Apply
Apply for Spices
The SPICES program is currently under review with an aim to relaunch after May 2021. Check back here for details.
Key Dates
Applications open: January 2020
Deadline to submit proposals: March 25, 2020
Proposal review and informal interviews (shortlisted proposals only): April 22 to May 3 (tentative dates)
Projects announced and project cycle begins: May 1, 2020
Project cycle ends: April 30, 2021
Outcome report: Due within 30 days of your project’s completion (or May 31, 2021, whichever comes first).
Online application list of prompts:
- Project Title, a Tagline (description of your project in one sentence), and a Project Image:
- What is the project about/What are you going to do/Why are you going to do it…and how?
- What results to you expect?
- Who is involved (team composition, collaborators, and stakeholders)
- Timelines (including planning, milestones, key events)
- Budget (detailed up to $3500)
- Designated project liaison (point-of-contact between your team and Grad Studies) and a treasurer
Adjudicating Spices proposals
Proposals will be reviewed within the School of Graduate Studies. A shortlist of proposals that meet the criteria will be invited to participate in an informal interview. Interviewees will be notified within a week or two after the application deadline as to whether their project is funded.
Informal interviews
If your proposal meets the Spices criteria, your team will be invited to discuss your idea more fully with a small advisory group who can give you feedback and further adjudicate the proposal. After this meeting, a decision will be made as to whether your project will be officially funded for Spices.
Projects cannot start before May 1, 2020, and must be completed by April 30, 2021. Planning and groundwork can begin prior to May 1, however funds cannot be disbursed or back-dated prior to May 1. All receipts must be submitted by April 30, 2021.
Questions? Email Andrea Cole at spices@mcmaster.ca or call 905 525-9140 ext. 23437.
Adjudication of Spices proposals
Proposals will be reviewed within the School of Graduate Studies. Proposals that meet the criteria will be invited to participate in an informal interview. Interviewees will be notified within a week or two after the application deadline as to whether their project is funded.
Tips for your budget submission
Propose a realistic budget
- Provide a general itemization of anticipated costs. While it does not have to be exact, your budget should demonstrate you’ve done some research
- Can be approximate and include a range. For example, if your project requires renting space, and you are not sure how much this will cost and you have not decided on a venue, research a few potential venues to receive an estimation. Your budget submission can include a value range (i.e., $500- 1200) in such instances, since the location and exact cost is yet to be confirmed
- Include 10-15% contingency line, if possible. There may be expenses not anticipated at the proposal stage!
Informal Interviews
If your proposal meets the Spices criteria, your team will be invited to discuss your idea more fully with a small advisory group who can give you feedback and further adjudicate the proposal. After this meeting, a decision will be made as to whether your project will be officially funded for Spices.
A reminder for current Spices projects (2019-20)
- Your project cycle ends on April 30, 2020.
- Your Outcome Report is due within 30 days of your project’s completion (or May 31, 2020, whichever comes first)
- All receipts must be submitted by April 30, 2020 in order to be reimbursed.
Information Box Group

LINK
A Student’s Progress: The Eighteenth-Century Podcast
A fun, informative, and accessible podcast introducing key topics in the long eighteenth century.

LINK
Broken Punjabi Supper Club
A Punjabi-Canadian dining experience decolonizing South Asian food, identity, and emphasizing mindful alcohol consumption.

LINK
Medical Sciences Mentorship Group
A simple and meaningful program that will connect students with each other for highly relevant peer mentorship/support, and students with faculty to foster development and growth.


LINK
Cripping Graduate School
A Disability and Mad Studies Reading Group (Renewal) Monthly Disability and Mad Studies. Reading Groups to cultivate a social and intellectual disability community on campus.

LINK
Gallery of Graduate Arts 3.0
Giving graduate students and postdoctoral fellows an opportunity to show off their artistic side!

LINK
Let’s Talk Health (Econ)
Let’s Talk Health (Econ) – the podcast that will get everyone talking about health economics.

LINK
McMaster Graduate Statistics Consulting Club
A place dedicated to linking all graduate students and researchers through data analytics.

LINK
Symbiosis Students and Seniors Co-Housing Program 2.0
Symbiosis is a program that connects students with seniors for a mutually beneficial housing relationship.

