Award Overview

• Award Category

  Admission Awards, Doctoral Awards, Government-Funded Awards, In-Course Awards, Indigenous Student Awards, International Awards

• Student Deadline

  Date set by graduate unit [Note: CIHR Application goes offline for applicants on Sept 30, 2025 11:59 PM]

• Application Dates

  Fall

• Graduate Unit Deadline

  Not for students: Oct 1, 2025 (CIHR and NSERC) ; Oct 8, 2025 (SSHRC)

• Value & Duration

  $40,000 per year for 36 months

• Level of Study

  Doctoral

• Required Legal Status

  Domestic / International

Purpose

The CGRS D is a scholarship in the Canada Research Training Awards Suite (CRTAS) 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). Scholarships are awarded through national competitions by these three granting agencies.

The CGRS D program supports and promotes research excellence in a wide variety of disciplines and broad fields of natural sciences and engineering, health 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.

Note: CGRS D replaced the former CGS doctoral, agency specific doctoral awards, and Vanier CGS

Eligibility

Please refer to the tri-agency CGRS D website for complete eligibility requirements.

The following is a brief summary with any changes noted as “new”. For complete program information and requirements, refer to the appropriate literature for CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC

Applicants must:

• be a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident of Canada, a Protected Person under subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada) as of the application deadline, or (new) an international student currently enrolled in a doctoral program of study at an eligible Canadian institution at the time of application*;
• (new) have completed no more than 36 months** of full-time equivalent study in the doctoral program (including direct entry), 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 they are requesting funding by December 31 of the calendar year of the application;
• submit a maximum of one scholarship (master’s or doctoral) or fellowship application per academic year to either CIHR, NSERC, or SSHRC (other exceptions may apply to CIHR internships). Should more than one application be submitted, the eligible application submitted first chronologically will be retained;
• have not already received a doctoral-level scholarship or fellowship from CIHR, NSERC, or SSHRC (does not apply to CIHR Fellowships);
• not hold a tenure or tenure-track (faculty) appointment or be on leave from such an appointment concurrently with a CGRS D award; and
• (new) have not exceeded the maximum of three (3) applications submitted to the CGRS D national competition. Beginning with the fall 2025 competition, applicants will be limited to three CGRS D applications in total; only those received at the national level will count towards the maximum.

*The tri-agency will cap awards to international applicants at 15% maximum per agency.

**SSHRC applicants who have completed more than 36 months are no longer eligible.

 Number of months

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

Note: 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.

Undergraduate students applying to a direct entry doctoral program (i.e., never enrolled in a master’s program) are encouraged to apply for a CGRS M to hold in their first year in order to maximize their potential period of funding.

Fast-track and joint programs:

• Fast-track programs: For applicants who transfer from a master’s to a doctoral program (fast-track), the months of study completed are calculated starting from the date an applicant transferred into and registered in the doctoral program. Note: if the successful transfer exam occurs after the beginning of the session, and doctoral registration is applied retroactively to the beginning of the session, the months of study completed are calculated starting from the doctoral registration date (i.e., beginning of the session).
• Joint programs: For applicants registered in a joint program where a master’s degree is earned (e.g., MA/PhD, MSc/PhD), the months of study are calculated starting from the date of official registration in either portion of the joint program (including the master’s portion of the program).
• Joint professional undergraduate/PhD programs: For applicants who are registered 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.

Subject Matter Eligibility

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

 NSERC applicants are strongly encouraged to consult the Addendum to the guidelines for the eligibility of applications related to health, which has additional information and specific examples relating to subject matter eligibility. NSERC applicants whose subject matter has an overlap or future application to health (in particular drug discovery, disease diagnosis, treatment/prevention, testing of medical devices, collaboration with pharmaceutical companies, disease population, therapy or health systems), should email NSERC with a one page summary of their research proposal well in advance of submitting an application to seek clarification or a ruling. NSERC typically responds to these types of inquiries within 3-4 business days.

NSERC applicants working in research areas where boundaries overlap or are interdisciplinary are strongly advised to complete the Justification for eligibility of proposed research attachment. This optional attachment provides applicants with the opportunity to explain in plain language why they have chosen to apply to NSERC as opposed to one of the other federal granting agencies (CIHR or SSHRC). Applicants must describe the natural sciences or engineering (NSE) research challenges of the project on which they propose to work during the tenure of their scholarship and explain why their proposed research is predominantly NSE and should be considered eligible under NSERC’s mandate. This document should be approximately a quarter to a half of a page. It is used only by NSERC staff to determine eligibility of subject matter and is not seen or evaluated by the review committee.

