Honouring Dr. Ralph Serin
Dr. Ralph Serin was a devoted family man, caring friend, generous mentor, and prolific researcher. His research focussed on evidence-based decision-making within corrections (e.g., parole decision-making), though he has also published in the areas of crime desistance, treatment readiness and responsivity, risk assessment, psychopathy, sexual offenders, and the assessment and treatment of violent offenders. Dr Serin’s contributions have been invaluable to the field of forensic psychology. In Canada alone, Dr. Serin and his lab have conducted research in partnership with the Parole Board of Canada, Correctional Service Canada, Canada Border Services Agency, and various provincial parole agencies. This research has led to significant improvements in policy and practice around the globe. Dr. Serin’s models of correctional decision-making and risk assessment have been adopted by correctional and community supervision organizations in Canada and internationally, including in Australia, France, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United States. To honour the legacy of Dr. Serin’s work, as well as his contributions to the Forensic Psychology Research Centre, Carleton University, and the field of corrections research, we are pleased to offer the Ralph Serin Emerging Scholar Research Grant.
Purpose
The Forensic Psychology Research Centre (FPRC) is committed to promoting the training and development of early-career researchers. The Ralph Serin Emerging Scholar Research Grant (ESRG) is intended to support forensic psychology graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at Carleton University with their research. The ESRG has been established to support exceptional and innovative graduate and postdoctoral research in forensic psychology here at Carleton.
The ESRG is intended to support graduate and postdoctoral students with their operational research costs. For example, the ESRG may cover costs associated with participant recruitment/payment, creating and distributing advertisements, or travelling to meet participants/collect data. Please note, the ESRG does not cover the student’s personal time spent on the project, thus direct payment to the grant recipient is not an allowable expense. A full budget breakdown is required to be submitted as part of the application. It is expected that the project being funded be launched within the year of the application cycle (in this case, 2025). Successful applicants are required to provide receipts to receive reimbursement, a progress report on their research to the FPRC, and, if applicable, a short summary of their findings for publication in the FPRC Newsletter upon completion of the project.
Value
The maximum award for operational research costs is $1,000. Funds will be processed through Carleton University via reimbursement of receipts rather than directly provided to the student.
Eligibility Criteria:
- Applicant must be enrolled full-time or be a postdoctoral fellow at Carleton University.
- Applicant must be a member of the FPRC or belong to a laboratory under one of the eight forensic faculty members (this includes direct or co-supervision).
- Applicant may be in any year of their graduate program (MA or PhD) or Postdoc.
- Applications must pertain to research in forensic psychology; however, subdisciplines are not specified.
- Only 2 applications are permitted per lab. Speak to your supervisor regarding award nominations.
- Applications must be signed by the applicant’s graduate supervisor. If you are being co-supervised, the primary co-supervisor will suffice. Failure to submit a signed Supervisor Declaration (Form B) will result in immediate disqualification.
Application checklist
- Completed Grant Application (Form A or B, based on the Stream applied for).
- Completed Supervisor Declaration (Form C) required for both streams.
- Transcript from Carleton (unofficial is permitted) to verify full-time enrollment (not required for postdoctoral fellows).
- Academic CV.
Submission date and method:
Applications are due 11:59 PM EST on January 31, 2025, in the form of one single PDF document sent to FPRC@cunet.carleton.ca. Ensure the document is named in the format firstname-lastname-CUID
(e.g., Jane-Doe-100100100) and the subject line of the email reads “Emerging Scholar Research Grant Application”. Late applications, regardless of the reason, will not be accepted.
To download the application form, click here: The Ralph Serin Emerging Scholar Research Grant (2025 competition) – Instructions and Application Form