Deadline: Midnight, Friday, May 1, 2026
This award is made possible through a fund developed in memory of Elizabeth Kenny McCann, who was a leading force in the development of nursing education in British Columbia. A well-loved faculty member in the UBC School of Nursing (SON) for 35 years, she served in a variety of roles, including Acting Director. Most importantly, she developed a special relationship with students and exemplified a student-centered approach to teaching and learning. In her honour, this teaching scholarship award will enable a faculty leader to support educational leadership and teaching scholarship within the School of Nursing. This will include devoting significant attention to optimizing new and evolving pedagogical and curricular innovations.
The purpose of the Elizabeth Kenny McCann Teaching Scholar Award is to support and enhance teaching and learning pedagogy and scholarship in the SoN by building on the faculty’s strength and capacity in educational research.
Key Competition Details
The application should be submitted by email to onrts@nursing.ubc.ca by Friday, May 1, 2026 @ midnight. Applicants will be notified of the competition results in early June 2026. The two-year award period commences July 1, 2026 - June 30, 2028.
The award consists of 1-course buyout in each of the 2 years of the award plus research funding of $8,000, made available to the award holder to realize the vision outlined in their proposal. Any additional funds needed should be secured by the applicant from other funding sources (eg. TLEF grants). Any unspent monies at the end of the award period are returned to the endowment fund. The EKM Teaching Scholar holder also sits on the STaR committee during the tenure of the award.
The application package includes:
- Application cover page
- 2 pages free-form narrative (minimum 12-point font, single spaced, 2 cm margins on all sides)
- 1-page budget justification of how the funding will be used to achieve the outcomes
Proposed Activities and Projects
The successful applicant must have a distinct educational research project detailed in the 2-page free form narrative. This narrative should include the project aims/objectives, the project plan including detailed activities to be undertaken, and a clear statement of pedagogical theory and approach and how this is integrated into the proposed project. The application should outline how the proposed educational research benefits the School of Nursing educational and scholarly mandate.
Goals and Anticipated Outcomes to Advance Nursing Educational Research should be explicitly addressed within the application. Activities to be addressed may include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Identifying and capitalizing on synergies between teaching and learning experts and groups
- Developing e-learning and simulation
- Knowledge exchange activities to promote teaching scholarship
- Leading strategies to enhance evidence synthesis, and the application of that knowledge to pedagogy and curriculum development
- Teaching and learning strategies to enhance clinical practice pedagogy
- Catalyzing interdisciplinary learning opportunities
- Leveraging external funding for teaching scholarship (eg. TLEF, CTLT, SSHRC, etc.)
- Publication of peer-reviewed articles related to the proposed project
Eligibility: Applicants must be full-time tenure-track UBC School of Nursing faculty members in the educational leadership stream (i.e. Assistant, Associate, or full Professor of Teaching). The successful applicant will hold the award for two years.
Evaluation: Applications will be reviewed by a School of Nursing faculty peer-review committee, and a candidate recommendation will be made to the UBC School of Nursing Associate Director of Research. Evaluation criteria will assess:
- Significance and potential impact of the educational research goals
- Clear plan with specific and measurable outcomes
- Inclusion of a knowledge translation plan – broadly defined as activities meant to improve the use of nursing evidence in practice, education, policy, and/or further research
- Well-justified and realistic budget
Reporting: The Elizabeth Kenny McCann Scholar Award holder will complete and submit a UBC Nursing End-of-Grant Form. Upon completion of the project, applicants are encouraged to lead a Nursing Rounds..
Contact: Please contact onrts@nursing.ubc.ca with any questions regarding this competition.