The call for McGill faculty members to submit project proposals for the 2023 Global Health Scholars - Undergraduate program is now closed. Many thanks to the McGill faculty members who have applied.
Background:
The McGill Global Health Scholars - Undergraduate program provides opportunities for McGill undergraduate students to learn about and gain experience in global health through research projects. Over the summer, each Global Health Scholar is involved in a global health project in either an International or Northern Canada site location or from Montreal or Gatineau, under the mentorship of a McGill faculty member. During the academic year following their summer project, Global Health Scholars benefit from a variety of education, training and networking opportunities organized by McGill Global Health Programs (GHP), including the Insight Nights seminar series custom-designed for Global Health Scholars, GHP's annual Global Health Night event, free access to the McGill Summer Institutes in Global Health, and other activities.
The current call for submissions is open to McGill faculty who are interested in benefiting from the support of an undergraduate Global Health Scholar on their global health research project in summer 2023. Selected projects will be included in the projects offered to the 2023 Global Health Scholars - Undergraduate Program cohort. Faculty members whose projects are selected will serve as the faculty supervisor for the Global Health Scholar who is selected for your project, and will be expected to provide mentorship and support to the student throughout the duration of the project.
Key dates:
- Call for Faculty Project Submissions: October 20, 2022
- Extended Deadline: November 18, 2022, at 11:59 PM
- Announcement of Faculty Project Submission Results: December 14, 2022
- Launch of Call for Student Applications: January 16, 2023
- Deadline for Student Applications: February 17, 2023
- Announcement of Results to all student applicants: March 31, 2023
Objectives:
- The Global Health Scholars Program provides global health research opportunities to outstanding McGill undergraduate students through hands-on training and mentorship.
- The program pairs students with McGill faculty members to assist with global health research projects for the summer in an International, Northern Canada, or Montreal or Gatineau-based setting.
- GHP accepts project submissions from all McGill Faculties and Schools and provides funding to cover student travel, if applicable, and a small stipend.
Project eligibility:
- The project must address a critical global health challenge or priority with an explicit connection to population health outcomes, and the faculty member must provide hands-on mentorship and supervision to the student.
- The Principal Investigator of the project must be a McGill faculty member.
- The project site location(s) must be in an international setting, in Northern Canada, or in Montreal or Gatineau.
- All International and Northern Canada projects must identify a site location and an on-site partner or supervisor. The on-site partner or supervisor must agree to work with a McGill Undergraduate student in Summer 2023. We strongly encourage faculty to enable the participation and involvement of collaborators in determining project objectives for the student in your proposal.
- Research projects involving human subjects must have the approval of all appropriate ethics boards by May 2023 to be eligible to receive support via the program.
Funding and hours:
- Students completing their project on-site locally (In Montreal or Gatineau) will receive a stipend of $2,500.
- Students who travel (either internationally or to Northern Canada) will receive an additional $2,500 (totalling $5,000) to contribute towards travel costs. If a student cannot travel, the stipend will not exceed $2,500.
- Funding will be distributed to students in May 2023.
- Costs relating to data usage, graphic design software, and carrying out research are not eligible. Faculty supervisors are expected to cover all research-related costs.
- Selected students must complete 240 hours of work (equivalent to 6 weeks full-time) between May 1 – August 31, 2023. The student and their faculty supervisor will determine the student’s schedule together.
- Any work on the project that exceeds 240 hours is not covered by GHP. If such a case arises, the student and their faculty supervisor should discuss and agree on compensation before the project extension.
- For International or Northern Canada projects, the student must spend a minimum of 4 full weeks (28 days) on-site.
- For local projects (Montreal or Gatineau), the student must spend the majority of their time on-site, working in a hands-on learning environment and integrated within a team. Projects that primarily entail “working from home” or remote work are ineligible.
COVID-19 considerations:
- Student travel will comply with COVID-19 directives set by McGill University, the Government of Quebec, the host country and the on-site partner organization.
- Should the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic change, travel could be cancelled or disrupted, and Scholars may need to complete their work remotely. Thus, this year's application requires that faculty prepare work plans for several scenarios. Faculty members whose proposals are accepted to the program must be prepared to transition their projects to remote work at any time if students cannot be on campus, work from a McGill affiliate location, or travel to an international or Northern Canada research site location.
Student application process:
- Undergraduate students will apply to GHP (NOT to faculty members) for acceptance to the Global Health Scholars program.
- Students will apply via the Global Health Scholars Program application portal on the GHP website starting in January 2023.
- The most competitive student applications will be shortlisted by GHP and forwarded to faculty members by the end of February 2023. Faculty members should not communicate with or interview students before receiving applications from GHP.
- Faculty members conduct interviews as needed in the first half of March 2023 and identify their preferred candidate to GHP. The GHP office will inform the selected students of their acceptance to the program.
- Faculty members are encouraged to involve their on-site partners or on-site supervisors to participate in the selection process and/or interviews.
- The faculty member will decide which student(s) are selected for their project(s).
Additional instructions related to travel:
- This must be a mentored research project and students travelling as part of the project must have access to thorough supervision by an established research team member.
- If the faculty member is not travelling with the student, then it is essential that the faculty member identifies an on-site supervisor(s) for the student and that the student receives adequate information about the project before departure.
- Students are not allowed to travel to countries or regions with a Government of Canada Travel Advisory risk level of 3 or higher (i.e. Level 3 ‘avoid all non-essential travel’ or Level 4 ‘avoid all travel’). Should a project location’s risk level rise to level 3 or higher before the travel date, the project would then shift to a local or remote workplan.
- Students are to be assisting in research projects only. Students cannot provide clinical care or receive clinical training through the Global Health Scholars program.
- The partner institution or organization must be aware that the student is travelling to their facility to work on the research project and receive all pertinent travel details and emergency contact information.
Program expectations for Scholars:
Students selected as undergraduate Global Health Scholars must:
- Attend a mandatory two-part orientation session on research ethics training organized by GHP in April 2023.
- Complete the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMHS) online pre-departure training (for students travelling to an international or Northern Canada worksite only).
- Attend a mandatory project debrief seminar in September 2023.
- Submit a final report to GHP in October 2023. This report is a reflection on the Global Health Scholars Program and a way to provide feedback. GHP does not expect a complete review paper or journal article.
- Present a poster on their Global Health Scholars project at GHP’s annual Global Health Night event in November 2023. The poster does not have to present final research results.
- Scholars will also have the opportunity to attend the McGill Summer Institutes in Global Health in either summer 2023 or summer 2024, as well as take the PPHS 511 course or the Interprofessional Global Health Course during the 2023-2024 academic year.
How to apply:
All applications must be submitted through the form below. You need to log in with your McGill email address and password using the link at the top of this page to view the form.
Additional information:
To learn more about the Global Health Scholars Undergraduate Program please visit the main Global Health Scholars Undergraduate Program page.
Global Health Programs contact:
Please direct all inquiries to studentaffairsghp.med [at] mcgill.ca.
