HORIZON POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS

Cornerstone of knowledge creation

Academic talent at the postdoctoral stage sparks innovation and breakthroughs. Postdoctoral fellows are topic experts who have a mission to advance our world through knowledge creation.

One of Concordia’s nine strategic directions is to double our research. To accomplish this ambition, recruiting top-notch talent from across Quebec, Canada and internationally is essential. Postdoctoral fellows cover areas that have wide-reaching implications. They include idea-generation and understanding in health, synthetic biology, cognition and climate change. Our university engages 80 to 120 postdoctoral fellows each year. Our goal is to double that number for the benefit of Canada.

Concordia’s Horizon Postdoctoral Fellowships propel postdoctoral students across our four faculties so that they can pursue fresh ideas. Through this initiative, we can offer an annual salary of $47,500 plus benefits for two years. We want to strengthen academic talent that betters society and increases our next-generation research impact.

Our mission to grow

Concordia’s graduate-level research profile is strong. We have 7,500 masters- and PhD-level students. That’s double what we had 10 years ago. This is an indication of Concordia’s momentum. Increased fellowships will expand productivity and help take graduate studies at Concordia to a new level.

Our Horizon Postdoctoral Fellows focus exclusively on research. Among our 12 Horizon Fellows is Mari Slid, who works in genetic engineering, biology and aging. At Concordia, she is focusing on how external factors affect brain development in children. The lives of Rwandan Genocide survivors are being documented through our Horizon Postdoctoral Fellowship in Web Mapping and Oral History. Other areas of Horizon inquiry include intergenerational family business transitions.

Of our current cohort of Horizon Postdoctoral Fellowships, we have scholars from Estonia, Italy, Malaysia and more. This is itself a reminder that the talent pool is international. Funding is a key resource that prospective students consider when choosing where to study.

Impact on Canada’s competitive edge in research

A report published by Canada’s Fundamental Science Review concluded that Canadian research production is falling behind our G7 peers. Canada is absent from the top 30 countries in terms of research intensity. A major challenge identified in the report is declining funding for research in Canada.

Your support of Concordia’s Horizon Postdoctoral Fellowships will provide a solution. With funding from donors, we can continue supporting fellows who contribute to Canada’s overall research output and prosperity. Postdoctoral fellows are behind many insights and discoveries that make Canada and our world a stronger, smarter place.

Fundraising goals

Concordia typically has 80 to 120 postdoctoral fellows each year. With your support, our goal is to double our number to 200 annually. To ensure advances in our postdoctoral fellowships, we seek to fund new Horizon Postdoctoral Fellowships.