LINK
RESIST: BIPOC Working Group
A monthly working group for students of colour to discuss race and racism in the classroom and develop strategies and resources to improve conditions.
Who is eligible for a Spices grant?
- Master’s or PhD students registered and in good standing at McMaster for the entire duration of their project cycle
- Postdoctoral Fellows
Renewals
A Spices project can be renewed one time only.
To apply for a renewal, submit a new proposal by the regular deadline and indicate in your title: ‘Spices (Renewal)’. Please note that your Outcome Report from the first year must be submitted prior, for reference during your renewal assessment.
Careful review of the Guidelines, Criteria, and Exclusions for Spices should be completed prior to application.
Guidelines
What is a Spices project?
- Something that does not already exist.
- An original idea – fills a need.
- Includes team members who identify as part of the community it engages.
- Involves great people trying to make a difference.
- Driven by grad students and/or postdocs.
- Allowed to fail.
- Inspired by clear vision and leadership.
- A passion project for those involved.
A Spices project is not
- income for individual graduate students;
- initiated by a department, staff, faculty, or professor;
- CV- or resume-motivated (resume items will build themselves as a result of vision);
- a way to fund an already existing group, club, seminar, conference, speaker’s series, or other activity that is already happening or has happened before;
- academic research.
Guidelines
- Each Spices project will have up to 12 months to deliver one or a series of activities; project expenses to be reimbursed must be submitted before April 30, 2021.
- The maximum sponsorship awarded to any one project is $3,500.
- Awardees are required submit a report by May 31, 2020.
- All funds are fully accountable. Awardees are required to submit original receipts accounting for the full sum of the award within 30 days of the project’s completion, or April 30 (whichever comes first).
- A team member in the role of treasurer must remain enrolled as a student (or on staff if a postdoc) for the entire duration of the project.
- Students should have the support of their academic supervisor before undertaking a Spices-funded project.
Criteria: Is your proposal spicy?
Spices can approve proposals that best meet a combination of the following elements:
- is unique and/or novel in nature (for example, proposals that request funds for graduate student
- conferences will not be accepted);
- creates a new initiative to enhance the experience of a given community/communities;
- includes collaboration, particularly across academic disciplines, or with off-campus partners beyond the university’s traditional boundaries;
- considers its governance model and models of community engagement;
- considers equity and accessibility measures in its approach;
- advances the mission and vision of McMaster University.
Exclusions
Funding will not be provided for:
- travel or academic conference costs;
- individual graduate student tuition;
- research-related costs;
- cost-of-living expenses; or
- other forms of personal income.
Download the Spices Guidebook 2020-21.
Reporting
Awardees are required to submit their outcome report (including budget narrative) within 30 days of project completion.
Download your Spices Outcome Report template. It includes instructions on how to submit your report.
Your report will be public.
Current initiatives (2020-21)
Information Box Group
Empowering Latin American Graduate Students (ELAGS)
Creating and fostering a sense of community for McMaster Latin America Graduate Students.
This project aims to create a sense of belonging and community amongst Latin American Graduate Students at McMaster University, this includes both domestic students (graduate students part of the Latin American diaspora in Canada) and international students (Latin American students who have come to McMaster for studies). In addition, this project will aim to build ties and relationship with undergraduate, faculty and staff who are also Latin American.
Project lead: Rodrigo Narro Perez, PhD/SGES/Science, narrora@mcmaster.ca
2Storyteller Series: Indigenous Writing Workshop
The Storyteller Series offers writing workshops for Indigenous students and community members to facilitate creative, social, and intellectual work by Indigenous folks on campus and beyond.
The Indigenous Writing Workshop aims to create opportunities for Indigenous folks, both students and community members, to gather, discuss, and practice writing as intellectual, creative, artistic, and political work.
Project lead: Johannah Bird, PhD/English/English and Cultural Studies/ Humanities, birdj1@mcmaster.ca
University Enterprise Club
A place that will connect students with each other who are interested in improving entrepreneur by attending competitions, and students with experts in the fields.
Universities hold a lot of competitions for students to attend and apply their knowledge. Students want to attend these competitions however most of the competitions are group based. Some of the competitions will help students form a group randomly, but do students like that? Some students have brilliant ideas but cannot achieve the idea by their own, do they have to give up the idea? Some students are experts in his field but lack of suitable projects to work with. Some students have a mature project but lack of a mentor?
University Enterprise Club provides a platform for students to network with students with passion, expertise and innovative ideas. Also, students can network with professors from different faculties and even experts from various field. Finding a mentor won’t be an issue anymore.
Project lead: Yue Shang, Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation, W Booth/Engineering, shangy11@mcmaster.ca
Science, not silence: Foundations in Science Communication
Helping students effectively communicate scientific information and research findings.
This project’s goal is to teach students about the theory and best practices underlying strong scientific communication. By participating in our workshop series, students will improve their ability to communicate scientific information more effectively to a broad audience. We believe that by learning these skills, students will be better equipped to communicate complicated concepts within and beyond academia.
Project lead: Kaushal Baid, PhD/Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, baidk@mcmaster.ca
Xstream student field guide
An interactive resource on stream stewardship for eco-minded students.
Using established stream-monitoring protocols and biotic indicators of stream quality, we are going to create a student-friendly, illustrated e-textbook. The textbook will aim to teach students about the ecology of their local neighbourhoods and provide them with the tools they need to investigate and infer stream quality on their own.
Project lead: Alana Tedeschi, Phd/Department of Biology/Science, tedescac@mcmaster.ca
A Student's Progress: Eighteenth Century Podcast (renewal)
A podcast for informal conversations about the weird, quirky, and important parts of the long eighteenth century.
This project tackles the problem of student engagement, specifically within the context of the eighteenth century. Typically dismissed as a boring, tedious period of literary history, this project aims to bolster interest in the period by making it more legible/accessible to a general audience. It is actually an interesting (and important!) time for literature, this project will bring these elements to a wider audience.
Project leads: Yue Chen Hou, Humanities/English & Cultural Studies/English Literature/PhD
Kalin Smith, Humanities/English & Cultural Studies/English Literature/PhD
BIPOC Working Group (renewal)
A monthly working group for students of colour to discuss race and racism in the classroom and develop strategies and resources to improve conditions.
The BIPOC Working Group is designed to provide an opportunity for students of colour to share their experiences, access peer support, and develop strategies to improve conditions in the classroom through education and training.
Project liaison: Theresa Kenney, Phd/English and Cultural Studies/Humanities, kennet1@mcmaster.ca
Medical Sciences Mentorship Group (MSMG) (Renewal)
A simple and meaningful program that will connect students with each other for highly relevant peer mentorship and support, and students with faculty to foster development and growth.
Graduate school can be a challenging experience, but it does not need to be a challenge that students face in isolation. Our goal is to provide graduate students with easy access to structured, individualized, and high-quality peer-mentorship, as well as content in the form of presentations and newsletters that focus directly on graduate student topics related to personal and professional development, mental health and wellness, and graduate program progression. Graduate students can be an invaluable resource for each other, and this initiative intends to bring our student body closer together.
Project lead: Eric Desjardins, Phd/Medical Sciences/Health Sciences, desjarem@mcmaster.ca
Past Spices initiatives
2019 initiatives

