Awards and honours such as the Royal Society of Canada can play an important role in your career progression by providing tangible evidence of external recognition of your achievements. Membership in the Royal Society of Canada instantly indicates to others that you are considered one of Canada’s leading researchers. This recognition can then distinguish you against others in, for example, applications for high value grants and prestigious fellowships, particularly at the international level.

The Fellows program is for mid to late career scholars who are national/international leaders in their field. Typically, a successful candidate will have a track record that includes an exceptional publication record (as defined by your field), an exceptional record of grant success (as defined by your field), patents (if applicable), disciplinary prizes and awards, invitations to speak/keynote presentations, and strong evidence of research impact. Research impact is key – the Royal Society is interested in candidates whose work has led to demonstrable impacts in their field and on society, economy, health, or environment.

If you are interested and would like advice on when to apply, please contact your College Research Manager and RSO (see contact information below).

For nomination to the Fellows program the following documents are required: nomination letter (from the University President if you are being nominated by the university); two co-nomination letters (one from a Fellow); letters of support (3-5 depending on the academy); a 70 word citation; a 1200 word detailed appraisal; and a CV.

The most crucial parts of the nomination are the detailed appraisal and the letters of support. To maximize your chances of success, RSO will provide substantive support in writing the detailed appraisal. It is a different type of document than most grant applications and award nominations and you should expect to go through multiple rounds of feedback. RSO will also work with your referees to sharpen your letters of support (which are kept confidential).

If you are interested in being nominated as a Fellow to the Royal Society of Canada, you will submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) to research.honours@uoguelph.ca [1] by the internal deadline, usually in June (see the Honours and Awards Calendar [2] and it will be emailed as a Research Alert). The EOI is comprised of a written statement detailing your research achievements and impact and a CV.

The Honours and Awards Committee will review your EOI and provide a recommendation to the VPR on your nomination. The Committee may recommend approval or waiting a year or two to strengthen your research achievements. If the VPR approves your nomination, you will work with your College Research Manager and RSO from June to November to compile the nomination dossier. The final internal deadline is typically November 1. RSO will obtain the appropriate approvals and signatures and submit it to the Royal Society by the external deadline of December 1.

We usually find out the results the following July.