The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (Vanier CGS) program helps Canadian institutions attract highly qualified doctoral students.
- Valued at $50,000 per year for three years during doctoral studies
- Considers three equally weighted selection criteria: Academic Excellence, Research Potential, and Leadership
Candidate eligibility
Citizenship
Canadian citizens, permanent residents of Canada and foreign citizens are eligible to be nominated for a Vanier CGS.
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.
Eligibility of 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.
Eligibility to hold a Vanier CGS
Without exception, the Vanier CGS is tenable only at the eligible Canadian institution that submitted the nomination.
To hold the Vanier CGS, the candidate must:
- be registered unconditionally as a full-time student at the nominating Canadian institution and be pursuing a doctoral degree (or combined MA/PhD, MSc/PhD, or MD/PhD); and
- not hold a faculty appointment concurrently with a Vanier Scholarship unless they arrange for a leave of absence from the appointment
- remain enrolled and demonstrate continued satisfactory progress in their doctoral program.
- not hold, or have held, a doctoral-level scholarship or fellowship from CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC to undertake or complete a doctoral degree.
- not be concurrently holding any other SSHRC, NSERC or CIHR training award (note: Michael Smith Foreign Studies Supplement excepted).
Part-time studies
A Vanier CGS may be held by students who are registered part-time because of a disability or family responsibilities. For this purpose, disability is defined as "a functional limitation resulting from a physical, sensory or mental impairment, which, for an indefinite period, affects the ability of the student to perform the activities necessary to participate fully in his or her learning" and family responsibilities is defined as "the primary responsibility for providing personal care to a dependent family member (e.g., pre-school children, infirm spouse or parent) which affects the ability of the student to perform the activities necessary to participate fully in his or her learning". For eligible part-time students, the Vanier CGS will be equivalent to full-time funding spread over a longer period of time.
Canadian federal government employees
Canadian federal government employees are eligible to hold a scholarship only if an unpaid leave of absence is taken (no salary or special allowances permitted).
Multiple applications
Eligible candidates may apply to both the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship program and other agency-specific doctoral-level scholarship/fellowships programs (whether to the same or a different federal granting agency) in the same academic year, provided that the research proposed in each application falls within the mandate of the federal granting agency to which the application is submitted. For more information, please refer to Identify area of research.
Note: since eligibility, evaluation criteria and competition deadlines are different; applications submitted to Vanier CGS are not considered in agency-specific doctoral award competitions. You must apply to each program individually.
Candidates who are successful in both competitions will have to choose which award to accept.