LINK
A Student’s Progress: The Eighteenth-Century Podcast
A fun, informative, and accessible podcast introducing key topics in the long eighteenth century.

LINK
Broken Punjabi Supper Club
A Punjabi-Canadian dining experience decolonizing South Asian food, identity, and emphasizing mindful alcohol consumption.

LINK
Cripping Graduate School
A Disability and Mad Studies Reading Group (Renewal) Monthly Disability and Mad Studies. Reading Groups to cultivate a social and intellectual disability community on campus.

LINK
Gallery of Graduate Arts 3.0
Giving graduate students and postdoctoral fellows an opportunity to show off their artistic side!

LINK
Let’s Talk Health (Econ)
Let’s Talk Health (Econ) – the podcast that will get everyone talking about health economics.

LINK
McMaster Graduate Statistics Consulting Club
A place dedicated to linking all graduate students and researchers through data analytics.

LINK
Medical Sciences Mentorship Group
A simple and meaningful program that will connect students with each other for highly relevant peer mentorship/support, and students with faculty to foster development and growth.

LINK
RESIST: BIPOC Working Group
A monthly working group for students of colour to discuss race and racism in the classroom and develop strategies and resources to improve conditions.


LINK
Symbiosis Students and Seniors Co-Housing Program 2.0
Symbiosis is a program that connects students with seniors for a mutually beneficial housing relationship.
2018 initiatives

4 Boys, 4 Dogs: Education and Community Engagement for Incarcerated Youth
Our project will develop educational resources for and promote wider community engagement with an innovative program in which incarcerated youth learn social and behavioural skills by training rescue dogs to be re-homed.

Cripping Graduate School: A Disability and Mad Studies Reading and Activities Group
Monthly Disability and Mad Studies Reading Groups (and activities) to cultivate a social and intellectual disability community on campus.

