Entries open for Ralph McGinn Postdoctoral Fellowships Program 2025 (Canada)

WorkSafeBC is committed to creating a province free from workplace injury, disease, and death, and to providing service driven by the core values of integrity, accountability, innovation, service, and partnership. They serve approximately 2.6 million workers and 270,000 employers throughout the province by promoting workplace health and safety, supporting injured workers, providing compensation, and operating a sustainable no-fault insurance system.

The purpose of the Ralph McGinn Postdoctoral Fellowships is to foster the development of occupational health and safety research expertise in Canada. These awards aim to support recent PhD graduates who are training for careers as independent researchers in academia related to occupational health and safety and/or work disability.

They support research and knowledge sharing that contributes to:

• Improving health and safety in BC workplaces
• Fostering successful rehabilitation and return to work of injured workers
• Ensuring fair compensation for people suffering injury or illness on the job

Priority Areas

• The research topic must align with one or more of the research priorities and relate to:
  • Occupational injury and disease
  • Workplace exposures
  • Prevention of injury or disease
  • Treatment of injury or disease
  • Disability management, vocational rehabilitation, and return to work; or
  • Workers’ compensation

Funding Information

• The award is $50,000 per year for one or two years with the option to renew for a third year upon successful re-application

Eligibility Criteria

• At the time of the award start date, the applicant must:
  • Be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or hold a valid work permit.
  • Have completed a PhD and meet all other application requirements.
  • Have completed their PhD within the last four years.
  • Hold a postdoctoral fellowship position at an eligible Canadian host institution (university or recognized research institution) for the duration of the award (minimum of one year).
  • Propose research that is relevant to occupational health and safety or work disability. The research should align with WorkSafeBC’s mandate and research priorities.
  • Have not previously held a Ralph McGinn Postdoctoral Fellowship.
  • Have not held more than one other postdoctoral fellowship previously.
  • Not have held or hold concurrently, an academic job as an independent investigator (e.g., assistant professorship, research associate).
  • Not hold another major salary award in addition to the Ralph McGinn Postdoctoral Fellowship.
  • Have a supervisor who is an established researcher who holds an academic appointment (at an academic rank of assistant professor or higher) with a Canadian university or position as a researcher or scientist with a recognized Canadian research institution.

Evaluation Criteria

• This process is designed to ensure credibility, transparency, and accountability, and relevance to WorkSafeBC:
  • Stage 1: Preliminary review by Research Services to ensure the application is complete and meets the eligibility criteria. Incomplete or ineligible applications will not proceed to
  • Stage 2: Review by WorkSafeBC stakeholders and/or an academic review committee who evaluate the quality of the applications and the relevance of the research to WorkSafeBC.
  • Stage 3: Final review and funding approval by WorkSafeBC’s Executive Leadership Team.

Application Requirements

• Research Services must receive signed acceptance of the award before it will release any funds.
• The successful applicant must begin their award within six months of accepting their award offer.
• The successful applicant is expected to contribute scholarly work through completing a research project and presenting and publishing findings over the term.
• No changes to the supervisor, the course of study, or the host institution where the award is held may be made without prior approval from Research Services (see “Changes to project” on page 6).
• The award recipient and the host institution are responsible for observing all ethics and biohazard/biosafety guidelines for research. Successful applicants must submit all necessary certificates to Research Services before the grant funds can be released.
• Equipment purchased with WorkSafeBC funds becomes the property of the host institution and may not be transferred without the agreement of both Research Services and the institution.
• WorkSafeBC reserves the right to terminate the fellowship award if the conditions are not satisfied.

For more information, visit WorkSafeBC.