An unprecedented $100-million investment has launched an ambitious new program at the University of Toronto, which will build a growing fellowship of PhD students focused on real-world global challenges.
The Presidents’ Impact Scholarship Program will seek to attract top PhD applicants from Canada and around the world. It will gather 12 or more PhD scholars annually to work on a specific theme – a major question or vexing problem facing society – in an environment of creative collision and intellectual cross-pollination. The program is made possible thanks to an anonymous $50-million commitment – among the largest gifts to doctoral education in Canadian history – and matching funds from the university.
“As Canada and the world face challenges of increasing complexity, future solutions will require new ideas and fresh thinking that cuts across disciplines,” said U of T President Melanie Woodin . “The Presidents’ Impact Scholarship Program is a major innovation in PhD education that will galvanize a new generation of thought leaders who will serve as key contributors to the prosperity of our country.”
The Presidents’ Impact Scholarship Program is poised to become not only one of the most prestigious and competitive PhD awards programs in the country – and across the world – but also a new model of doctoral education for the 21st century.
The Presidents’ Impact Scholarship Program will significantly elevate U of T’s capacity to attract and support the best and the brightest PhD students from Canada and around the world, help generate and translate research into real-world impact and foster a dynamic, interdisciplinary community of changemakers in perpetuity. In addition, the program has the potential to advance knowledge mobilization in areas that can strengthen and sustain Canada’s future prosperity and innovation while improving quality of life for communities across the country.
The unique model will emphasize complex problem-solving skills, experiential learning, collaboration and cross-sector engagement.
Each year U of T will select a significant societal challenge – a focus theme such as AI and Health or Sovereignty and the Arctic – and recruit Presidents’ Impact Scholars based on their potential to advance meaningful work in that area. This will build a concentrated cohort of interdisciplinary talent around a unique research theme, which will change annually. For example, AI and Health as a theme could mobilize fields such as computer science, quantum computing, ethical and regulatory law, ethics and philosophy, social science and AI safety and alignment in a sustained effort to address the multi-faceted challenge of designing, adopting and regulating AI technologies in Canadian health care.
In addition, Presidents’ Impact Scholars will participate in an external engagement experience that enhances their capacity for real-world problem solving. This could mean a government partnership, an international placement or an internship with industry partners undertaking relevant work.
Extensive programming will connect each cohort of the Presidents’ Impact Scholarship Program with other researchers across the university – including graduate students, postdoctoral fellows or faculty members – who are pursuing work related to that cohort’s theme. This will include engagement opportunities and support through university communities such as U of T Entrepreneurship.
PhD students in the Presidents’ Impact Scholarship Program will work with two faculty supervisors from different disciplines, ensuring they develop the deep interdisciplinary expertise necessary for catalyzing advances in complex fields that span multiple domains of knowledge.
“This is a visionary approach to PhD education,” said Joshua Barker , dean of the School of Graduate Studies and vice-provost of graduate research and education. “Presidents’ Impact Scholars will benefit from a learning experience that sets a new standard for interdisciplinary, real-world problem-solving at the highest levels. They will be part of a cohort of exceptional peers, working together on meaningful research and complex challenges, creating a collaborative community that enriches the doctoral experience.”
Presidents’ Impact Scholars will receive $80,000 per year for four years. This represents a level of funding comparable to top Ivy League packages and puts these awards in a category of their own nationally. The investment reflects the prestige and ambition of the Presidents’ Impact Scholarship Program as a magnet for the best minds from Canada and beyond.
Candidates will be evaluated for academic excellence but also for their track record in innovation and real-world problem-solving. Presidents’ Impact Scholars are therefore just as likely to be applied innovators committed to transforming brilliant ideas into meaningful public or commercial impact as they are to be outstanding scholars driving large-scale interdisciplinary research or shaping new paradigms of understanding in a specific field.
Crucially, through its interdisciplinary foundation and emphasis on real-world engagement, the Presidents’ Impact Scholarship Program has the potential to attract students who possess the curiosity, imagination and entrepreneurial daring to make a substantial impact on our collective future.
The university will issue a call for applications to the Presidents’ Impact Scholarship Program soon. The inaugural cohort will begin their studies in September 2027.
Doctoral students associated with U of T have contributed to some of the biggest advances of the past century, from building the first electron microscope in North America to developing machine learning and deep neural networks. The launch of the Presidents’ Impact Scholarship Program opens a new chapter in this history.
“PhD students are the backbone of the country’s research and innovation ecosystem,” said Trevor Young , U of T vice-president and provost. “Through the Presidents’ Impact Scholarship Program, we are making a generational investment in brilliant students from every conceivable discipline and background, empowering them to take on the biggest problems – including future challenges not yet known or understood.”
The program will dramatically lift the university’s capacity to equip the next generation of leaders to tackle cutting-edge research and complex problem-solving across a multitude of fields critical to Canada’s prosperity and future, including AI, quantum technologies, genomics, biomedical sciences, sustainability, public policy, cybersecurity and more.
Since 2024, working together with philanthropic champions and public partners, U of T has made a sustained, co-ordinated investment in graduate and postdoctoral talent, moving from a substantial graduate funding increase to a full suite of recruitment, recognition and research support programs for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.
The newly launched Presidents’ Impact Scholarship Program builds directly on that momentum and is enabled by a generous gift from a Canadian family foundation with a deep, long-standing history of support for U of T, as well as other post-secondary institutions and research centres focused on encouraging innovative, multidisciplinary approaches to complex problems. The family wishes to remain anonymous.
“It is deeply gratifying to see the extraordinary investment and engagement of our philanthropic community with U of T’s efforts to elevate and transform graduate education in Canada,” said David Palmer , U of T vice-president, advancement. “The $50-million gift that empowered the launch of the Presidents’ Impact Scholarship Program is an inspiring example of thoughtful philanthropy that raises institutional sights and transforms our collective potential to generate beneficial change for future generations.”