Registration Status
Students must be registered, full-time graduate students during the period of the award (September 2025 to August 2026). Incoming students (ie. will start in September 2025 or January 2026) are also eligible to apply (ex. a successful Spring Awards applicant starting in January 2026 could receive funding covering January to August 2026).
Program Eligibility
Eligible graduate programs must have a significant research component. A significant research component is considered to be original, autonomous research that leads to the completion of a thesis, major research project, dissertation, scholarly publication, performance, recital, and/or exhibit that is merit/expert-reviewed at the institutional level as a requirement for completion of the program.
With the exception of those programs listed below, students in all fields of graduate study are eligible to apply. Exceptions:
- Programs that are not administered by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (such as MBA, MM, MDS)
- Programs that do not include a significant research component (ie. coursework-based programs such as MPPGA, MOT, MPH, MPT, and MKIN)
- Doctor of Pharmacy
Other Funding
While award recipients will be selected based on the evaluation criteria, priority will be given to eligible candidates who do not hold significant scholarship funding (i.e., $16,000 or higher) for the 2025/26 academic year (September 2025 to August 2026). If a student is offered Spring Awards funding, and later receives other scholarship funding of $16,000 or higher for the same period, the Spring Awards funding offer would normally be rescinded.
Exception:
- Some of the Spring Graduate Awards have very niche award descriptions (eligibility requirements). For example, the #6362 award ‘James and Setsuko Thurlow Scholarship in Peace and Disarmament Studies’. If a Spring Graduate Award receives a very low number of eligible applications, it may be awarded to a student who already has significant scholarship funding.
Individual Award Eligibility Criteria
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. To be eligible to receive funding, applicants must meet all the criteria for each award they apply for. Applicants will not be considered for an award if they do not clearly meet the criteria for the award.
Months of study
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, 2024 between 0 and 12 months of full-time graduate-level 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.
Note: Applicants for the Rick Hansen "Man in Motion" Fellowship can be in any month of Master's study.
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| Doctoral students |
Applicants must have completed, as of December 31, 2024:
- between 0 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 0 and 48 months of full-time doctoral 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.
Notes:
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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.