Application Process

Students registered in a U of T degree program at any time between January 1- December 31 in the year of application, or on an approved leave of absence must complete the appropriate agency’s online application form and submit through their current or proposed graduate program at the University of Toronto. Applicants are to contact the unit’s graduate administrator directly regarding the submission deadline and process.

NOTE: Agency-specific award competitions (SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, NSERC PGS D) have been discontinued.

Applicants must access the online application through the respective granting agency’s portal:

• CIHR CGRS D: ResearchNet; see CIHR instructions.
• NSERC CGRS D: NSERC Online System; see NSERC instructions.
• SSHRC CGRS D: SSHRC Online System; see SSHRC instructions.

Applicants are encouraged to email their graduate unit with a screenshot of their application status after they have submitted, to ensure that their unit is aware of their submission.

Transcripts

The inclusion and completeness of up-to-date transcripts are essential for the tri-agency to determine eligibility/confirm current registration and is an integral part of the evaluation material reviewed by the selection committees. As such, in addition to the most up-to-date transcripts for all previous degree programs/courses (complete or incomplete), applicants must include their transcript for their current degree program dated in the fall session of the year of application (i.e., September 2025) even when no grades are available. Applicants should make sure that any older transcripts are indeed the most up-to-date version and no changes have occurred since the date of issue. It is applicants’ responsibility to ensure that transcripts are complete and legible once uploaded.

Encryption must be removed from official e-transcripts before they can be uploaded or combined with other transcript files. Students may use their internet browser (e.g., Firefox, Chrome) to “print to PDF” in order to remove the encryption. Transcripts with watermarks (e.g. “copy”) resulting from encryption removal are still acceptable for tri-agency competitions.

While applications containing unofficial transcripts will be accepted, SGS strongly recommends that applicants submit official transcripts whenever possible as reviewers will find them easier to read, and their authenticity will not be questioned. At minimum, unofficial transcripts must state the names of both the applicant and issuing institution. Applicants should note that submission of an application will continue to serve as a formal attestation that they provided true, complete, accurate information in the application and its related documents. The tri-agency may contact administrative staff at applicants’ institutions or applicants directly in order to verify that the contents of the submitted transcripts are true, complete and accurate.

Indigenous applicants

The three agencies have implemented measures to support Indigenous research and First Nations, Inuit and Métis graduate students. Canadian Indigenous doctoral applicants are encouraged to self-identify and provide consent within the application form to share this information with their institutions and the tri-agency, as universities are permitted to recommend an unlimited number of self-identified Indigenous applicants above their application quota to the national competition. Self-identification data are not seen or used by tri-agency selection committee members or by the applicant’s references.

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. For more information, consult the Frequently asked questions about the new Black scholars funding.

Selection Process

At the University of Toronto, CGRS doctoral applications are first received by the graduate unit (department) where the student is registered or as indicated on the application. The graduate unit staff review the applications for eligibility and all eligible applications may be then adjudicated by the graduate unit’s awards committee comprised of graduate faculty members from the graduate unit. Each application is reviewed and scored as per the selection criteria set out by the tri-agency. Graduate units may be given quotas by their Faculty Graduate Dean’s office or the School of Graduate Studies (SGS), within which they nominate their top ranked candidates to SGS for central adjudication.

SGS receives applications from all eligible graduate units for each of its three centrally adjudicated competitions (one per research area): health sciences (CIHR), natural science & engineering (NSERC), and social sciences & humanities (SSHRC). Each application is reviewed and scored by three faculty members on the SGS Awards Committee. This Committee is comprised of graduate faculty administrators (Graduate Associate Chairs/Coordinators) and graduate appointed faculty from departments in all disciplines.​ No member shall review or score an application submitted by their own home department or where there is a conflict of interest. Members use the selection criteria set out by the tri-agency to determine and submit scores for all applications assigned. SGS collects and tallies the scores. Members then participate in an in-person/virtual review meeting where scores are discussed and final rankings are determined and confirmed. The top ranking applications within the university’s quota are forwarded to each of the tri-agency for the national competition.