Dear Mac
Connecting the community one letter at a time.
Gallery of Graduate Arts (2.0)
Creativity meets research at the Gallery of Graduate Arts.
Science on Tap: Hamilton
Science on Tap creates an environment for McMaster University’s scientists to host scientific discussion with members of the public in a casual setting.
Seniors of Canada: Hamilton (Renewal)
Capturing images and stories of everyday Seniors.
Speaking to opioid use in many languages: working together for better understanding
Leveraging the linguistic diversity of the McMaster student community to share important information about opioid use with the broader public.
Symbiosis: Students and Seniors Co-Housing Program (Renewal)
Symbiosis is a program that connects students with seniors in the McMaster Community for a mutually beneficial housing relationship.
WaterCRESS (Renewal)
WaterCRESS bridges the gap between water researchers at McMaster and the general public to demystify science and work towards informed appreciation and protection of our shared environment.
2017
Gallery of Graduate Arts
Reconnecting researchers with their artistic side.
Open Access McMaster
Students for equity in scholarly communication.
Open Device Lab
Devices for everyone.
Rebranding McMaster – McMaster’s Natural Treasures
Using nature as a branding and promotional tool to draw in future leaders and innovators into our undergraduate, graduate, and post doc programs.
Seniors of Canada: Hamilton
Age is just a number: shedding light on the everyday older person.
Symbiosis: Grad Students and Seniors Co-Housing Program
Symbiosis is a program that aims to connect graduate students with seniors in the McMaster community for a mutually beneficial housing relationship.
Water Community Research Education and Sustainability Seminars
WaterCRESS bridges the gap between water researchers at McMaster and the general public to demystify science and work towards informed appreciation and protection of our shared environment.
2016
Cerebral Coffeehouse
Our goal for these coffeehouse events is to create a positive space for community members to engage with researchers and share knowledge!
Creating an Inclusive Queer Community among Graduate Students at McMaster University
EXPLOR: Water, Environment and Climate (Experiential Professional Orientation)
Gallery of Graduate Arts Share
Grad Wellness Initiative (GWI)
Herbal Meditation Garden
Community based project that increases mental health and wellness by offering a new and alternative mode of mindful meditation in nature.
Industry Link
Locate and Donate
To create and pilot a new web-based platform that facilitates in-kind donations from the community to non-profit organizations in Hamilton.
Mac Immersion Funding
This project will fundamentally change the way people gain a sense of place at McMaster University.
McMaster Open Learning
Skills and specialization transfer for graduate students in a competency based hiring environment.
2015
3KeyWorks: What do leaders read? Learn More
Creating a website that curates lists of professors and community leaders’ top ten books.
3KeyWorks: What do leaders read? - Learn More
The goal
To create a website that curates lists of professors and community leaders’ top ten books. Students and other readers can get to know their professors, learn more about a niche field, become leaders themselves by reading peer-reviewed book lists.
The Team
- Aimee Castro
Learn more about 3KeyWorks.
See @3KeyWorks on Twitter.
Visit 3KeyWorks on Facebook.
Cerebral Coffeehouse Learn More
Organizing a series of three themed coffeehouse evenings in order to promote discussion and exchanges between McMaster researchers and the greater Hamilton community.
Cerebral Coffeehouse
The Goal
To organize a series of three themed coffeehouse evenings in order to promote discussion and exchanges between McMaster researchers and the greater Hamilton community.
The Team
- Dominique Beauregard Cazabon, Master’s, Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour
- Aimee Battcock, Master’s, Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour
Unpacking "diversity" in the classroom Learn More
Examining curricular and pedagogical practices of professors, instructors and teaching assistants in the Faculty of Social Sciences.
Unpacking "diversity" in the classroom
The goal
To examine curricular and pedagogical practices of professors, instructors and teaching assistants in the Faculty of Social Sciences.
The Team
- Rochelle Wijesingha, PhD, Sociology
- Roger Pizarro Milian, PhD, Sociology
Student Wellness Workshops Learn More
Enhance the mental and physical health and well being of graduate students at McMaster University through interactive and informative wellness workshops.
Student Wellness Workshops
The goal
To enhance the mental and physical health and well being of graduate students at McMaster University through interactive and informative wellness workshops.
The Team
- Matthew Stork, PhD, Kinesiology
- Marie-Josee Perrier, postdoctoral fellow, Kinesiology
- Sari Isenstein, Master’s, Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour
- Denver Brown, PhD, Kinesiology
