The Petroleum Research Fund is an endowed fund, managed by the American Chemical Society that supports fundamental research directly related to petroleum or fossil fuels at nonprofit institutions (generally colleges and universities) in the United States and other countries.

ACS Petroleum Research Fund (ACS PRF) grants are intended as seed money, to enable an investigator to initiate a new research direction. The investigator should not have published or received financial support from another funding agency for the proposed research. Also, proposals that the ACS PRF Committee feels are a logical extension of an investigator’s previous research may be denied as “not a new direction.”

Since the first ACS PRF grants were approved in 1953, several grant programs have evolved to serve segments of the scientific community, including “new investigator” grants and grants to support researchers in departments that do not award doctoral degrees.

Scope of the Fund

Proposals must be for fundamental research in “the petroleum field,” which is defined in our founding document as “petroleum, natural gas, coal, shale, tar sands and like materials.” Fundamental research encompasses the properties of these materials, whereas the petroleum industry undertakes “applied research,” which is outside the scope of ACS PRF. However, please note that while the PRF Trust imposes certain restrictions, PRF currently funds many topics of current interest in sustainability and green chemistry. These include, for example, new catalysts and upgrading/utilization of methane and carbon dioxide.  Interested individuals are encouraged to contact a PRF program officer or prfinfo@acs.org for more information regarding areas.

For more information, please contact Jill Sherman at intl.research@lakeheadu.ca.

The annual Synergy Awards for Innovation recognize examples of collaboration that stand as models of effective partnership between partner organizations and colleges or universities.

If you are interested in being nominated for one of these awards, please contact Dr. Batia Stolar, Associate VP, Research & Graduate Studies at bstolar@lakeheadu.ca.

NSERC John C. Polanyi Award is given to an individual or team whose research, conducted in Canada, has led to a recent outstanding advance in any NSERC-supported field of the natural sciences or engineering. If you are interested in being nominated for this award, please contact Dr. Batia Stolar, Associate VP, Research & Graduate Studies, at bstolar@lakeheadu.ca.

The NSERC Donna Strickland Prize for Societal Impact of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research is awarded annually to an individual or team whose outstanding research, conducted in Canada in the natural sciences or engineering, has led to exceptional benefits for Canada’s society, environment and/or economy.  If you are interested in being nominated for this award, please contact Dr. Batia Stolar, Associate VP, Research & Graduate Studies at bstolar@lakeheadu.ca.

This call is open to Canadians and permanent residents of Canada pursuing master’s or doctoral studies at a Canadian university. The award under this call will cover costs of field research conducted for a master’s thesis or doctoral dissertation in one or more countries of the Global South. The successful candidate will propose research that benefits less privileged people in developing countries, focusing on women and Indigenous people, aiming to increase the resilience of individuals and forest communities facing difficult contexts and challenges. Note that work focused on genomics and/or genetic modification is not eligible.

For more information, please contact Jill Sherman at intl.research@lakeheadu.ca.

The specific objective of this funding opportunity is to:

• Catalyze and support research efforts of Canadian researchers to use the available CLSA data in order to better understand how biological, medical, psychological, social, lifestyle and/or economic aspects of people's lives have an impact on both maintaining health and the development of disease and disability as people age.