Research Awards

Dean's Doctoral Student Award

These awards are valued at $12,500 per annum from the FoMD and $12,500 per annum from the supervisor, for a maximum of three years starting in January of every year. Applicants will be evaluated based on their academic record and research achievements. Successful applicants will be announced in mid-December with award payments commencing in January.

Student Eligibility:

Students registered full-time in a PhD program in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry.
Students transferring from a MSc program to a PhD program are eligible but must be registered in the PhD program for the term in which the funding is initiated.
Applicants must have a minimum GPA of 3.5 from the past two years (see application form for detailed instructions on appropriate calculation).
The maximum term of the award is three years. Applicants cannot hold the award beyond 5 years of enrollment in a PhD program. For students who transferred from an MSc to a PhD, the five year maximum includes the time enrolled as an MSc student. Eligibility will be extended for leaves of absence from the program.
Recipients of this award may not concurrently hold (i) any other major stipend award ($13,000 or greater), or (ii) other funding from the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry (e.g., 75th Anniversary Award, Motyl Graduate Studentship, Medical Sciences Graduate Program Scholarship).
If the recipient accepts another major award ($13,000 or greater) from any source, or other funding from the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, the DDA award must be surrendered, and the Office of Research in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry is to be notified by the student and/or supervisor.
Students who hold this award and receive a tri-council award must relinquish the remainder of the award, but will receive a one-time $5,000 research allowance to be used specifically for student research related expenses (e.g., travel, computers, software, etc.)
PhD applicants are eligible to hold this award during the first five years of their program i.e., the latest a PhD student can apply for this award is in their fourth year so that they can be funded in their fifth.

MD/PhD

MD/PhD students registered full-time (Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer terms) in their graduate portion of the program are eligible to apply for the awards.
MD/PhD students must continue to hold full-time graduation registration in their graduate portion during the term of payment of the award.
The Office of Research must be informed if the student no longer holds full-time graduate registration in their graduate portion so that award payments can be terminated.
MD/PhD students will need to submit a Confirmation of Eligibility form signed by the Director of the MD/PhD program.

Supervisor Eligibility:

The supervisor must have sufficient funding to support the student and the student’s research program for the duration of the award.
The supervisor should describe their source of funding for both stipend and research expenses in their reference letter.
By accepting the award, the supervisor agrees to provide matching funding for the duration of the award at a minimum level of $12,500 a year. Matching funding can take the form of other scholarships and/or GRAF funding provided through a supervisor's grant, though it does not have to be their tri-council/national foundation grant.

Submission Process

Deadline: Complete applications must be submitted no later than 11:59 p.m. of Tuesday, October 1, 2024.

Applicants must submit their complete application electronically as ONE PDF FILE to fmdgrd@ualberta.ca. A complete application includes:

A completed current application form with signatures. Please do not use previous application forms, as forms are updated on a regular basis.
All non-University of Alberta postsecondary transcripts. Transcripts do not need to be official, but must be complete and current. If transcripts are not in English or French, applicants must submit a translated version.
Current U of A transcripts, even if there are no grades.
Weighted Average Calculator (WAC) document. This is prepared by departmental Graduate Administrators based on the following guidelines: i) If the applicant is less than one year into their program, the WAC document that is required is the applicant's admission WAC. ii) if the applicant is between one and two years into their program, the Graduate Administrator will prepare a WAC document that averages the applicant's admission GPA and their current GPA in the graduate program. iii) if the applicant is over two years into their program, a WAC document is not required. In its place, applicants must submit a Campus Solutions printout, selecting the two most recent years in which courses were taken.
Two letters of reference, one of which must be from the supervisor, emailed directly to fmdgrd@ualberta.ca. The student should not be copied on this email.

NOTE: Extraneous materials such as: curriculum vitae, reprints, special academic standing certificates, professional licensure certificates, or other documentation are not required and will not be accepted.

Application Form

The same application form is used to apply for the 75th Anniversary Award, the FoMD Graduate Student Recruitment Studentship, the Dean's Doctoral Award, and the Violet Kilburn and Lawson endowed studentships. Submit the form ONCE and indicate on the application form all of the competitions you are applying to. Please ensure your eligibility for each of the competitions you check off on the form.

Application form

Award Adjudication

Applications are considered by an awards evaluation committee, chaired by the Associate Dean Research, Graduate Programs, in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry.