CPIN Graduate Student Recognition Awards

2026 CPIN Graduate Student Recognition Awards

Award Overview

Apply through the online form

Purpose

CPIN is pleased to announce the 2026 CPIN Graduate Student Recognition Awards, recognizing excellence across the breadth of neuroscience research and training.

These awards are open to current CPIN graduate students from all participating graduate departments and are intended to recognize outstanding contributions in basic, translational, innovation, leadership and community engagement, and communication.

The awards will recognize excellence in the following categories:

1. CPIN Excellence in Neuroscience Research Award
2. CPIN Leadership and Community Engagement Award
3. CPIN Innovation in Neuroscience Award
4. CPIN Excellence in Neuroscience Communication Award

Award Categories

1. CPIN Excellence in Neuroscience Research Award

This award recognizes CPIN graduate students who have demonstrated exceptional research performance in neuroscience. To support fair evaluation across different stages of graduate training, applications will be reviewed separately at the Master’s and Doctoral levels.

Up to two awards may be offered in total.

Applicants may select one or both research areas that best reflect their work:

• Basic Neuroscience Research
• Translational Neuroscience Research

Criteria may include:

• Originality and scientific rigor of the research
• Quality and impact of research outputs, including publications, preprints, presentations, datasets, tools, or methods
• Contribution to basic, translational, clinical, computational, cognitive, behavioural, systems, interdisciplinary, or population-level neuroscience
• Independence, creativity, and sustained progress
• Recognition through scholarships, fellowships, conference awards, invited presentations, or other evidence of research distinction

Back to Award Categories

2. CPIN Leadership and Community Engagement Award

This award recognizes CPIN graduate students who have demonstrated outstanding contributions, including but not limited to leadership, service, mentorship, and engagement with the CPIN community and/or the broader neuroscience community.

Particular consideration will be given to contributions that strengthen the CPIN community, support CPIN activities, or promote engagement across CPIN-participating departments.

Criteria may include:

• Leadership in student groups, committees, events, outreach, or peer mentoring
• Contribution to equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, or trainee well-being
• Community-engaged neuroscience activities
• Service that strengthens CPIN across departments
• Evidence of positive impact on students, trainees, labs, programs, or community partners

Back to Award Categories

3. CPIN Innovation in Neuroscience Award

This award recognizes a CPIN graduate student whose work demonstrates innovation in neuroscience research, methods, tools, translation, or knowledge mobilization.

Criteria may include:

• Development or application of novel methods, technologies, models, datasets, or analytic approaches
• Interdisciplinary integration across neuroscience and fields such as engineering, artificial intelligence, psychology, medicine, rehabilitation, public health, ethics, or policy
• Translational potential for improving brain health, diagnosis, treatment, care delivery, or prevention
• Creative approaches to communicating or applying neuroscience knowledge
• Early-stage high-risk, high-reward work with strong future potential

Back to Award Categories

4. CPIN Excellence in Neuroscience Communication Award

This award recognizes a CPIN graduate student who has demonstrated outstanding ability to communicate neuroscience to scientific, clinical, policy, patient, public, or community audiences, including through outreach activities and online platforms.

Criteria may include:

• Clarity, accuracy, and accessibility of neuroscience communication for the intended audience
• Engagement in neuroscience outreach through activities such as public talks, podcasts, videos, blogs, social media, online platforms, media interviews, workshops, or community events
• Ability to translate complex neuroscience concepts without sacrificing scientific rigor
• Evidence of audience engagement, reach, learning, uptake, or impact
• Contribution to public understanding of neuroscience, knowledge mobilization, clinical or policy dialogue, patient education, or community partnerships

Back to Award Categories

Eligibility to Apply

In order to be eligible to apply, applicants must:

• Be current CPIN graduate students in good standing at the time of application
• Be enrolled in a Master’s or Doctoral program in a CPIN-participating graduate department
• Submit a complete application through the online form by the deadline
• Arrange for the required supervisor reference letter to be submitted by the deadline

Research and contributions from all areas of neuroscience will be considered, including but not limited to molecular, cellular, systems, cognitive, behavioural, computational, clinical, translational, interdisciplinary, and population-level neuroscience.

Selection Criteria

Applications will be reviewed by a CPIN Awards committee. Reviewers will consider the student’s program stage, training context, department, research area, opportunity level, and the relevance of the application to the selected award category.

The goal is to recognize excellence across the diverse CPIN community.

Depending on the award category, selection criteria may include:

• Research excellence, originality, impact, and scientific rigor
• Leadership, mentorship, service, and community engagement
• Innovation in neuroscience research, methods, tools, translation, or knowledge mobilization
• Excellence in neuroscience communication, outreach, public engagement, or knowledge translation
• Contributions to CPIN activities, initiatives, or the broader CPIN community
• Evidence of positive impact on students, trainees, labs, programs, community partners, or broader audiences

Student Statements

Applicants must provide a statement specific to each award selected. Each statement should describe the applicant’s achievements, contributions, and impact relevant to that award.

Applicants to the CPIN Excellence in Neuroscience Research Award should focus on research achievements, outputs, originality, independence, and contribution to neuroscience.

Applicants to the CPIN Leadership and Community Engagement Award should focus on leadership, service, mentorship, community engagement, and contributions to CPIN or the broader neuroscience community.

Applicants to the CPIN Innovation in Neuroscience Award should focus on innovative aspects of their work, including novel methods, tools, models, interdisciplinary approaches, translation, or knowledge mobilization.

Applicants to the CPIN Excellence in Neuroscience Communication Award should focus on neuroscience communication activities, target audiences, communication approach, reach, engagement, and impact.

Each statement should be no more than 500 words.

Supporting Materials

Applicants will be asked to provide the following supporting materials through the online form:

• Curriculum vitae, maximum 2 pages
• Transcript
• Optional supporting evidence, up to 2 items

Supporting evidence may include, but is not limited to, publication first pages, abstracts, conference presentations, outreach materials, media coverage, software/tool information, leadership or service documentation, or other evidence of impact.

Applicants may also provide optional links to relevant publications, preprints, software/tools, websites, media, outreach materials, or other supporting evidence.

Reference Letters

Two reference letters are required. One must be from the applicant’s supervisor.

Applicants must provide the supervisor’s name and email address, as well as the second referee’s name and email address, in the application form. Reference letter request links, including unique submission links, will be sent directly to the supervisor/referee using the email addresses provided in the application form.

Submission Deadline

Please submit applications by Monday, June 1, 2026, at 11:59 PM EST.

Awards will be announced at CPIN Research Day on Friday, June 19, 2026.

Late applications and reference letters may not be accepted.

Contact Information

For more information, please contact the CPIN Office.

Email: p.neuroscience@utoronto.ca