Canada Graduate Scholarships Doctoral (CGS D) Program

Deadline

Tuesday, 17 September 2019 at 12 PM (noon) PDT

Annual Value

$35,000

Citizenship

Canadian

Permanent Resident

Degree Level

Doctoral

The objective of the Canada Graduate Scholarships-Doctoral (CGS D) Program is to promote continued excellence in Canadian research by rewarding and retaining high-calibre doctoral students at Canadian institutions. By providing support for a high-quality research training experience to awardees, the CGS D program strives to foster impacts within and beyond the research environment.

Effective fall 2019, Canada’s three federal granting agencies (CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC) have now harmonized the Canada Graduate Scholarship - Doctoral program. Please visit the new CGS D program page for the harmonized application process and timeline. In addition to the CGS D, each agency has its own doctoral awards. Refer to the appropriate literature for CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC for further details.

Fall 2019 competition deadlines:

Application deadline (through The University of British Columbia): Tuesday, 17 September 2019 at 12 PM (PDT)
Graduate program nomination deadline (to Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies): Friday, 11 October 2019 at 4 PM (PDT)

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply, an applicant must:

be enrolled in a program of study that includes a significant research component.
be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada, as of the application deadline date;
have completed no more than 24 months of full-time study in their doctoral program by December 31 of the year of application (no more than 36 months if transferred directly from Bachelors to a PhD; fast-tracked or enrolled in joint program, e.g., MD/PhD, MA/PhD);
submit only one doctoral award application in a given academic year. Nominations to the Vanier CGS program do not count towards this limit;
not have already received a doctoral-level scholarship or fellowship from CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC.

Complete eligibility criteria are available on the CGS D program page.

Potential applicants should be sure that they are submitting their application to the most appropriate of the three federal funding agencies (CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC). If applicants are unsure whether they should submit their application to CIHR, NSERC, or SSHRC, they should consult their Research Supervisor and/or Graduate Advisor. In cases where clarification is still needed, applicants should send a half-page summary of their intended research proposal to the appropriate agency for an assessment, rather than guess or assume incorrectly.

Important Note: Some eligibility requirements for CGS D differ from those of the agency-specific doctoral awards. Refer to the appropriate literature for CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC for further details.

Evaluation Criteria

Research ability and potential: 50%
Relevant experience and achievements obtained within and beyond academia: 50%

Complete details (including description and indicators) are available on the CGS D program page.

Application Procedures

Students registered in a UBC degree program (or on an approved leave of absence from UBC) between 1 January and 31 December 2019 must complete their application by Tuesday, 17 September 2019.

Confirm eligibility
Confirm subject matter: Select the appropriate funding agency. Applicants should complete the agency application that is best aligned with their research subject matter.
1. Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
2. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)
3. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)
Determine where to submit an application (through a Canadian institution such as UBC or directly to the appropriate agency). See the CGS D program page for guidance. If applying via UBC, complete the application by the UBC application deadline, Tuesday, 17 September 2019
Read the instructions and apply online

CIHR: ResearchNet | application instructions

Submission of transcripts: Applicants are required to upload their up-to-date official transcripts of their complete academic record as 1 single PDF file. For more details about the transcript requirement, see this CIHR link.
Online submission of sponsor's assessment: Applicants are required to invite their referees via ResearchNet. Applicants must enter the sponsors' names within their application, update the Assessment Required Deadline Date* and press on "Click and Send Sponsor Request". (*Applicants can manage the deadline by which sponsors must submit their assessments. By default, the Sponsor Required Deadline in ResearchNet is set for two days before the application deadline.) Assessment forms are to be submitted by referees via ResearchNet. These assessments should come from people under whom the applicant has trained and/or who have had a good opportunity to assess their potential for research.
The required “Doctoral Studies Timelines” form is located here.
The required “Confirmation of Scientific Area” form is located here.
Instructions for obtaining the Institutional e-Approval - to be confirmed

NSERC: Online application system | application instructions

Online submission of transcripts: Applicants who submit their application to UBC will be asked to identify a ‘university designate’ (i.e., the applicant's graduate program staff) who will upload the applicant's transcripts to their NSERC application. Applicants are responsible to confirm with their graduate program which transcripts need to be provided by the student and which transcripts the graduate program already has on file to be uploaded. Please note that applicants must request certified true copies of transcripts from their graduate program, not from the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. Transcript requirement is outlined in the application instructions.
Online submission of reports on the applicant: Applicants are required to invite their referees via the NSERC online application. Reports are to be submitted by referees using the online system. Applicants are responsible for inviting two referees: one referee should be very familiar with their research and abilities (i.e., current or previous research supervisor) and the other should be sufficiently familiar with their research and abilities to provide a meaningful commentary. Applicants will not be able to verify their application until each referee form has been successfully verified and completed. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure their referees complete and submit their assessments in advance of the application deadline.
Note: ‘Form 201’ (the NSERC PGS D application form) only lists the NSERC PGS D in its materials; however, ‘Form 201’ is also for applying to the CGS D. The highest-ranked PGS D applicants will automatically be considered by NSERC for a CGS D.

SSHRC: Online application system | application instructions

Online submission of transcripts: Applicants are required to upload their up-to-date official transcripts of their complete academic record as 1 single PDF file. Transcript requirement is outlined in the application instructions.
Online submission of letters of appraisal: Applicants are now required to invite their referees via the SSHRC online application. Letters of appraisal are to be submitted by referees using the online system. Applicants are responsible for inviting two referees: one referee should be very familiar with their research and abilities (i.e., current or previous research supervisor) and the other should be sufficiently familiar with their research and abilities to provide a meaningful commentary. Applicants will not be able to verify their application until each referee form has been successfully verified and completed. It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure their referees complete and submit their assessments in advance of the application deadline.

Complete application procedures are available on the CGS D program page.

Affiliated Fellowships-Doctoral application: CGS D applicants applying through UBC do not need to submit a separate Affiliated Fellowships-Doctoral application. To be considered for criteria-based Affiliated Fellowships, students should submit the criteria-based affiliated fellowships to their graduate program.

Nomination Procedures

Graduate programs review and rank the applications they receive, and forward their top applicants to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies using Workspace. Nominations must be submitted by graduate programs to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies by 4:00pm on Friday, 11 October 2019.

Adjudication Procedures

CGS doctoral scholarship applications are first reviewed and ranked by the applicant's UBC graduate program. The graduate program forwards a limited number of its top-ranked applicants to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, which oversees a university-wide adjudication. Adjudication committees composed of UBC faculty members review and rank nominated applications and select which applications will be forwarded to the national competition. UBC's nominees are forwarded to NSERC, SSHRC or CIHR, which oversees a nation-wide competition that selects which CGS doctoral scholarship applications will be funded.