Research Awards
Fulbright Canada Distinguished Chair
2025 Fulbright Canada Distinguished Research Chair in Entrepreneurship
Uma Gupta joins Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business as the 2025 Fulbright Canada Distinguished Research Chair in Entrepreneurship. She is the Director of the Master of Science in Analytics (MSBA) program at the George Dean Johnson College of Business at the University of South Carolina Upstate.
Uma is a two-time Fulbright Scholar. Her research explores AI ethics and the development of a competent, ethically grounded AI workforce prepared to navigate the complex challenges posed by emerging technologies.
She holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering, an MBA from the University of Central Florida, and a graduate degree in Mathematics. She has authored more than 100 refereed journal papers at the intersection of technology, business, and ethics, and has published multiple books on AI, data governance, and information systems. Her contributions have been recognized through numerous awards, including Top Ten Influential Women in Technology (Houston) and the Women of Distinction Award by the Girl Scouts of Western New York.
Fulbright Canada and Carleton University have established dedicated research chairs that will allow extraordinary American scholars and top-tier researchers to spend one academic year as a visiting research scholar working in a targeted area of academic inquiry.
Carleton University Research Achievement Award
The Research Achievement Awards are administered by the Office of the Vice-President (Research and International) to recognize exceptional accomplishments by members of Carleton University. Each year, ten faculty members are selected by a committee of past recipients and provided with funds to support a research project.
Stelios Zyglidopoulos – 2025
Stelios Zyglidopoulos is a Professor of Strategic Management and the Academic Director for the Sprott MSc/PhD programs. His research project, Digital Transformation and Corruption in Public Sector Organizations, explores how digitalization impacts corruption in public sector organizations, focusing on the Greek public sector, known for historically high corruption levels. Despite optimism that digital transformation increases accountability and reduces corruption, evidence remains mixed. Through qualitative research and interviews with key stakeholders, the study aims to uncover how digital trails influence accountability and identify conditions that affect the relationship between digital transformation and corruption.
Carol-Ann Tetrault Sirsly Award
The Carol-Ann Tetrault Sirsly award is an internal award given to a faculty member at the Sprott School of Business who published in high quality peer-reviewed journals in the previous year.
Samira Farivar – 2025
Samira Farivar is an Assistant Professor of Information Systems whose research primarily examines user behavior in social media and social commerce contexts. Her work investigates how factors such as risk-taking, habit formation, and social identity influence decision-making on digital platforms, with a particular emphasis on influencer marketing. Recently, she has focused on virtual influencers—digital personas with substantial social media followings—exploring how perceived traits such as kindness and intelligence foster trust and emotional connections with followers. Her findings indicate that these emotional bonds significantly enhance consumers’ purchase intentions for products promoted by virtual influencers.
Sprott Research Awards and Grants
Sprott’s internal awards and grants program recognizes and invests in the scholarly contributions of our faculty and doctoral students. Our awards celebrate excellence in research, community engagement, and emerging scholarly leadership. Our grants support the work that comes before major external funding applications, including building research partnerships, generating preliminary evidence, and advancing rigorous inquiry into teaching and learning. Together, these programs reflect Sprott’s commitment to a research culture that values quality, recognizes contribution at every career stage, and invests in what comes next.
Applications and nominations for the current cycle close at 11:59 P..M on April 10, 2026. Award and grant decisions will be communicated by the end of April 2026.
Awards
Early Career Research Award
Open to research stream faculty within their first five years of appointment as Assistant Professor. Recognizes research promise and early scholarly achievement.
Community Engagement Excellence Award
Open to all research stream faculty. Recognizes exceptional and sustained contribution to building meaningful relationships between Sprott and partners across government, industry, the non-profit sector, and civil society.
Doctoral Research Leadership Award
Open to all current PhD students in good standing. Recognizes doctoral researchers who demonstrate exceptional research excellence and an emerging ability to communicate their work with clarity and purpose.
Carol-Ann Tetrault-Sirsly Research Excellence Award
Open to all research stream faculty. Recognizes outstanding scholarly contribution, research leadership, and meaningful impact over the preceding three calendar years. CURRENTLY CLOSED FOR NOMINATIONS
Grants
Sprott Research Development Grant
Open to all research stream faculty. Replaces the Sprott Research Initiation Grant. Provides seed funding to generate the preliminary data, theoretical grounding, or methodological feasibility evidence needed to compete for tri-agency and other major external funding competitions.
Sprott Community and Partner Engagement Grant
Open to all research stream faculty. Funds the relationship-building, knowledge-sharing, and co-creation work that must happen before meaningful collaborative research with external partners is possible.
Sprott Pedagogical Research Seed Grant
Open to all teaching stream faculty. Supports original research on teaching and learning in the business school context, grounded in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL).