Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Doctoral (CGRS D), Postgraduate (PGS D)

The Canada Graduate Research Scholarship — Doctoral (CGRS D) (external link) (formally known as the Canada Graduate Scholarship Doctoral (CGS-D) program recognizes and supports the next generation of outstanding innovators, knowledge workers, creative thinkers and researchers. By providing support for a high-quality research training experience to awardees, the program strives to foster impacts within and beyond the research environment.

Description

The CGRS D is a scholarship in the Canada Research Training Awards Suite (CRTAS) (external link) administered by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). The CRTAS aims to support the next generation of innovators by providing funding and high-quality research training, cultivating research skills, fostering creativity, and empowering awardees to make significant contributions to Canada’s research ecosystem, economy and prosperity.

The CGRS D program supports and promotes research excellence in a wide variety of disciplines and broad fields of health, natural sciences and engineering, and social sciences and humanities, including interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research. This support allows scholars to concentrate on their doctoral studies more fully, to seek out the best research mentors in their chosen fields, and to contribute to the Canadian research ecosystem during and beyond the tenure of their awards. Doctoral scholarships are awarded through a selection process and administered by the three granting agencies.

Toronto Metropolitan University has an annual quota for NSERC, CIHR and SSHRC Doctoral awards

Value and duration

$40,000 per year for 36 months
Tenure: Eligible Canadian or International institutions

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply, you must have completed no more than 36 months of full-time equivalent study in the doctoral program, the PhD portion of the joint professional undergraduate/PhD program (such as MD/PhD, JD/PhD, DVM/PhD) or the joint program (such as MA/PhD, MSc/PhD, MBA/PhD) for which you are requesting funding by December 31 of the calendar year of your application if previously enrolled in a graduate program

Note: If you are eligible to apply to the Canada Graduate Research Scholarship—Master’s (external link) (CGRS M) program, you may be able to maximize your potential period of funding by applying to the CGRS M program for your first year of doctoral funding instead of the CGRS D program. You are responsible for choosing the award program to which you apply. See other restrictions below for more information.

Number of months

Eligibility for CGRS D is based on the number of months of full-time study, including summer months, you completed by December 31 of the calendar year of your application toward the degree for which you are requesting funding. Two terms of part-time study count as one term of full-time study.

The agencies count all studies toward the doctoral degree for which funding is requested, whether or not they were completed in the same program or at the same institution.

Fast-track programs: If you were enrolled in a master’s program and subsequently transferred to a doctoral program (fast-track), the months of study completed are calculated starting from the date on which you transferred into the doctoral program.
Joint programs: If you are enrolled in a joint program and will obtain a master’s degree as part of the program (for example, MA/PhD, MSc/PhD, MBA/PhD), the months of study are calculated starting from the date on which you officially enrolled in either portion of the joint program (including the master’s portion of the program).
Joint professional undergraduate/PhD programs: If you are enrolled in a joint professional undergraduate/PhD program (such as MD/PhD, JD/PhD, DVM/PhD), only the months of study in the PhD portion will be counted.

International applicants

If you are not a Canadian citizen, permanent resident of Canada, or a protected person under subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada), you must be enrolled in your doctoral program of study at an eligible Canadian institution at the time of application. Up to 15% of awards will be allotted to international applicants.

Proposed locations of tenure

You may take up your CGRS D at any eligible Canadian degree-granting institution. To be eligible to hold your award at an international degree-granting institution, you must:

be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident of Canada, or protected person under subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada) as of the application deadline; and
have completed at least one previous undergraduate or graduate degree at a Canadian institution.

Up to 20% of all doctoral awards will be eligible to be held abroad.

Other restrictions

You can submit a maximum of one scholarship or fellowship application per academic year to either CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC. If you submit more than one application, only the eligible application submitted first will be retained.
You can apply a maximum of three times to this funding opportunity
You cannot have already received a doctoral-level scholarship from CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC.

