Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (Vanier CGS) Program 2019 for Doctoral Study in Canada

Deadline: October 31, 2018

The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (Vanier CGS) Program 2019 is now open for applications. The Vanier CGS program aims to attract and retain world-class doctoral students by supporting students who demonstrate both leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies in the social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and/or engineering and health.

The Vanier CGS program helps Canadian institutions attract highly qualified doctoral students. Up to 166 scholarships are awarded annually.

The Government of Canada launched the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships (Vanier CGS) program in 2008 to strengthen Canada’s ability to attract and retain world-class doctoral students and establish Canada as a global centre of excellence in research and higher learning. Vanier Scholars demonstrate leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies in the social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and/or engineering and health.

Areas of research:

• Health research
• Natural sciences and/or engineering research
• Social sciences and humanities research

Scholarship Value

$50,000 per year for 3 years (non-renewable)

Eligibility

Open to Canadian citizens, Permanent residents of Canada and Foreign citizens

To be considered for a Vanier CGS, you must:

• be nominated by only one Canadian institution, which must have received a Vanier CGS quota;
• be pursuing your first doctoral degree (including joint undergraduate/graduate research program such as: MD/PhD, DVM/PhD, JD/PhD – if it has a demonstrated and significant research component). Note that only the PhD portion of a combined degree is eligible for funding;
• intend to pursue, in the summer semester or the academic year following the announcement of results, full-time doctoral (or a joint graduate program such as: MD/PhD, DVM/PhD, JD/PhD) studies and research at the nominating institution; Note that only the PhD portion of a combined degree is eligible for funding;
• not have completed more than 20 months of doctoral studies as of May 1, 2019
• have achieved a first-class average, as determined by your institution, in each of the last two years of full-time study or equivalent. Candidates are encouraged to contact the institution for its definition of a first-class average; and
• must not hold, or have held, a doctoral-level scholarship or fellowship from CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC to undertake or complete a doctoral degree.

Eligible Degree Programs

• Doctoral awards are tenable only in degree programs that have a significant research component. The research component must be a requirement for completion of the program, and is considered to be significant original, autonomous research that leads to the completion of a dissertation, major scholarly publication, performance, recital and/or exhibit that is merit reviewed at the institutional level. Clinically-oriented programs of study, including clinical psychology, are also eligible programs if they have a significant research component, as described above.

Note: ResearchNet will only allow the creation of one application per applicant. Applicants should only seek a nomination from the institution at which they want to study and are advised to discuss their decision with the nominating institution before they submit the application through ResearchNet.

Selection criteria

• Academic Excellence
• Research Potential
• Leadership

Nomination

• Candidates must be nominated by the institution at which they want to study. Candidates cannot apply directly to the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships (Vanier CGS) program.
• Candidates should verify institutional internal deadlines with the administrator at the nominating institution.
• Candidates should read the Selection Committee Guide prior to commencing their application. This guide lists the three evaluation criteria and has useful information on how the criteria are evaluated.
• The Secretariat has curated a list of resources to help applicants, institutions, referees, and evaluators consider equity, diversity, and inclusion in their application. Applicants are encouraged to review the resources before they begin writing their application.
• To be considered eligible for funding, candidates must attain an average score of at least 3.1 in each of the three criteria.

How to be nominated

1. Applications are initiated in one of two ways. Either:
   1. the student informs the faculty of graduate studies at the selected institution of their intent to apply to the Vanier CGS program; or
   2. the institution initiates the nomination process by contacting the desired candidate.
2. Applications are prepared by the student and submitted to the nominating institution by their internal deadline (set in ResearchNet by the nominating institution) using the ResearchNet application system.
3. The nominating institution performs the internal candidate selection process.
4. The nominating institution forwards recommended nominations to the Vanier-Banting Secretariat (the Secretariat) by October 31, 2018 (20:00 Eastern Time).
5. The Secretariat coordinates the review process.
6. The Secretariat presents the recommendations to the Tri-Agency Programs (TAP) Steering Committee.
7. The TAP Steering Committee endorses and approves final decisions for the Vanier CGS program.
8. Nominated candidates are notified of the competition results in April 2019.

For more information, visit Vanier CGS Program.