A short documentary film about international graduate student life Learn More
Enhancing the awareness and develop international graduate student life.
A short documentary film about international graduate student life
The goal
To enhance the awareness and develop international graduate student life.
The Team
- Charmini Wimalasena, PhD, French
- Udayakumar Sivalingam, MBA
- Sanaz Vaghei, PhD, French
Wellness for Academic Success: Grad Student Wellness Outreach Learn More
Wellness for Academic Success promotes overall wellness, community-building, and academic performance.
Wellness for Academic Success: Grad Student Wellness Outreach
The goals: To collaborate with departments and associations that cater to the needs of graduate students to offer innovative, engaging, interactive, and needs-based health/wellness outreach programming to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at McMaster University.
Wellness for Academic Success promotes overall wellness, community-building, and academic performance.
The Team
- Sujane Kandasamy, Master’s, Health Research Methodology
- Rachel Kelly, Master’s, Biology
- Manraj Kaur, PhD, Rehab Sciences
iClimate Video Competition
The goals:
- To publicize and raise interest in climate research at McMaster.
- To encourage interdisciplinary cooperation and learning among researchers.
- To increase interest in our research programs among current and prospective students.
The Team
- Katelynn Daly, Master’s, Earth & Environmental Science Rachel Skubel, Master’s, MSc, Earth & Environmental Science
- Myroslava Khomik, postdoctoral fellow, Science
- Kelly Biagi, Master’s, Earth & Environmental Science
MacBulb, the Lightbulb App Learn More
Fundamentally changing the way society accesses information by developing a new search engine that allows free access to information at the touch of a button, a ‘stream engine.’
MacBulb, the Lightbulb App
The goal: To fundamentally change the way society accesses information by developing a new search engine that allows free access to information at the touch of a button, a ‘stream engine.’
The Team
- Charles Burke, PhD, Geography and Earth Sciences
- Chris Higgins, PhD, Geography and Earth Sciences
- Ryan Garnett, PhD, Geography and Earth Sciences
- Matt Adams, PhD, Geography and Earth Sciences
- Justin Hall, Master’s, Geography and Earth Sciences
Interdisciplinary Speaker Series Learn More
Running a series of six interdisciplinary talks at McMaster University during the 2015/16 academic year.
Interdisciplinary Speaker Series
The goal: To run a series of six interdisciplinary talks at McMaster University during the 2015/16 academic year.
The Team
- Michael Hemmingsen, PhD, Philosophy
- Beverley Anger, Master’s, Philosophy
- Laure Benacquista, PhD, Philosophy
- Ben Prus, PhD, English & Cultural Studies
- Justin Morris, PhD, Philosophy
The Behind the Scenes of Academia (The BS of academia)
The goals:
- To develop critical edification and innovative learning practices regarding the journey to academia.
- This project is envisioned as a way to place failures of the brightest, celebrated and successful academics at the centre of the graduate experience, rather than at the periphery.
- To bridge McMaster resources and academics across disciplines in collaboration with the Graduate Students Association, creating opportunities for graduate students to learn about academic struggles – a narrative excluded from the stories of McMaster’s “scholar-cum-victors.”
The Team
- Manraj Kaur, PhD, Rehab Sciences
- Talena Rambarran, PhD, Chemistry
- Graduate Students Association Faculty Reps
Mind.Me Promoting Youth Mental Wellness Learn More
Evaluating the impact of mind.me, a new mental health promotion program on the mental health literacy and mental well-being of young adults in the Hamilton community.
Mind.Me Promoting Youth Mental Wellness
The mind.me program is a collaboration between McMaster and the New Generation Youth Centre (NGen) which is an youth-run and led organization that offers a positive space and programs for youth in the Hamilton community. The objective of this project is to evaluate (pilot test) the impact of mind.me, a new mental health promotion program on the mental health literacy and mental well-being of young adults in the Hamilton community. A secondary objective is to gather feedback from program participants about the program. The mind.me program will use videos and group discussions to talk about mental illness and mental wellness, decrease stigma and focus on strategies for positive mental health.
The Team
- Nosheen Akhtar, Master’s, Occupational Therapy
- Ramanjit Garcha, Master’s, Occupational Therapy
Visit NextGen Youth Centre on Facebook.
See NextGen on Twitter.
Personal Development Groups Learn More
Creating forums for grad students to learn and support each other in their personal and professional growth and development.
Personal Development Groups
The goal: To create forums for graduate students to learn and support each other in their personal and professional growth and development.
The Team
- Irena Radisevic, PhD, Humanities
- Carmina Angelica Perez Romero, PhD, Health Sciences