs Administration Guide

The list above is not comprehensive, as the proposed initiative is expected to be bold and game-changing and thus may include costs that might not specifically be stipulated as eligible in the program’s administration guide. The assessment process will include an administrative review of the proposed expenses to determine whether they are aligned with the objectives of the award.

The primary awardee (not the nominating institution) is to manage the spending of award funds according to the initiative proposal submitted.

Institutions may choose to devote additional funds to support the proposed initiative(s), though it is not a requirement.

Indirect costs are not an eligible expense. The salary of faculty is not an eligible expense.

The award is not intended to “top up” or be added to pre-existing, ongoing initiatives.

Assessment process

A peer review committee will select the three award recipients according to the selection criteria of the award and best practices in adjudication, including the Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Policy of the Federal Research Funding Organizations. To ensure efficiency, a triage process will be used to rank the top three nominations that will be recommended for funding.

Overhead

Institutional Process 

As the University of Calgary may only submit one application to this competition, there is an internal selection process. 

As Letters of Intent will be assessed against the ‘Project’ and ‘Leadership and commitment to equity’ selection criteria, submitted materials should clearly address these selection criteria. 

Submit the following materials to the Research Services Office via researchawards@ucalgary.ca by October 6, 2025: 

Components of LOI (for internal selection)

• 2-page summary of project description (3 page for final nomination)
• 1 page proposed budget
• 1 page summary of the nominees’ overall contributions to and leadership in addressing inequities in their institution and/or the research ecosystem and academia more broadly, in alignment with the selection criteria
  • Note: there are also 2 institutional components required (nomination letter/rationale – 3 pages; Institutional nomination process – 2 pages. We can develop those after the nominee is selected.)

The selection committee will endeavour to notify all applicants of the results of the internal competition by mid-October. The Research Services Office and the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion will support the selected individual or team to prepare the full application in advance of the November 4, 2025 agency deadline. 

Pre-application deadlines

RSO internal deadline

Application deadlines

Program application deadline

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator
• Department Head
• Faculty ADR/Dean
• Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.

RESOURCES

Reminder: The sooner the researcher engages with Research Services, the more help we can be!

Contact the following Research Service units for support with:

Projects Involving Indigenous Research:

Support with incorporating wise practices in Indigenous research, community engagement, and Indigenous data management is available through the Indigenous Research Support Team (IRST).

Applicants can reach out by email to IRST at IRST@ucalgary.ca in advance of the RSO internal deadline. For more information about IRST, please visit the IRST webpage.

Knowledge Mobilization, Research Impact Assessment, DORA:

Support for knowledge mobilization/engagement/translation, community partnerships, research impact, responsible research assessment (DORA), and open science, is available through the Knowledge to Impact team.

Applicants can reach out by email to the KI team at knowledge.impact@ucalgary.ca.

For more information and access to resource archives, please visit the KI team webpage.

Research Data Management:

For information on research data management plans, processes, or best practices for your research program, please contact research.data@ucalgary.ca.

EDI in Research:

RSO can provide resources and support to research teams on the integration of equitable and inclusive practices in research design and research practice.

Contact edi.rso@ucalgary.ca for more information.

Research Security:

The Research Security Division is available to ensure researchers adhere to research security guidelines and policies, including the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships (NSGRP) and the policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern (STRAC).

Visit the Research Security website to learn more or contact researchsecurity@ucalgary.ca.