Association of Part-Time Professors of the University of Ottawa

Academic and Professional Development Fund (APDF) – Main Unit

The purpose of the APTPUO Academic and Professional Development Fund (APDF) is to promote research and scholarly activities by part-time professors who are members of the APTPUO.

PLEASE NOTE, on May 8, 2023, the university began the transition to Workday, a human resource and financial management software solution. As you probably noticed, we’ve encountered a number of problems since the introduction of Workday. Among them is the procedure for submitting a request to the APDF. 

Since the fund’s creation, the Association has always been included into the application process, receiving a full copy of every application. In this way, the Association could ensure that the money intended for members was spent according to the fund’s guidelines.

However, the employer unilaterally modified the development fund procedure.  In doing so, the employer also cut off access to all documentation for the Association and its members.

A grievance was therefore filed to ensure that the Association again receives a copy of the documents relating to the development fund. 

The following procedure is therefore intended to be temporary, pending the outcome of the grievance.

INTERIM PROCEDURE

Pending a favourable resolution, here is the interim procedure for submitting a request to the Academic and Professional Development Fund. 

You must create a spend authorization via Workday to request funding from the Academic and Professional Development Fund. 

Please find below the user guide to help you create your spend authorization. Click here to download the guide. 

Managing-Academic-and-Professional-Development-Fund-Requests

To fully access Workday, you must connect to the university’s VPN. Click here for more information on the VPN.

If you encounter any issues with the creation of your spend authorization, you can contact the reimbursement team at: remboursement@uottawa.ca.

In your application, you must make sure that the following information is included:

General Information:

  • Name, employee number, uOttawa email address;
  • Type of grant requested (conference or research/publication);
  • Proof of APTPUO teaching in the last 24 months (contract, offer email, contract email, unlocked pay stub);
  • Detailed budget and other sources of funding, if applicable;
  • Updated CV.

For a Conference Request:

  • A description of the conference (dates, location, conference organizers, type of conference and the program if possible);
  • The type of participation in the conference (presenting or attending);
  • A statement of how attendance at the conference will enhance your teaching and/or research.
  • Proof of acceptance, if applicable;
  • Excerpt from the presentation, if applicable.

For a Research Request:

  • A two-page description of the research project (objectives, methodology, research schedule, importance, link with applicant’s current teaching and/or research activities or dissertation);
  • If a student member is writing a thesis and applies for a grant for a research project that they believe is not related to the thesis and therefore is not affected by the foregoing, they must provide, with the application, a letter from the thesis supervisor stating that the research project is not related to the thesis or has only tenuous links with it. 

For a Publication Request:

  • A two-page description of the work to be published, importance, link with applicant’s current teaching and/or research activities or dissertation;

Deadlines

For conferences: 

  • Normally, requests must be submitted two (2) months in advance and no later than 21 days prior to the conference;
  • An application may be taken into consideration if you can demonstrate that you were unable to submit your request in a timely manner.

For publications or research: 

  • No retroactive funding will be approved; 
  • Applications must be submitted in advance and you must wait for approval before disbursing any funds.

Limits of the APDF According to the Main Unit’s Collective Agreement

On September 1 of each year, the Employer will provide an annual fund of $230,000 for the purposes set out in 10.10.1. At the beginning of September of each year, the Employer will add a sufficient amount to bring the balance up to $230,000 and supplement the said fund with an additional amount equal to the percentage increase of the basic rate as indicated in Appendix “D”. These increases are cumulative from year to year to the fund established in September 2010.

Please note that in light of the new collective agreement, article 10.10.3 concerning the APDF will be subject to increases as follows: 

  • For the 2022-2023 academic year, the fund will increase from $230,000 to $250,000.
  • For the 2023-2024 academic year, the fund will increase from $250,000 to $275,000.
  • For the 2024-2025 academic year, from $275,000 to $300,000.

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