Provost’s Program for Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Scholars - Why Waterloo?

Postdoctoral scholars at the University of Waterloo are a vital component in supporting the intellectual strength of our institution. They play an active role in planning for and carrying out Waterloo’s research programs, build alliances and intellectual bridges to other institutions and provide mentorship to our students. In return, Waterloo offers postdoctoral scholars a supportive infrastructure and mechanisms for advancing their goals. 

Through the Provost’s Program for Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Scholars, postdoctoral scholars will have a unique opportunity to be a bridge across different disciplines, departments, schools, and faculties, with an ability to work in more than one research group across the institution. Postdocs supported through this program will be co-supervised by faculty members from different departments/schools and preferably from different faculties. The postdocs themselves may or may not have experience in interdisciplinary research, but they should be able to clearly communicate their interest in, and clearly articulate how their proposed research will span beyond the typically disciplinary boundaries. These scholars will become the critical link between research groups and will synthesize the knowledge of two (or more) fields into high-impact discoveries.

Successful scholars will:

• Receive mentorship from two academic scholars (two faculty supervisors at minimum) from at least two distinct disciplines;
• Have access to opportunities for collaboration throughout the institution, and leverage disciplinary strengths to address major problems of societal importance requiring an interdisciplinary approach;
• Explore new opportunities for application of research and commercialization, leading to new entrepreneurial ventures;
• Play an active role as mentors to students and young scholars;
• Have opportunities to be institutional change agents and champions of interdisciplinary research;
• Contribute to a research agenda that extends beyond disciplinary boundaries.