The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships (Vanier CGS) program is designed to attract and retain world-class doctoral students by offering them a significant financial award to assist them during their studies at Canadian universities. Vanier Scholars demonstrate leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in the social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and engineering, and health-related fields. Canadian and international students are eligible to be nominated for a Vanier Scholarship, which is valued at $50,000 per year for three years.  The Vanier CGS program reaffirms Canada as a global centre of excellence in research and education.

The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships program honours distinguished Canadian soldier and diplomat Major-General the Right Honourable Georges Philias Vanier (1888-1967), who served as governor general of Canada from 1959 to 1967.

Awards:

A Vanier CGS is valued at $50,000 per year for three years.  Award recipients must take up their award in the first semester (May or September) following the announcement of results if they:

• have already undertaken their doctoral program of study at the Canadian nominating university; or
• have already undertaken a doctoral program of study at a Canadian university and will be transferring to a doctoral program at the Canadian nominating university.

Award recipients can take their award up in May, September or January following the announcement of results if they:

• have not yet started a doctoral program of study; or
• will transfer from a doctoral program at an international university to a doctoral program at the Canadian nominating university.
  

Eligibility:

To be considered for a Vanier CGS, you must:

• be nominated by only one Canadian university, which must have received a Vanier CGS allocation;
• be seeking financial support to pursue your first doctoral degree (or combined MA/PhD or MD/PhD);
• intend to pursue, in the summer semester or the academic year following the announcement of results, full-time doctoral (or combined MA/PhD or MD/PhD) studies and research at the nominating university;
• have completed no more than 20 months of doctoral studies as of May 1, 2011 (see Notes below);
• have achieved a first-class average, as determined by your university, in each of the last two years of full-time study or equivalent; and
• not have already received a doctoral-level scholarship or fellowship from SSHRC, NSERC or CIHR to undertake or complete a doctoral degree (or combined MA/PhD or MD/PhD).

Application Requirements:

• Applications are initiated in one of two ways. Either:
  1. the candidate informs the faculty of graduate studies at the selected university of their intent to apply to the Vanier CGS competition; or
  2. the university initiates the nomination process by contacting the candidate.
• Applications are prepared and submitted using the ResearchNet application system.
• The nominating university sets its internal deadline.
• The nominating university performs its internal candidate-selection process.
• The nominating university forwards recommended nominations to the appropriate granting agencies by October 20, 2010.
• The granting agencies perform their peer review process.
• The granting agencies forward their nominations to the Vanier Selection Board.
• The Vanier Selection Board recommends Vanier CGS scholars to the three granting agency presidents.
• Successful candidates are notified of the competition results in April 2011.

Deadlines:

Application Deadline:

Without exception, all nominations from Canadian universities must be submitted via ResearchNet and received by the federal research granting agencies by October 20, 2010. Late or incomplete nominations will not be considered.

Notification of decision:

The federal granting agencies will notify universities of the competition results by mail in early April 2011. The nominees will be notified via ResearchNet shortly after the university notification. The agencies will not provide results by telephone.

The names of Vanier CGS recipients and other basic award information will be published on the Vanier website. For more on the posting of, and access to, information, please refer to the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act.

Competition Timeline:

ResearchNet electronic application system activated: early August 2010

Deadline for candidates to submit their Vanier CGS application to their university: see university internal deadlines

University deadline for submitting nominations: October 20, 2010

Results communicated to nominating university and candidates: early April 2011

Please note:

It is very important to refer to the Vanier CGS website for specific and complete information regarding this scholarship.

 

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