Awards & Funding

We provide support and funding for a number of awards, funding opportunities and grants dedicated to supporting and enhancing the undergraduate academic experience.

Professor David Liu, Early Career Teaching Award 2018 recipient

Assistant Professor David Liu, Early Career Teaching Award Recipient for 2017-18

Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn

Teaching Awards & Grants Database

Browse and search the database
  • Divisional Pedagogical Grant
  • Divisional Teaching Award
  • Early Career Teaching Award
  • Educational Leadership
  • Experiential / Community / Practicum / Simulation / Clinical
  • Graduate Education
  • Institutional Award
  • Institutional Pedagogical Grant
  • Non-Continuing Teaching Appointment
  • Pedagogical Grant
  • Student-Nominated
  • Teaching Assistant Award

Funding Opportunities

Below are a number of institutional funding opportunities to support innovation in the undergraduate classroom.

The Learning and Education Advancement Fund (LEAF) program enriches the learning experience of undergraduate students in first-entry divisions across the University. It also provides academic units with a mechanism for developing and enhancing the research, assessment and application of high-impact teaching practices within learning environments at U of T. LEAF is intended to support projects that will anticipate, leverage and create positive changes in both the modes and mechanisms of undergraduate education at the University of Toronto.

Funding Range: $5,000 to $100,000 per year

Funding Duration: up to 3 years

LEAF+ welcomes proposals for projects addressing the theme of Generative AI in Teaching and Learning. Given the potential impacts, opportunities and challenges of this emergent technology for the ways our course instructors and students engage in learning, the OVPIUE will be funding projects to help inform the application of these evolving tools in pedagogical contexts. For more information on Generative AI in the Classroom, the Provost’s Office has developed an overview and FAQ.

Funding Range: $5,000 to $10,000 per year

Funding Duration: 1 year (with possibility of renewal)

The Provost’s Instructional Technology Innovation Fund (ITIF) is a seed fund designed to catalyze initiatives that immediately and directly impact U of T’s education and teaching programs through innovation and development. ITIF is focused specifically on the practical applications of technology in design, implementation, evaluation, curriculum renewal, faculty development or continuing education initiatives that enrich learning. ITIF is intended to support strategic directions in education broadly, across all disciplines. The proposed deliverable and outcomes must be closely aligned with the ongoing goals and objectives of the departments and programs from which they emerge.

Funding Range: $2,000 to $5,000

Funding Duration: up to 2 years

The Flexible Learning Initiative (FLI) provides funding to support instructors in the development of fully online or hybrid undergraduate courses. The program aims to increase the range of online learning opportunities at the University of Toronto while building capacity for innovative approaches to teaching and learning. Funding will be made available to teams of three instructors who will address a focus area of strategic importance to their discipline, department and/or division as they redesign a course for fully online or hybrid delivery. 

Funding Range: $6,000 per instructor with maximum of $18,000 per team of 3 instructors

Funding Duration: 1 year

The Undergraduate Course Development Fund (UCDF) fosters ongoing, mutually beneficial teaching relationships between graduate-only divisions and units and divisions that offer undergraduate degree programs. Undergraduate divisions benefit from the inclusion of leading-edge researchers into their teaching cadre, and participating faculty and their graduate divisions benefit from exposure to a broad undergraduate population. UCDF funding is enrolment based and provided to the partnering graduate division in support of their instructor participating in the program.

Funding Range: $12,500 to $50,000 (enrolment dependent)

Funding Duration: Year-to-year

The Open Course Initiative Fund (OCIF) supports the development of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) on both the Coursera and EdX platforms. Engagement in MOOCs by U of T faculty is intended to: contribute to education community and broader public by sharing curriculum; explore pedagogical approaches and open course platform; leverage the use of MOOC materials through integration into U of T degree program courses; and showcase the University of Toronto’s capacity as a leading institution for teaching, learning and research.

Funding Range: up to $15,000

Funding Duration: up to 2 years

The Data-Driven Design: Quercus Record Store (D3:QRS) initiative will allow instructors to explore the newly developed University of Toronto learning analytics dashboard using data accessed through a new Quercus Record Store (QRS) infrastructure.  Building on our earlier cohorted programming, the 2023-2024 cycle will pilot the new dashboard, providing access to detailed reports of student activity in Quercus to inform course design decisions.

Funding Range: $1,000

Funding Duration: 6 months

Institutional Awards

You can use the squares below to explore and apply for institutional teaching awards and fellowships.

President’s Teaching Award

Learn More

Northrop Frye Award

Learn More

Early Career Teaching Award

Learn More

Teaching Fellowship

Learn More

Global Educator Award

Learn More

Preparing a Nomination Package

As you prepare a nomination package, consult the award criteria on the Teaching Awards & Grants Database where you can review the specific requirements for a range of teaching awards as well as local supports available.

If you would like to receive general support for nomination files for internal and / or external awards, the Centre for Teaching Support & Innovation (CTSI) can also provide you with expert guidance and feedback. Book a consultation to discuss a teaching award nomination with the CTSI team.

Contact

Have a question or need more info about awards, funding and grants? Feel free to email awards.provost@utoronto.ca with any queries.