Eligibility & Evaluation Process

ELIGIBILITY & EVALUATION PROCESS

Applicant

To be eligible to apply:

• Your application must be supported by a VISTA Core Member who would become your supervisor. VISTA Associate Members are eligible as co-supervisors with a VISTA Core Member;
• You must hold a doctorate in an area that falls within the VISTA mandate;
• A PhD or equivalent degree must be completed by the start date;
• Postdoctoral Fellows who hold an external award (e.g. NSERC) at York, and who have not previously held a VISTA Postdoctoral Award, are eligible to apply for a one year extension from VISTA during the final year of their award;
• Postdoctoral candidates who are employed at York University under the category of ‘Postdoctoral Visitor’ are only eligible to apply during the first 6 months of employment, or until the first fellowship application deadline following the hire date, whichever comes first;
• VISTA Postdoctoral Fellowship or Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship applicants may NOT apply to work within the same research environment (i.e. institution or supervisor) where they completed their PhD.
• Accept an offer with a start date:
  • April applicants: No earlier than July 1 and later than December 1;
  • September applicants: No earlier than December 1 and no later than July 1
• You must conduct research in the vision sciences that is aligned with the VISTA program.

Program of Study Eligibility

The research should contribute to VISTA’s mandate, which is to support fundamental and applied vision research that combines biological and computational perspectives and has translational potential for health, industry, or other applications.

 

SELECTION PROCESS

The VISTA Training Committee at York University is responsible for coordinating the selection process for the VISTA Postdoctoral Award applications, and for performing the preliminary review and ranking. The Faculty of Graduate Studies will review and make decisions on awards, and will communicate the results to the Training Committee.

Selection Criteria

The merit review of VISTA Postdoctoral Award applications will be carried out by the VISTA Training Committee and will be based on the following criteria:

Criteria	Description	Weight
Research Ability or Potential	§ Quality of contributions to research and development § Relevance of work experience and academic training to VISTA mandate § Scholarships and awards held § Duration of graduate studies § Ability to think critically § Ability to apply skills and knowledge § Judgment § Originality § Initiative and autonomy § Enthusiasm for research	40%
Excellence of the Research Proposal and Training Plan	§ Research proposal is of high quality on a topic that aligns with VISTA’s mandate § Proposals that include a current or potential future VISTA partner (private, academic or public sector) are not mandatory but will be considered a strength	30%
Transdisciplinarity of proposed research	§ Research focuses on fundamental and applied vision research § Research combines biological and computational perspectives § Research involves a range of techniques § Supervision committee is crosses multiple disciplines	15%
Potential for Knowledge/Commercial Translation	§ Research has translational potential for health, industry, or other applications. § Research has the potential to develop immediate/short-term applications § Research has the potential for fundamental breakthroughs with long-term applications § Research has non-academic partnership(s)	15%

 

The merit review of VISTA Distinguished Postdoctoral Award applications will be carried out by the VISTA Training Committee and will be based on the following additional criteria:

Criteria	Description
Ranking in VISTA Postdoctoral Fellowship Competition	§ The candidate is the highest ranking Distinguished applicant from the VISTA Postdoctoral Fellowship competition. § The candidate meets a level of excellence in research productivity, quality of outputs and leadership activities that approach what would be expected for other highly competitive programs (e.g. Banting PDF) and are commensurate with their stage of their career. For example, a new PhD graduate would be expected to have a different level of output compared with an individual applying from a preceding Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Quality of the proposed research, supervisory commitment and demonstrated synergy between applicant and VISTA’s strategic priorities	§ The proposed research and alignment with VISTA will position the applicant for future significant impact in the vision sciences. § There is demonstrated commitment of the Supervisor(s) to support the development of the applicant’s research and leadership capacity. § There is demonstrated alignment and synergy between the applicant’s research ambitions and VISTA’s potential to benefit strategically from its engagement with the applicant.