You cannot hold a tenure or tenure-track appointment or be on leave from such an appointment concurrently with your CGRS D award (some exceptions apply; see the Tri-agency research training award holder’s guide (external link) for details).

Program of study

An eligible doctoral program must be predominantly research oriented, leading 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 completing the program.

Joint programs with a professional degree (for example, MD/PhD, DVM/PhD, JD/PhD, MBA/PhD), as well as clinically oriented programs of study, including clinical psychology, are eligible if they have a significant autonomous research component as described above.

Deadlines

Deadline: October 4th (annually)

If the deadline falls on a weekend, then applications must be received by 11:59PM the next business day.

As the application deadline approaches, the high volume of users accessing the online application systems may cause delays that prevent you from submitting your application on time. It is your responsibility to strictly follow the instructions for completing an application by the deadline. Late applications will not be accepted.

Application procedures

Selecting the appropriate agency

Apply to the agency best aligned with your research subject matter to ensure your application will be reviewed by experts in disciplines closest to your field(s) of study. For more information, see Selecting the Appropriate Federal Granting Agency (external link) .

If you are applying to CIHR, consider the information on CIHR’s website (external link) .

If you are applying to NSERC, see the Addendum to the guidelines for the eligibility of applications related to health (external link) , which has additional information and specific examples relating to subject matter.

If you are applying to SSHRC, see the information on SSHRC's Subject Matter Eligibility (external link) webpage.

If you are still unsure after consulting these resources, contact the relevant agencies.

It is your responsibility to select the funding agency that best suits your application. Applications submitted to the incorrect agency may be removed from the competition.

Application process

CIHR: ResearchNET (external link) and instructions (external link)
NSERC: Online system (external link) and instructions (external link)
SSHRC: Registration and login (external link) and instructions (external link)

Where to submit an application

You must apply either through a Canadian institution or directly to the appropriate agency, depending on your registration status on the application deadline date and/or your registration status during the calendar year of application. Where you intend to hold the award has no impact on the channel through which you must apply. If you fail to submit your application through the correct channel, your application will not be considered.

To determine the correct channel:

determine your registration status for the calendar year of application
determine if that institution has a quota (external link) for your selected agency
refer to link below

(PDF file) Where to submit an application

If you are unsure of your registration status in the calendar year of application, contact your faculty of graduate studies (or its equivalent).

Transcripts

We will only accept and review official domestic transcripts only. For international transcripts, please contact your Graduate Program Director.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)

Equity, diversity and inclusion

The three agencies are acting on evidence that achieving a more equitable, diverse and inclusive Canadian research enterprise is essential to creating the excellent, innovative and impactful research necessary to advance knowledge and understanding, and to respond to local, national and global challenges. This principle informs the commitments described in the Tri-Agency Statement on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) (external link) , and is aligned with the objectives of the Tri-Agency EDI Action Plan (external link) .

Self-identification data and consent provided with applications may be used to determine eligibility for additional awards or priority funding opportunities designated for specific underrepresented groups.

Indigenous student researchers and Indigenous research

The three agencies have implemented measures to support Indigenous research and First Nations, Inuit and Métis graduate students.

These measures include:

an opportunity for self-identified Canadian Indigenous doctoral applicants to have their application considered for submission beyond their institution’s quota—self-identified Indigenous student researchers must agree to their personal information being used for this purpose by making the appropriate selection in the application form;
a checkbox in the application form to identify a proposed program of study as Indigenous research, such that the Guidelines for the Merit Review of Indigenous Research (external link) will apply (CIHR and SSHRC only);
instructions for members of the doctoral review committees to take into account special circumstances that may have had an impact on the academic or career paths of Indigenous applicants; and
concerted efforts by the three agencies to include Indigenous members and experts in Indigenous research on review committees.

Black student researchers

The Government of Canada has provided additional funds to increase direct support for Black student researchers. CGRS D applicants who self-identify as Black and provide consent to be considered for funds designated for specific groups may be selected to receive this funding. Each agency has up to 10 additional CGRS D awards reserved for Black student researchers.