Results

Graduate units will inform their internal applicants of the unit/departmental competition results. The SGS Graduate Awards Office will notify those who were forwarded to SGS of the University competition results in late November. The results of the national competition will be communicated directly by the tri-agency in April 2026.

Additional Info

Fall 2025 SGS Information Session for Students

To access the videos, enter your utoronto email address when prompted to sign-in, then login using UTORid credentials.

CIHR Doctoral Info Session video recording of live session / CIHR Doc Slides

NSERC Doctoral Info Session video recording of live session / NSERC Doc Slides

SSHRC Doctoral Info Session video recording of live session / SSHRC Doc Slides

NSERC Videos for Doctoral & Postdoctoral Awards: available on YouTube

2021 BME Podcast with NSERC CGS D awardee Joseph Sebastian on how to write a successful NSERC doctoral application. Joseph was ranked 1st in his committee at NSERC’s national competition. He also was successful in the Vanier competition that same year.

NSERC is hosting the following information sessions for the doctoral and postdoctoral programs:

Wednesday, September 3, 2025 (in French)

1 pm to 3 pm (ET)

Link: Click here to join the session

Friday, September 5, 2025 (in English)

10 am to 12 pm (ET)

Link: Click here to join the session

Monday, September 8, 2025 (in English)

10 am to 12 pm (ET)

Link: Click here to join the session

Wednesday, September 10, 2025 (in English)

1 pm to 3 pm (ET)

Link: Click here to join the session

Award Holder Information

Accepting and Activating Payment

Verify that you meet the terms and conditions to hold your federal award and understand the responsibilities of award holders as described in the Tri-Agency Research Training Award Holder’s Guide. Follow the acceptance and payment activation procedures as outlined below under the respective granting agency.

Start date: Students who are currently registered in the doctoral program for which the award has been granted should start the award at the earliest possible start date – i.e., May 1^st or September 1^st if not currently holding another major award from the previous award year (e.g., OGS, CGRS M). For May starters, please contact your graduate department for advice, as a May start date may impact current departmental funding or current scholarships held for the same period. Students who are not currently registered should start the award upon first registration in the program (i.e., September 1^st or January 1^st).

Please contact the respective granting agency directly by email to request and receive approval for any change to your start date.

Review the SGS Payment Policy

Review the SGS Payment Policy posted on the SGS website for detailed information on how award payments are made, when the payments are made, and the method of the payments.

Federal awards are paid in equal instalments at the beginning of each academic session. If you choose to “Register Without Payment” in September, your winter and summer instalments will go to pay down your ACORN account fees balance first. Be sure to review and understand the Register Without Payment terms and conditions posted on the SGS website before you choose this option. Be sure to set up direct deposit and a current mailing address on ACORN so that payments arrive as timely as possible.

CIHR Doctoral Awards

Successful CIHR doctoral award applicants who indicated U of T as their “institution paid” will activate their award through their graduate department and the Graduate Awards Office. The following steps must be completed to activate payment:

1. Download your “Response to an Offer of Award” form from ResearchNet. The “Institution Signature at Primary Location of Research” should be provided by your department’s Graduate Coordinator or Graduate Administrator. A “Dean or Research Director Signature” is not required for this award. Submit the form to CIHR by email and CC janine.harper@utoronto.ca. This step should be completed as soon as possible regardless of your proposed start date, as CIHR requires that you submit the form to them within 15 business days of it becoming available to you online.
2. Two months before your proposed award start date, a “Confirmation of Commencement” form will appear on ResearchNet. Complete the form with all required signatures, then submit the form to CIHR by email and CC janine.harper@utoronto.ca.
3. After all required documents have been submitted to CIHR, an Authorization for Funding (AFF) document will be issued to you and the University, confirming that funding is being released. Forward the AFF to janine.harper@utoronto.ca.
4. If you have requested and received approval from CIHR for a change in start date, please also forward a copy of CIHR’s approval to janine.harper@utoronto.ca.

May starters, please note: It may take CIHR up to four weeks to release the AFF after receiving all the necessary documents from you. Therefore, your first instalment will likely be issued after May but will be retroactively dated to May 1^st.

The method of payment and schedule for payments are described on the SGS How to Activate & Maintain Your Award webpage.

NSERC Doctoral Awards

To accept the award, email schol@nserc-crsng.gc.ca of your decision within three weeks of your award notification.

