Spring Graduate Awards Competition

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Deadline

Applicants: check with graduate program; Graduate program nomination deadline: 22 May 2020 at 4:00 pm

Annual Value

$150 to $18,000

Citizenship

Canadian
Permanent Resident
International

Degree Level

Masters
Doctoral
 

A number of University awards for the upcoming academic year are available to current and incoming graduate students.

 

Eligibility

Students must be registered, full-time graduate students during the period of the award.

Please note that applicants in graduate programs that are not administered by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (such as "professional programs") are not eligible for this award competition.

Additional eligibility criteria differ between awards, and students might be eligible for multiple awards. the list of awards is available in the Application Form - PART 2. In the Application Form - PART 2, students must clearly address their eligibility as specifically to the award description as possible. To be eligible to receive funding, applicants must meet all the criteria for each award they apply for.

In addition to eligibility requirements specified by each available award, the following criteria apply:

Master's students

Applicants must have completed, as of December 31, 2019 between zero and 12 months of full-time Master’s studies (or full-time equivalent). Successful applicants for Master's-level funding will not receive funding past the end of their 24th month in Master's program.

Applicants for the Rick Hansen "Man in Motion" Fellowship can be in any month of Master's study.
Doctoral students Applicants must have completed, as of December 31, 2019:
  • between zero and 36 months of full-time doctoral studies (or full-time equivalent). In cases where a student has transferred directly from a Master’s program into a doctoral program without receiving a Master’s degree, eligibility for doctoral funding will be counted from the effective date of transfer to the doctoral program. Successful applicants will not receive funding past the end of their 48th month in doctoral program.
  • between zero and 48 months of full-time studies (or full-time equivalent) in cases where students proceeded directly from a Bachelor’s or equivalent program to their doctoral program. Successful applicants will not receive funding past the end of their 60th month in doctoral program.

Applicants for the Rick Hansen "Man in Motion" Fellowship can be in any month of Doctoral study.

Please note that all previous studies at the graduate level, regardless of institution and discipline, will be included in determining eligibility.  For example, a previous Master's degree at UBC or another institution would count towards the total Master's months of study.

Evaluation Criteria

While award recipients will be selected based on academic merits (as outlined in the below table), priority will be given to eligible candidates who do not already hold significant scholarship funding (e.g., CIHR/NSERC/SSHRC awards, 4YF, Affiliated Fellowship, etc.) for the 2020/21 academic year.

Criteria Weighting for applicants for Master’s funding Weighting for applicants for doctoral funding
Academic excellence
  • Academic record
  • Scholarships and awards held
  • Duration of previous studies
 50% 30%
Research ability or potential
  • Quality of contributions to research and development
  • Relevance of work experience and academic training to field of proposed research
  • Significance, feasibility, and merit of proposed research, and justification for location of tenure
  • Ability to think critically
  • Ability to apply skills and knowledge
  • Judgment
  • Originality
  • Initiative and autonomy
  • Enthusiasm for research
  • Determination and ability to complete projects within an appropriate period of time
 30% 50%
Communication, interpersonal and leadership abilities
  • The ability or potential to communicate scientific concepts clearly and logically in written and oral formats. For example, this could include:
    • quality of the application's presentation
    • participation in preparing publications
    • awards for oral presentations or papers
  • Professional and relevant extracurricular interactions and collaborations. For example, this could include:
    • mentoring
    • teaching
    • supervisory experience
    • project management
    • chairing committees
    • organizing conferences and meetings
    • elected positions held
 20% 20%

 

Application Procedures

Applicants must check with their graduate program regarding their program’s internal application deadline. Internal application deadlines are normally several weeks before the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies deadline, as graduate programs must review students' applications well in advance of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies deadline.

Applicants must submit the following materials to their graduate program at UBC:

  1. completed Application Form - PART 1
  2. completed Application Form - PART 2
  3. Canadian CCV – CGS-Master’s version
  4. up-to-date academic records for all university-level studies (including studies undertaken but not completed) up to December 31, 2019.
    • For UBC transcripts, the applicant's "Academic History" printed from the SISC by the applicant's graduate program will be accepted.  Please note that the SSC student "grade summary" page is not acceptable; please specifically request the "Academic History" document from your graduate program who has access to the SISC staff system.
    • For institutions other than UBC:
      • current graduate students: only official* transcripts will be accepted. These may be original or certified true copies provided by the applicant's graduate program. Please note that students must request certified true copies of transcripts from their graduate program, not from the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
      • incoming graduate students only: up-to-date, official* transcripts from eVision will be accepted. These should be certified by the applicant's graduate program. Please note that students must request certified copies of transcripts from their graduate program, not from the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
        • Note to graduate programs: Transcripts on eVision that were uploaded by the applicant (ex. not stamped "G+PS Official") are also acceptable if they are scans of official transcripts.  Transcripts that were uploaded by the applicant that are unofficial (ex. "this is an unofficial transcript" watermark on each page by the issuing institution) are not acceptable.
  5. one recommendation letter/form Only recommendation letter/form signed by the person providing the reference are acceptable; original, faxed, and scanned copies sent by e-mail directly to the applicant’s graduate program are acceptable. In some cases, a reference letter submitted for a previous scholarship competition may be used; see the application instructions for details.

*If official transcripts are not available on eVision: Many universities, including UBC, are not able to provide official paper transcripts at this time.  However, the vast majority of institutions will provide their students/graduates with official transcripts via email or secure digital services (eg. Parchment), either of which will meet the requirement for official transcripts.

Nomination Procedures

Graduate Programs should set internal deadlines well in advance of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies deadline.

Award descriptions are listed and linked in the nomination form. They are also part of the Application Form - PART 2.

To nominate students, Graduate Programs are to:

  • fill out the Excel nomination form:
    • Maximum number of nominees for each award is specified in the nomination sheet under the award name
    • For awards that specify "no maximum", programs can insert rows to add more nominees
    • For each nominee, copy the description of eligibility from their Application Form - PART 2 into the nomination form
    • [Note that ROWS in the nomination form can be resized; columns cannot be edited]
    • save the nomination form as PROGRAM_SPRING_nomination_form.xlsx (e.g. MATH would save the form as MATH_SPRING_nomination_form.xlsx)
  • save each nominee file as PROGRAM_SPRING_LastName_FirstName.pdf (e.g. nomination file for student Jane Smith from MATH would be called MATH_SPRING_Smith_Jane.pdf).
  • A complete nominee file will consist of:
    • Application Form - PART 1 (PART 2 should NOT be included; it should only be used to fill out the nomination form)
    • CCV
    • academic records of all university-level studies (unofficial transcripts submitted by applicants through eVision are acceptable only for incoming students whose original transcripts have not arrived yet)
    • one letter of recommendation
  • upload the nomination form and all nominee files into program's Workspace G+PS Awards folder

Adjudication Procedures

The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies will convene an adjudication committee comprising faculty members representing various disciplines.

 

Meet Award Holders

Adam Howe

Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology (PhD)

Canadian Climate Change Policy Networks

Natasha Orr

Doctor of Philosophy in Reproductive and Developmental Sciences (PhD)

Educational videos on the pathophysiology of sexual pain in women with endometriosis

Sokyee Angela Low

Doctor of Philosophy in Human Development, Learning, and Culture (PhD)

Parenting pains and pleasures: examining the effects of cultivating happiness and self-compassion on parents' efficacy and well-being

Siba Ghrear

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD)

Social Perspective taking
View All Stories

Further Information

For further information, please contact graduate.awards@ubc.ca.