Internal Call for Applications: Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) – Youth Internship Program

Internal Call for Applications: Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) – Youth Internship Program

  • Research Internships:  Three Positions Available


Overview
The intent of the Northern Ontario Internship Program is to strengthen Northern Ontario’s competitive advantage and build economic development capacity by attracting and retaining graduates in the North. The program provides recent graduates who are interested in launching and building their careers in Northern Ontario access to internships.

Under this program, Lakehead University has a quota of five research-related placements available.  Of these five, one is currently open, two will be open in the fall of 2020.

The internal deadline for the submission of internship applications to the Office of Research Services is April 30, 2020. If more than three internship applications are received, an internal competition will need to be held (applications will be reviewed by the Senate Research Committee).

 
Eligibility Criteria for the Intern Candidate
  • University and college graduates who have graduated within the last three years from an accredited college or university. Candidates must be graduates of post-secondary degree or diploma programs.
  • The position must provide the intern with first time employment in their field of study. 
  • Candidates are only eligible to participate in the internship program one time.   
  • Candidates must be legally entitled to work in Canada. 
 
Review Criteria
Applications will be reviewed according to the following criteria:
  • The opportunity for the placement to result in a full time permanent job.
  • The quality of the skill development opportunity.
  • The type of training being proposed by the employer.
  • The work plan/supervision method. Direct supervision must be provided daily by an onsite supervisor.    
 
NOHFC Funding
Eligible not-for-profit and public sector organizations located in Northern Ontario are potentially eligible to receive a conditional contribution of up to 90 percent of a recent graduate’s salary to a maximum contribution of $31,500.  As well, NOHFC funding under this program, when combined with other provincial and federal government sources, will generally not exceed 90 percent of eligible costs for public sector employers. 

 
Required Funding Confirmation/RPAF
It is important to note that the applicant must provide the remaining 10% of an intern's salary plus 14% benefit costs.  Therefore, when submitting your internship application to the Office of Research Services, a Research Proposal Approval Form (RPAF) must be included in the package.    
  • A specific statement of where the required matching funds (plus benefit costs) will come from must be included in, or attached to the signed and completed RPAF.  
  • Applications submitted by the April 30, 2020 internal deadline without an RPAF will be considered ineligible in the internal competition. 
 
An Important Note on Research Internships
Please note that for a proposal to be considered as being a research internship, the application must be written so as to meet the NOHFC's definition of research:  
 

Q:  What is a research intern under the Internship Program?

A: An employer applying for a research intern must engage in research activities as part of their mandate. NOHFC considers both pure (scientific) and applied research positions.

 

Pure (scientific) research internships must contribute to the development of documents that are generated for public consumption and peer review.

 

Applied research internships involve conducting studies and research that seeks to solve practical problems and find solutions to everyday problems. This often involves original investigation into the development of new technology, products, and services.

 

For the purpose of defining an applied research internship the following criteria must be met:

a)   The applicant must be involved in research aimed at developing a new technology and or products (i.e. a solution to everyday problem)

b)  The internship duties will focus on assisting the applicant organization in development and research of a new technology, products, or service.

 
Applications that are not deemed to be research-related (i.e., the duties of the intern will be more administrative in nature instead of involving a research activity) will be considered ineligible in the internal competition. 
 

For more information about the NOHFC program, please go to: https://nohfc.ca/en/pages/programs/northern-ontario-internship-program  

As well, researchers are reminded when working with the NOHFC online system to complete the application, but not submit it to NOHFC.  Upon completion, researchers would download a PDF copy of the application, and email it to the Office of Research (ahacquo1@lakeheadu.ca) for internal review.