The 2026 Schmidt Science Polymaths award competition is now open. The program will offer long-term research support to professors who have recently achieved tenure or an equivalent status (within the past three calendar years) with remarkable track records and highly promising futures. Each “Polymath” researcher is awarded $500,000 per year for up to five years.
In addition to having achieved tenure or an equivalent status between January 1, 2022 and August 10, 2025, candidates must satisfy the following criteria:
- Have a remarkable record of accomplishment in mathematics, computer science, natural sciences, and/or engineering,
- Have a demonstrated history of pursuing and publishing results in more than one field,
- Have a desire and plan to expand their research portfolios by exploring a substantive disciplinary or methodological shift, but have not yet launched such shifts,
- Demonstrate a need for additional funding to enable new experiments, explorations, or shifts in research directions.
The sponsor is especially interested in supporting highly creative, original, and risky research that is clearly distinct from past areas and directions. They encourage nominations of specifically extraordinary researchers whose work and ideas are adventurous, bold, highly creative, and less likely to receive traditional funding or support. Successful applicants propose potential new projects that are wholly original and very different from any of their past work.
UBC is limited to three (3) nominees for this competition and VPRI is coordinating internal selection processes. Applicants can self-nominate for internal selection by sending the following materials by Tuesday, July 15:
- A brief rationale (up to 300 words)
- Contact info, primary website link*, and the primary field(s) of research
- Current UBC CV with date of tenure
Please submit directly to stephanie.oneill@ubc.ca by July 15 (end of day). Any questions or concerns should also be directed to Stephanie O’Neill at the Office of Research Prizes and Awards.
* Please note that the personal website is an important, required document submitted to the sponsor, so the website should be up to date.
A central committee will review these materials and select the institution’s three nominations for submission.
Should the Schmidt Futures program accept the nominations after an initial review, the identified candidates will be contacted directly to submit an application, typically due in October. Candidates will have VPRI support in finalizing their materials, which includes a detailed nomination form and short CV.