Some students who are admitted to the SROP at UofT will also be eligible for an Undergraduate Summer Research Award (USRA) from one of the three Canadian funding agencies (i.e., CIHR, NSERC, or SSHRC). The University of Toronto has a particular allocation of these awards, and the SROP wants to nominate our students for them.
After the SROP admits students in late March, we will review the admitted students to see who would be eligible for an USRA. If an eligible student and their supervisors agree to be nominated for an USRA, then the SROP will nominate the student.
If you were to receive an USRA in addition to the SROP, then you would need to do research for 14-16 weeks instead of 8 weeks. Your stipend would mostly come from the USRA award, but the SROP would provide a “top up” on the USRA, such that your total stipend (combined across the USRA and SROP programs) would be $10,000 for the summer ($6500 if you need us to arrange housing for you for this time).
On the student application, it asks if you would be open to being nominated from an USRA. If you say yes, then we will follow up with you about it after you are admitted to the SROP. You can decide NOT to be nominated for the USRA at that time. That question is just to gauge interest.
More info on the USRA Program: