Wall Fellowships
Two Wall Fellowships of $1,000,000 are available annually to UBC faculty members through the Peter Wall Legacy Fund, an endowment established by Peter Wall, to support research excellence at UBC and invest in those who will help move BC and the world forward.
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ELIGIBILITY
All UBC tenured and tenure-track faculty, from both campuses, are eligible to apply. Individuals may not hold this award simultaneously with a Wall Research Award (Individual Faculty Award); however, a recipient of a Wall Fellowship may be a co-investigator on a Wall Research Award (Team Faculty Award). Fellowships can only be held once by an individual. Early- and mid-career faculty are strongly encouraged to apply.
Funds may be used to support the direct costs of research and will follow the Tri-Agency Guide on Financial Administration of grant funding, as well as infrastructure (e.g., field equipment, lab equipment, etc.) as permitted by CFI guidelines. In addition, funds may be used for teaching buy out – support for this must be confirmed by the appropriate Unit Head and Dean.
Wall Legacy Fund areas of interest
The Wall Fellowships are awarded to UBC faculty whose research relates to one of three areas:
- Sustainable approaches to and development of the general urban environment, including water, energy and transportation infrastructure in British Columbia;
- Environmental protection of oceans, beaches and waterfronts that impact British Columbia; and
- Sustainable approaches to resource-intensive industry in British Columbia.
Projects within these areas of interest will principally relate to British Columbia, but may also apply to and address other Canadian and international regions.
APPLICATION PROCESS
To apply for a Wall Fellowship, starting May 6, 2024, applicants must log in to VPRI’s online application system UBC Research + Innovation Apply using their campus wide login (CWL), and follow the instructions provided. Once the full application has been initiated, the applicant may invite others with a CWL to contribute (e.g., administrators, grant facilitators, etc.) using the “add collaborator” button located in the left side block.
Applications can be saved and completed at a later date before final submission and can be downloaded as a PDF at any time. Each section must be marked as complete before the application can be submitted. Only the primary applicant is able to submit.
Note: Sections marked as complete are still accessible for editing, prior to submission, by clicking the three dots in the upper right-hand corner of each section and selecting edit.
Applications include the following components:
- Notice of Intent (NOI) due June 7, 2024
(An NOI is required to provide time for eligibility review and enable the recruitment of reviewers. It is not adjudicated, but is required in order to submit a full application.) - Applicant information
- Research proposal (5 pages)
- Applicant’s record (4 pages)
- Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) (250 words)
- Institutional benefit (250 words)
- Budget and budget justification
- Two Letters of Recommendation
- Confirmation of support for teaching buy-out (if applicable)
A completed and signed Research Project Information Form (RPIF) must be uploaded as part of the application.
EVALUATION CRITERIA
To be eligible for peer review, the proposed research must:
- Be deemed relevant to BC
- Aligns with one or more of the Wall Legacy Fund areas of interest
- Include credible and meaningful Indigenous engagement
The following assessment criteria will be used:
Research Proposal (60%)
- The proposed research program is clearly outlined, providing a distinct purpose and clear attainable objectives
- The main methods used are relevant and well-defined
- Includes a clear plan on how the research program will involve trainees, and benefit their training and career advancement
- The relevant expertise needed to do this work is present, or there is a feasible plan in place for its recruitment
- A plan for how the outputs of the work will be disseminated to both academics, and other stakeholders is described
- How the proposed research will engage with Indigenous communities in alignment with UBC’s Indigenous Strategic Plan
Institutional Benefit (10%)
- The application provides a substantive and thoughtful explanation of how a Wall Fellowship will benefit the UBC community
- The application provides a thoughtful description of the types of service activities that the applicant would engage in as a Peter Wall Fellow
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (10%)
- The application illustrates how the research is informed by, or will contribute to the promotion of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in academia and society
Applicant’s Record (20%)
- The applicant possesses a strong record of research excellence and accomplishments
- The impact and importance of the applicant’s previous work is clear
- Letters of reference are supportive of the applicant’s past record and their ability to successfully lead the proposed research program
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
REPORTING
Peter Wall Fellows are required to submit an annual report to the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation that includes the following:
- standard financial reporting
- a brief summary of the past year’s work suitable for a lay audience
- a summary of the work undertaken in the preceding year
- summary statements describing:
- how the work has been disseminated
- how the work supported EDI
- activities that advanced UBC’s Indigenous Strategic Plan
- activities that benefited both UBC and the Fellow
Annual reports will be due sixty (60) days from the anniversary of the fellowship’s commencement. A report template will be provided to recipients.
