COMP IDEA Student Travel Awards

 The COMP Students Council (SC) believes that promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) within medical physics is essential to promoting high-quality, patient-centered cancer care, fostering innovation, and advancing research and academic excellence. We recognize that marginalized and underrepresented communities face unique barriers to pursuing and succeeding within medical physics; and we are committed to offering EDI initiatives that advance and promote the representation and inclusion of these communities.

The COMP Student Council (CS) is excited to announce the Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility (IDEA) Travel Award to provide expense support for students who are members of underrepresented groups and that demonstrate financial need to attend the  COMP Annual Scientific Meeting.

The IDEA Travel Award intends to inspire the next generation of medical physicists by providing the opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to gain valuable experience, exposure, and mentorship from medical physicists, students, and other experts and professionals in medical physics.

In this context, ‘underrepresented groups’ refers to communities that are historically underrepresented and systemically marginalized within the Canadian medical physics landscape due to race, ethnicity, nationality, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, or disability, especially with regards to low income, low socioeconomic status (SES) or first-generation students.

Travel Award Structure: Two travel awards of $1,000 CAD each will be competitively awarded to one undergraduate and one graduate student, which will be selected by the award adjudication committee, based on the submission of application requirements and adjudication criteria. If there are no applicants in either the undergraduate or graduate category who satisfy the award criteria, the second IDEA award will be adjudicated to the other applicant category, i.e. two undergraduate or two graduate awards.

In addition to the award value, the COMP IDEA Student Travel Award is grateful to the Biomedical Imaging Research Centre (BIRC) at Western University for sponsoring the COMP ASM Student Registration for one of the awardees.

Eligibility Criteria:

• Undergraduate students interested in gaining exposure and exploring opportunities in medical physics or graduate students enrolled in physics focused or equivalent programs (i.e. medical physics, biomedical physics, biomedical engineering, etc.)
• Identifies as a member of an underrepresented group (as defined above) and demonstrates financial need.
• A COMP Student Member at the time of application (COMP undergraduate/graduate student membership is free for the first-year)

Application Requirements:

• Self-identification information and statement of financial need or financial burden (self-declaration checkbox only)
• Maximum 1-page personal statement of interest, including interest in medical physics and attending the conference; relevant experiences and community involvement; future career plans; and how this travel award will support their professional goals.
• Letter of support from a sponsor, professor, or academic advisor
• CV

Submission Instructions:

• Complete the Online IDEA Application: https://forms.gle/bahhgPBkF85CHBvGA  (applicant)
• Have your Referee submit the letter of support to this form:  https://forms.gle/gjx3ZhiDaXZV4ZKy6  (must be submitted before the deadline)

Award Adjudication: The award adjudication committee will select the recipients of the awards based on the application requirements and criteria:

• Non-academic contributions, relevant experiences, leadership, and community involvement, as described in the personal statement and recommendation letter.
• Academic merit, research ability and potential*

*Important Note: We recognize that underrepresented and marginalized groups face complex systemic barriers to achieving academic success; academic merit and research ability will be evaluated as a secondary criterion to the personal statement and letter of support describing the applicant’s character, ability, and potential. Furthermore, we understand that these barriers also apply to non-academic contributions. For example, community involvement often requires volunteer hours which are not feasible for students with low-incomes, and leadership experience can often be inhibited due to systemic barriers (i.e. people not seeing you as a leader due to personal biases). We encourage you to use your personal statement to share your story. The award adjudication will keep an open mind throughout the evaluation process.

Timeline:

Please contact COMP Students Council (SC) Vice Chair Claire Park (cpark223@uwo.ca) or Aly Khalifa (aly.khalifa@mail.utoronto.ca) if you have any further questions about the IDEA Travel Award Program or your application.