Payment of an NSERC doctoral can only be requested starting no earlier than six weeks in advance of the start of the award (see table below). To arrange for payment of an NSERC doctoral award:

1. Download the Request for First Instalment or Reinstatement of Award Paid by Canadian Institution form.
2. Enter the information required based on the information you received in your award offer letter (list UofT as institution).
3. Obtain all required signatures: Part 4 from “an awards administration officer at the host institution” should be signed by the Graduate Coordinator/ Director/ Administrator from your U of T graduate unit/department.
4. Upload the completed Request for First Instalment Form to NSERC’s form and supporting documentation submission site AND the SGS Graduate Awards NSERC doc submission site (available in late April), starting no earlier than six weeks in advance of the start of the award (see table below). This will ensure your award funds are issued to U of T for payment.
5. If you have requested and received approval from NSERC for a change in start date, please also include it with your Request for First Instalment Form.

Funds can only be issued once NSERC/SSHRC has processed the form and transferred funds to the University which usually takes six weeks.

The method of payment and schedule for payments are described on the SGS How to Activate & Maintain Your Award webpage.

SSHRC Doctoral Awards

To accept the award, email fellowships@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca of your decision within three weeks of your award notification.

Payment of a SSHRC doctoral award can only be requested starting no earlier than six weeks in advance of the start of the award (see table above). To arrange for payment of an SSHRC doctoral award:

1. 1. Download the Request for First Instalment or Reinstatement of Award Paid by Canadian Institution form.
   2. Enter the information required based on the information you received in your award offer letter (list UofT as institution).
   3. Obtain all required signatures: Part 4 from “an awards administration officer at the host institution” should be signed by the Graduate Coordinator/ Director/ Administrator from your U of T graduate unit/department.
   4. Upload the completed Request for First Instalment Form to SSHRC’s form and supporting documentation submission site AND the SGS Graduate Awards SSHRC doc submission site (available in late April), starting no earlier than six weeks in advance of the start of the award (see table above). This will ensure your award funds are issued to U of T for payment.
   5. If you have requested and received approval from SSHRC for a change in start date, please also include it with your Request for First Instalment Form.

Funds can only be issued once SSHRC has processed the form and transferred funds to the University which usually takes six weeks.

Payment method and schedule is described on the SGS How to Activate & Maintain Your Award webpage.

Progress Reports (to initiate the subsequent year(s) of funding)​

According to the reporting requirements as outlined in the Tri-Agency Research Training Award Holder’s Guide, NSERC and SSHRC doctoral award holders with multi-year awards must renew their award annually by completing the Annual Progress Report for NSERC/SSHRC Award Holders form on the online SGS Forms Tool system. The granting agencies may cancel any award if the award holder fails to demonstrate satisfactory progress. The completed form is due to your graduate administrator at least one month before the annual start date of your award (see table below).

A copy of the report should be kept by the graduate unit in the student’s academic file.

*Late progress reports will be accepted; however, payment is not guaranteed by the above dates for late submissions.

Requests for Interruptions

Students who are planning to take a leave of absence from their studies are required to request an interruption of their federal award. Submit a completed Request for Deferment of Start Date or Interruption of Award form along with the SGS Leave of Absence form, signed by you and your supervisor, to your graduate dept/unit administrator for approval and institutional signature. The completed Tri-Agency Interruption form must then be submitted to the appropriate SGS Graduate Awards Officer (see contacts below) for processing and notifying the granting agencies.

Paid Parental Leaves

Federal award holders may interrupt their award for a period of up to 12 months for paid parental leave. The period of paid leave is in addition to the duration of the award and must coincide with the student’s registration on ACORN. For additional information, review the Tri-Agency Research Training Award Holder’s Guide.

Early completions

For awards terminated due to degree completion, the end date of the award will become the end date of the academic term in which the degree requirements are completed. If the degree requirements are completed in the same academic term as the end date of the award, then the end date of the award will not change.

Award holders remain eligible up to the completion of degree requirements whether or not they are registered for the academic term in which the degree requirements are completed. However, those who withdraw part away through a session may be required to repay funds already received depending on the sessional registration.

Contacts & Resources

For more information, visit the Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Doctoral Program website (housed on the NSERC website), and/or contact the appropriate Awards Officer at the SGS Graduate Awards Office: