Opportunities

APPLY NOW to join the 2025-2026 Canopy trainee cohort and contribute as part of a diverse, interdisciplinary community working to strengthen Canada’s One Health capacity in emerging zoonotic disease prevention and response.

Canopy – the Canadian One Health Training Program on Emerging Zoonoses – is pleased to open a call for applications from trainees at the Master, Doctoral, or Post-Doctoral level, Clinical Interns or Residents, as well as from Early Career Researchers (researchers or professionals who obtained their last degree within the last 5 years).

The goal of Canopy is to develop highly skilled researchers and professionals in various disciplines, shaping an emerging community of practice and a new generation of One Health advocates across Canada. These individuals will collaborate and innovate to accelerate the implementation of One Health in Canada to better prevent and respond to current and future threats caused by emerging zoonotic pathogens.

Canopy aims to support trainees in completing their research project and/or a complementary internship (distinct from their current research focus and in a different institution/organisation/discipline) that will enhance Canada’s ability to prevent, prepare for, and respond to emerging zoonotic diseases using a One Health approach. As part of the program, trainees will be able to participate in targeted learning opportunities to strengthen their understanding and application of core One Health competencies and to deepen their engagement with Indigenous perspectives and other knowledge systems. Trainees will also have the opportunity to build meaningful connections with peers, mentors, and professionals across disciplines, sectors, and regions, contributing to a growing national community of practice in One Health and emerging zoonoses.

We welcome applicants from all disciplinary backgrounds, including but not limited to the natural and health sciences, public health, social sciences, policy, Indigenous knowledge systems, humanities, and the arts. We recognize that preventing and responding to zoonotic diseases requires many perspectives, and we place a high value on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) and different ways of knowing.

Priority Consideration for Indigenous Applicants
Canopy is committed to fostering equity, diversity, inclusion, and the meaningful integration of Indigenous knowledge and perspectives in One Health training. To support this, up to two internship placements will be reserved for Indigenous applicants. We warmly encourage Indigenous trainees to apply and will give priority consideration to their applications.

Applications will be reviewed using an evaluation rubric for research scholarships and internships (available below). Equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) considerations are an integral part of the selection process, and applicants are invited to complete a short EDI questionnaire to help ensure a fair and inclusive review.

Interested trainees can apply for funding and to join the platform through two different streams:

1) Research scholarship: The call for applications is closed and will re-open spring 2026.

2) Internship support: THE CALL FOR APPLICATIONS IS NOW OPEN, AND WILL CLOSE OCTOBER 31, 2025. The next call for internship support applications will open in winter 2026.

Subject to eligibility requirements, trainees may apply for both streams in the same year.

---

EXPECTATIONS

ALIGNMENT WITH ONE HEALTH AND CANOPY PRIORITY AREAS

Trainees are invited to submit proposals explaining how their research/planned internship is aligned with at least one of the following three priority areas:

Priority 1. Health, Sustainability, and Resilience: This priority focuses on the development and implementation of sustainable, resilient solutions, in coherence with the One Health approach. Proposals should demonstrate how the research/internship will contribute to practices, policies, or programs that promote human, animal, and ecosystem health at local, national, or international levels, and reduce the impacts of emerging zoonoses.

Priority 2. Disease Prevention: Proposals under this priority should focus on improving the understanding of infection dynamics in natural hosts and environments, pathogen ecology, anthropogenic drivers of disease emergence, and socio-demographic risk factors. The research/internship should enhance Canada’s ability to prevent zoonotic diseases through integrated surveillance, artificial intelligence and modelling, community engagement, or another method.

Priority 3. Disease Preparedness and Response: This priority seeks proposals that will help develop capacity in pathogen risk assessment, biocontainment, laboratory diagnostics, genomics, and the management of short- and long-term impacts of zoonotic diseases. Research/internships that focus on pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical countermeasures, biomanufacturing, and rapid response frameworks are highly encouraged to ensure Canada’s preparedness for future pandemics.

APPLICATION GUIDELINES

[1] This includes methodologies/skillsets which may be relevant to emerging zoonoses broadly in the context of the three priority areas. Please note if you are working on antimicrobial resistance (AMR), your project may be better suited to the Canadian Antimicrobial Resistance Network (CAN-AMR-Net) One Health training platform.

[2] Please see below for eligibility and expectations of mentors.

Eligibility and expectations for mentors of trainees undertaking research scholarships and internships

Eligibility:

Individuals working in the one of the following sectors, with a depth of experience in topics related to One Health and emerging zoonoses:

• Academia
• Government
• Industry
• Community or non-profit organisations

Expectations of mentors [3]:

• To meet with their trainee(s) monthly.
• Be willing to participate and provide their expertise/perspectives in occasional online training activities and in-person workshops, travel-permitting.
• To participate in communications/networking/activities with other mentors (e.g. book club, discussion forums).
• To complete a 20-hr ‘Indigenous Canada’ MOOC course, offered by the University of Alberta through Coursera (to be completed over the first year of your mentorship commitments and preferably before engaging in program activities). Alternative training/experiences may be considered equivalent, to be determined on a case-by-case basis.

[3] With the exception of the MOOC, these activities are expected to total ~3 hours/month. In the case of internship support applications, expectations of mentors apply to home mentors, and not host mentors. Eligibility requirements apply to both home and host mentors.

Mentors will be contacted separately to indicate their support and acknowledgement of eligibility criteria and expectations.

---

TO APPLY FOR INTERNSHIP SUPPORT: CLICK HERE

Application deadline: 31 October, 2025 (11:59pm EST).

We expect decisions to be communicated by mid-late December 2025.

The next call for internship support applications will open in winter 2026.
The next call for research scholarship applications will open in spring 2026.

If you have questions, please contact: onehealth@uoguelph.ca

---

EVALUATION RUBRIC: Canopy Internship support for 2025-2026

	Unsatisfactory	Satisfactory	Outstanding
Description of proposed internship	Provides minimal details of internship.	Provides general description of proposed internship with limited detail about roles, responsibilities, deliverables and expected outcomes.	Provides a thorough description of proposed internship, including clear roles, responsibilities, deliverables and expected outcomes.
Link with Canopy/host institution priorities	Internship description does not clearly link to Canopy or host institution priorities.   No or limited explanation of the expected impact on public health, policy, or research related to EZ*.	Internship description generally links with Canopy and host institution priorities but no or minimal details are provided.   Moderate potential to impact public health, policy, or research related to EZ is described*.	Internship description clearly links with Canopy and host institution priorities and strong justification provided.   Strong potential to impact impact public health, policy, or research relate to EZ is described*.
Description of differences & complementarity	Provides minimal description of how the internship is different to or complements their current project, experiences, and/or training.	Describes to a moderate degree how the proposed internship is different to or complements their current project, and/or how it will complement their current experiences and training to date.	Clearly describes how the proposed internship differs to their current project in terms of discipline, field, and/or methodologies.   Furthermore, describes how this internship complements their current experiences and training to date.
Statement of motivation	Provides minimal to no evidence of interest or relevance in joining Canopy.	Describes general interest, relevance, and rationale for joining Canopy and general description of expectations.	Describes strong and specific interest, relevance, and rationale for joining Canopy and details expectations.
Budget description	No or very limited description of how the requested funds will be used and no detail provided.	General description of how the requested funds will be used but limited detail provided.	Clear and detailed description of how the requested funds will be used and for what purpose provided.
Support	No support survey from host or academic mentor received.	Support survey received from host OR academic mentor received.	Support survey received from host AND academic mentor received.
CV (traditional or narrative)	CV provides no or limited support of claims made in application and does not illustrate OH or other relevant experience or curiosity.	CV provides moderate support of claims made in motivation statement and outlines moderate OH or other relevant experience or curiosity.	CV strongly supports claims made in motivation statement and outlines relevant OH or other experience and curiosity.
Commitment to complete MOOC	Does not commit to completing the MOOC.	Commits to completing the MOOC and/or describes equivalent training.
Overall	Fails to provide justification that they / their proposed internship is suitable for Canopy support.	Illustrates potential for their proposed internship to benefit both the trainee and the host and impact EZ in Canada.	Illustrates clear justification and plan for their proposed internship to benefit both the trainee and the host and impact EZ in Canada.

EZ: Emerging zoonoses
*: This includes methodologies/skillsets which may be relevant to emerging zoonoses broadly in the context of the three priority areas. Please note that projects related to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) may be better suited to the One Health training platform of the Canadian Antimicrobial Resistance Network (CAN-AMR-Net).
MOOC: ‘Indigenous Canada’ Massive Open Online Course from the Faculty of Native Studies, University of Alberta.

Note: Each application will be scored as unsatisfactory, satisfactory, or outstanding, using the above rubric. Applications scored as unsatisfactory will not be retained. The final selection of trainees will consider the application score as well as EDI responses and disciplinary area to ensure a diversity of high-quality trainees in the program.

EVALUATION RUBRIC: Canopy Research scholarships for 2025-2026

	Unsatisfactory	Satisfactory	Outstanding
Summary of proposed thesis research	Provides minimal details on thesis OR Research design is not well defined and does link to objectives and impacts OR Project components are not feasible, supported or justified.	Provides general description of thesis research but lacks clarity and/or justification AND/OR Data and methods are not clearly described or justified AND/OR Project components have some feasibility concerns.	Provides a thorough description of thesis research AND Data and methods clearly described AND Project components are feasible and justified.
Link with COHTPEZ priority area	Fails to identify a COHTPEZ priority area and/or provides no or limited rationale for link.   No or limited potential to impact selected COHTPEZ priority area.	Selects a COHTPEZ priority area but provides no or limited rationale for how research aligns with selection.   Moderate potential to impact selected COHTPEZ priority area.	Selects a COHTPEZ priority area and provides strong rationale for how research aligns with selection.   Strong potential to impact selected COHTPEZ priority area.
Alignment of thesis research with One Health	Fails to describe why One Health is relevant to their thesis   Does not include any indication of how a One Health approach will be incorporated in any part of the thesis	Describes in general why the One Health approach is relevant to their thesis   Includes one example of how a One Health approach will be integrated in the thesis	Describes specifically why the One Health approach is relevant to their thesis   Includes several examples of how a One Health approach will be integrated in the thesis
Connection to EZ	Rationale and need in EZ research not provided and potential to impact EZ in selected priority area not provided.	Rationale and need in EZ research described but not justified with some potential to impact EZ in selected priority area.	Rational and need in EZ research well described and justified with good potential to impact EZ in selected priority area.
Description of motivation	Provides minimal to no evidence of interest or experience in One Health	Describes exposure to One Health concepts and rationale for interest/motivation	Shares interest in One Health with discussion of applicability to studies / career
Support	No declaration of support received by mentor.	Declaration of support received from mentor.
CV	CV provides no or limited support of claims made in application and does not illustrate OH experience or curiosity	CV provides moderate support of claims made in motivation statement and outlines moderate experience and curiosity	CV strongly supports claims made in motivation statement and outlines relevant experience and curiosity
Plan to complete MOOC	Does not provide a plan for completing the MOOC and does not demonstrate equivalent training.	Provides a plan for completing the MOOC and/or describes equivalent training.	Provides a plan for completing the MOOC and/or describes equivalent training.
Overall	Fails to provide justification that their thesis is suitable for the program.	Illustrates potential for a One Health approach in their thesis and some motivation for learning.	Illustrates clear justification and plan for a One Health approach in their thesis and motivation for learning.