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Royal Society of Canada - Prize for Indigenous Engagement 2025

The Royal Society of Canada (RSC) offers a variety of prestigious medals and awards recognizing outstanding achievements of Canadian scholars.

The RSC Prize for Indigenous Engagement will be awarded to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis who are either Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada in recognition of outstanding contributions to their respective field and toward advancing The Right to Participate as outlined in Article 18 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples:

“Indigenous peoples have the right to participate in decision-making in matters which would affect their rights, through representatives chosen by themselves in accordance with their own procedures, as well as to maintain and develop their own indigenous decision-making institutions.”

Recipients of the prize will have demonstrated visionary thinking that has resulted in significant advances to academia, to community, and to society.  The Indigenous Engagement Prize will include a diploma and cash award of $1,000.

Eligibility

Nominations are open to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis who are either Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada.

Note: Candidates do not need to be a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada or an RSC College Member.

Nomination Process

Nominations for the awards must be made by:

• a Fellow of the RSC,
• an RSC College Member, or
• the president of the university.

If the nomination is to be made by the president of the university, the process of securing and acquiring the nomination letter must be managed through ºìÁ«ÉçÇø Research Awards & Distinctions and initiated by April 14, 2025 (rwprizes@uwo.ca).

A full nomination package will consist of:

• the nomination form
• the letter of nomination from the primary nominator (based on the RSC template)
• a 70-word citation
• a 1200-word appraisal of the nominee’s work and suitability for the award
• a CV (max. 20 pages)
• three letters of reference (max. 750 words)
• a biography statement for each of the letter writers (max. 250 words).

Program Resources

EDID Supports

Dedicated support and resources for Indigenous research and Equity Diversity, Inclusion, and Decolonization in research are available through the . You can complete a to receive more information or book a consultation. If you are unsure if your project involves Indigenous research, it is recommended that you contact the team early for determination and support.

Deadlines

Notice of Intent to Nominate (email rwprizes@uwo.ca) if you wish to have Institutional Coordination and support of your nomination is April 14, 2025.

The nomination submission deadline is May 29, 2025.

Institutional Coordination and Support

The Awards and Distinctions Team will provide support for nominations including:

• Assistance with identifying suitable nominators and referees
• Outreach to nominators and referees to secure support, providing them with required materials and guidelines, assisting with developing letter content, performing quality checks for formatting and regulation adherence, identifying the strongest letters for submission
• Drafting letters of nomination and co-nomination and obtaining approvals and signatures
• Support for developing all written materials, and providing feedback and review
• Assistance with finding additional reviewers among RSC Fellows (internal to ºìÁ«ÉçÇø or external as needed)
• Completing online portal registration and creating nomination forms
• Document management: collecting and compiling all letters, forms, and written documents to create a dossier submission according to RSC guidelines
• Uploading of final nominations to the online portal by the RSC deadline