Eligibility And Place Of Tenure

AARMS postdoctoral fellowships are awarded, on the recommendation of its Scientific Review Panel (SRP), to beginning researchers who received their PhD no more than four years before the Stage 1 deadline given below. Applications will be considered from those who anticipate receiving their PhD before the proposed start time of the fellowship, however the PhD must be in hand before actually beginning the fellowship. AARMS will provide $25,000 per year for the fellowship and the supervisor is responsible for organizing matching funds of at least $17,500.  In addition, AARMS will provide travel funding of up to $1500 per year for all AARMS funded postdocs.

It is typically expected that the proposed supervisor will not be the same person as the applicant’s PhD supervisor, and that the proposed Postdoctoral Fellowship will be at a different university than the one at which the PhD was awarded. The proposed supervisor(s) must be a full-time tenure track or tenured faculty member at an AARMS member university, and the proposed research must be in the Mathematical Sciences or a closely related field.  A co-supervisor who is outside of Atlantic Canada may be proposed but the postdoc may not spend more that one semester per year outside Atlantic Canada.

Duration

Normally two years. Funding for the second year is dependent upon satisfactory performance demonstrated in the detailed progress report submitted by the supervisor(s).

Application

Applicants must first choose one or more faculty members from AARMS member universities who they wish to nominate as potential supervisors.  Applicants may also nominate a team of Atlantic researchers as co-supervisors, possibly at different Atlantic Canadian Universities.  Candidates are strongly encouraged to contact prospective supervisor(s) in advance to gauge their interest/ability to support the applicant as a postdoctoral fellow.

Once the potential supervisor(s) have been selected, the applicant should create an application in response to the “AARMS Postdoctoral Fellowship” advertisement on MathJobs.org.  The application should include:

• A cover letter stating the proposed supervisor(s).
• An up-to-date CV including publication list.
• A detailed description of the research area and the research to be carried out during the tenure of the fellowship as well as a description of how the candidate would interact with the supervisor(s).
• Letters of reference from at least two referees.  Referees should be persons who are familiar with the candidate’s work and can comment on their suitability for an AARMS postdoctoral fellowship.

We highly recommend that you complete this stage of the application well before the deadline.  People you ask to provide letters of reference are usually very busy and may not be able to respond in time if you give them short notice.  Without the required letters of reference your application will not be successful.

It is permitted for a supervisor to support more than one applicant, subject to the following restrictions:

• The supervisor is only permitted to support as many applicants as the supervisor has financial resources to fund, considering that all such applicants might be successful.  The supervisor must demonstrate this financial capacity to support all applicants in the letter of support.
• The supervisor is encouraged to provide, in the letter of support, a ranking of the multiple applicants for whom they are named as the sole supervisor.

AARMS aims to increase the participation of under-represented groups in the mathematical sciences. We welcome postdoctoral applications from Aboriginal people, persons with disabilities, visible minorities, women, and persons of any sexual orientation or gender identity.

Assessment

Applications will be reviewed by the Scientific Review Panel, who will make a recommendation to the Director.

Timetable (2021-2022 Competition)

• October 9 – MathJobs.org will begin accepting Stage 1 applications
• November 15 – Stage 1 application deadline.  All material from applicants, including letters of reference, must be received by MathJobs.org by 11:59 pm, Atlantic time.
• November 16 – 23 – AARMS contacts potential supervisors named in Stage 1 applications.
• December 14 – Stage 2 application deadline.  Letters of support from potential supervisors must be received by 11:59 pm, Atlantic time.
• February 1 – Deadline for the assessment phase. Initial offers on Postdoctoral fellowships are made within the next few weeks. The department/university offered an award is requested to provide to AARMS a signed “funding package”, showing the annual contributions by the supervisor(s), the department, and the university. Their amount has at least to match the AARMS contribution of $17,500 and may require that the fellowship holder teach up to one class each term (including spring/summer sessions). If an offer is declined AARMS reserves the right to either offer or to refrain from offering a fellowship to the next candidate in the ranking. If a successful candidate has also been offered an NSERC postdoctoral fellowship it is permitted to accept the AARMS award as well. In this case AARMS will contribute $7,500 per year on top of the NSERC award. No matching fees will be required from the supervisor(s).
• June 30 – Deadline for reports from supervisors of renewing PDFs. The supervisor must submit a detailed progress report, outlining the research work and listing publications, talks, etc.  The PDF is also expected to acknowledge the support of AARMS in their publications.
• August 31 – Latest possible termination date for the second year of a PDF.
• September 1 – Start time for the fellowship. AARMS will transfer $12,500 (first half of the annual amount) during the month when the PDF starts his programme, and the same amount six months later. This is done upon receipt of a formal invoice from the hosting department/university. It is acceptable for the start of a fellowship to be delayed up until December 1, but funding will be reduced proportionate to the delay. This reduction will be reconciled in the second year of funding.