Killam Awards and Fellowships

Since 1965, the Killam Trusts have awarded more than 7,500 scholarships and fellowships to graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty at Killam institutions across Canada.

UBC and the Killam Trusts

The Killam Trusts were established in 1965 by Dorothy Johnston Killam and Izaak Walton Killam for the benefit of The University of British Columbia, The Canada Council for the Arts, Dalhousie University, Montreal Neurological Institute of McGill University, University of Alberta and The University of Calgary.

In the realm of higher education in Canada the name Killam is synonymous with financial support for advanced studies. Here at UBC that support is distributed in a number of ways, via doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships, mentoring and teaching awards for faculty, recognition for outstanding emeriti, awards to graduate teaching assistants, faculty salary supplements, start-up funds for new initiatives and faculty research fellowships and prizes.

Since the Killam Trusts were founded, more than 2,000 professors, fellows, students and scholars have received support for their research and scholarship at UBC. This support that has been granted based on the criteria that a Killam scholar is one who has, or is likely to contribute to the advancement of learning or to win distinction in a profession.

Each and every Killam scholar brings individual and unique contributions to the world, creating and disseminating knowledge that has global impact.

My purpose in establishing the Killam Trusts is to help in the building of Canada’s future by encouraging advanced study. Thereby I hope in some measure, to increase the scientific and scholastic attainments of Canadians, to develop and expand the work of Canadian universities, and to promote sympathetic understanding between Canadians and the peoples of other countries.