Prizes, Publications and Awards

John Dewan and Paul Christie Memorial Prizes
Conferences, Publications and Other Public Events
Resident Award

John Dewan and Paul Christie Memorial Prizes

The Foundation invites nominations for prizes available to researchers in the sciences bearing on mental health:

1. John Dewan Prize

The John Dewan Prize was established in honour of Dr. John Dewan who held the position of executive consultant to the Foundation from 1964 to 1974. The prize is intended to recognize an outstanding researcher whose work has been, or is presently, supported by the Foundation. The decision of the Foundation shall be based upon an assessment of the originality and uniqueness of either laboratory or clinical research and the contribution to significant new knowledge or concepts bearing upon mental health. The prize consists of a cheque for $2,500 together with a suitably inscribed scroll.

Method of nomination

Nominations for the prize shall be accompanied by 1) a two-page summary highlighting the candidate's work; 2) an updated curriculum vitae; 3) selected reprints of published work, or preprints, which describe the candidate's activities and scientific achievement.

List of past recipients.

2. Paul Christie Memorial Prize

The Paul Christie Memorial Prize was established in memory of Dr. Paul Christie to give recognition to a young researcher who holds, or has held, a Fellowship or Research Studentship from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation. To be eligible a candidate must have held a Fellowship for at least two years or a Studentship for three years. The Paul Christie Prize shall consist of a cheque for $1,000 together with a suitably inscribed scroll.

Method of nomination

In proposing a recipient the nominator shall provide a statement justifying the choice and citing evidence of the candidate's scientific ability, personality, and promise. The candidate shall provide the nominator with a summary of about 500 words outlining the work carried out, the results obtained and future plans for a research career. In addition to the candidate's report, the nomination should be accompanied by an updated curriculum vitae, and a maximum of three reprints (or preprints) which illustrate the candidate's work in the field of mental health.

List of past recipients.

The Foundation requires six collated sets of the application and sixteen copies of the C.V. for distribution to members of the review committee. Applications must be sent directly to the Grants Officer at the following address, on or before Friday, October 30, 2009. The Fellowships Committee will review nominations for the prizes and make recommendations to the Foundation.

Guidelines for Judging the John Dewan Prize and the Paul Christie Memorial Prize

The Committee of judges shall consist of the Fellowships Committee and the Executive Director. Nominations for the Dewan and Christie Prizes will be dealt with in much the same way as individual award applications and rated according to a rating scale developed for each prize.
All material submitted on behalf of a candidate (e.g., supervisor's statement, candidate's report, reprints, etc.) will be reviewed by two members of the committee who will be responsible for giving a report to the committee. External appraisals will be used if the Fellowships Committee decides they are needed.
Factors to be taken into account are shown on the rating scale.
The procedure is as follows:

If the committee does not feel that at least one candidate is worthy of the award then no award is made;
If more than one candidate is found worthy, all the members of the committee who are not from the same university or institution or who may for other reasons be considered to have no conflict of interest shall rate the candidate;
The ratings will be announced by each member and recorded on a rating sheet. The scores will be tallied by staff and the candidate having the highest rating shall be recommended for the prize.

Eligibility requirements:

John Dewan Prize: The work of the candidate is presently, or has been, supported by the Foundation.
Paul Christie Prize: The candidate:

a) holds, or has held, a Research Fellowship (for at least two years)
b) holds, or has held, a Research Studentship (for at least three years)
c) is nominated by his/her supervisor

General considerations:

John Dewan Prize
The work of the candidate must be laboratory or clinical research exhibiting originality and uniqueness of approach leading to new and significant knowledge or concepts to do with mental health.

Paul Christie Prize
This is a junior award and, as such, takes into consideration performance, present orientation and future promise.

PDF file

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Conferences, Publications and Other Public Events

The Foundation operates a modest program to support publications, conferences, and other public events which cannot readily be classified as publications or conferences. The maximum for any award in this program is $2,500. Applicants may apply for partial support from the Foundation to be combined with other sources. The particulars of each program are set out below. Within each program, the Foundation favours initiatives in which the applicant maximizes the accessibility of the publication, conference or other event to the audiences that may be served by it.

Applications will be received at any time. For any application involving a time constraint (e.g., a conference to be held on a certain date) the Foundation must receive the application no less than four months prior to the date to allow sufficient time for review. Please submit two identical collated sets (original and one copy) of the application. The top copy should show original signatures.

All applications in this program should be directed to the Grants Officer at the following address.

Publications

The Foundation will support some publications. Funds may be made available for:

The publication of monographs to include material of a greater length than would ordinarily be accepted by a scientific journal.
Publications devoted to broader themes than would usually be dealt with in monograph form (these might be for example, multi-authored, edited volumes on wider issues of relevance to the objectives of the Foundation).
The publication of material of a more general educational character in the field of mental health (subsidy might, for example, be given for publications that deal with the dissemination of new principles or research discoveries, and that help to transfer these into practice). A variety of forms of publication will be considered, e.g., video tapes, lecture series.

From time to time, the Foundation will invite the preparation of these kinds of publications, or any others, that may further its objectives. The Foundation will not assist the publication of journals.

Applications should describe the publication which is proposed and, in the case of written material, must include a sample of the text. The estimated budget should be included in the application. Applicants are expected to show how the publication fits the objectives of the Foundation and the publication program.

Wherever possible, arrangements will be made for any subsidy to be returned to the Ontario Mental Health Foundation out of profits that may be made from the sale of publications.

Conferences

The Foundation wishes to encourage the dissemination of the results of research work to practitioners so that clinically applicable findings can be incorporated into practice. The Foundation will consider providing financial assistance for conferences or meetings when the topics proposed are relevant to mental health and the application of research data to prevention, treatment or rehabilitation of the mentally ill. Informal meetings of researchers to exchange data and research methods will be eligible for support if they are advertised in such a way that students and interested workers in Ontario will be able to attend.

Institutions (such as hospitals or universities) and groups of investigators or individuals are eligible to apply. These funds are not available to support regular meetings of professional associations or annual meetings supported by institutions.

Applications should outline the program of the meeting, list the speakers if they are known, specify the audience expected, and include a budget based upon a forecast of attendance.

Other Public Events

The Foundation has set aside a small sum to provide awards to applicants who come forward with plans for projects which do not fit into the other programs run by the Foundation. Applicants are expected to show how the work they plan to carry out will further the objectives of the Foundation and mental health generally.

Review

All applications will be reviewed by the Executive Director of the Foundation based on the Guidelines for Publications, Conferences and Other Public Events. There are three possible outcomes of the review: decline funding, grant funding, grant funding with modification.

PDF file
Application forms

The Resident Research Award

The Foundation provides a $500 award to recognize excellent mental health research conducted by a resident at each of the six Ontario medical schools' department of Psychiatry.

The award-winner for each Department is selected by the faculty of the program.

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