PUBLICITY
Recipients of Wall Fellowships will informally be known as the Peter Wall Fellows. The recipients may be asked to participate in media events and other proceedings that recognize their achievement and bring awareness to the Wall Legacy Fund at UBC.
INFORMATION SESSIONS
The Vice-President, Research & Innovation Office will host two information sessions on the Wall Fellowship competition. We encourage all faculty interested in applying for this competition to attend one of these sessions.
For further information on this competition, contact Leslie Grad, Manager, Strategic Initiatives (leslie.grad@ubc.ca).
For issues pertaining to UBC Research + Innovation Apply, the VPRI’s online application system, please contact Stacey Herzer, Manager, Internal Research Competitions (stacey.herzer@ubc.ca).
TIMELINE
| May 6, 2024 | NOI open for submission |
| May 14, 2024 2:00-3:30 pm PT | Wall Fellowship information session (Optional) |
| May 16, 2024 10:00-11:30 am PT | Wall Fellowship information session (Optional) |
| June 7, 2024 11:59 pm PT | Notice of intent (NOI) due |
| September 13, 2024 11:59 pm PT | Full application due |
| Early November 2024 | Peter Wall Fellows announced |
| December 1, 2024 | Funds distributed |
Frequently Asked Questions
Eligibility
Any tenured or university tenure-track faculty member from both UBC campuses are eligible to apply.
Yes, but if an applicant is successfully awarded a Wall Fellowship, they are not eligible to take up the Wall Research Award as a primary applicant, i.e., they would only be eligible to be a co-applicant on a Wall Research Award (Team Faculty Award).
Yes, however, the adjudication committee may favour, at their discretion, those who do not hold these kinds of major chairs or awards in order to maximize the impact of Wall Legacy Funds to researchers.
Application Process
The primary applicant should be the one to initially launch an application (i.e., not a designate). Once the full application has been initiated, the applicant may invite others with a CWL to contribute (e.g., students, administrators, grant facilitators, etc.) using the “add collaborator” button located in the left side block.
To apply to the Wall Research Awards, applicants must log into UBC Research + Innovation Apply using their campus wide login (CWL), and follow the instructions provided. A Notice of Intent (NOI) must be submitted by June 29, 2024 to progress to the full application.
References and figures are not required, but may be included in the application as optional uploaded PDFs. There is no limit to the number of references that can be provided. Figures and tables are restricted to one page. All must follow the formatting guidelines stated within the application.
No. All information pertaining to the applicant’s record must be included within the 4-page document uploaded to the on-line application. This document may follow a biosketch format with narrative elements describing the applicant’s most significant contributions to their field and its impacts. Reviewers will remove all other unrequired appendices.
Yes. A completed Research Project Information Form (RPIF) signed by the applicant’s Unit Head, and if applicable, Centre Director and/or Dean, must be included within the application. A prompt to upload the RPIF is present in the application.
Yes.
The term transformative within the context of this award refers to not only the potential of the research itself, but also the recipients. A broad lens is therefore used when defining this term, with transformative impact including reducing constraints of time and money, enabling experimental high-risk/high-reward research, and supporting non-traditional approaches to significant and complex topics.
The Wall Legacy Fund supports research focused on “sustainable approaches to and development of the general urban environment” and “sustainable” approaches to resource-intensive industry in British Columbia”. For the purposes of this award, sustainability refers to meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Projects aligning with the Wall Legacy Fund research areas may also apply to and address Canadian and international regions outside of British Columbia, provided that such projects will principally relate to British Columbia.
Budget
The Wall Fellowships are meant to fund various aspects of research support to increase the chances of conducting transformative research that will have the potential for significant impact. Therefore, the Wall Fellowships were designed to go beyond the constraints of a typical operating grant: in addition to supporting the direct costs of research, following the Tri-Agency Guide on Financial Administration of grant funding, the fellowship may also be used to support infrastructure (e.g., field equipment, lab equipment, etc.), as permitted by CFI guidelines. In addition, funds may be used for teaching buy out; however, support for this must be confirmed by the appropriate Unit Head and Dean in the form of a signed letter(s).
Yes. Research does not happen in a vacuum. It takes the support of many to bring a research program to fruition, thus, Wall Fellowship funds may be used to support research trainees. This must be reflected in the budget section of the application and reflected in the research proposal.
Fellowship funds will be awarded in a single tranche but must be expended within a five-year period.