The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships (Vanier CGS) Program

The Government of Canada launched the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships (Vanier CGS) program in 2008 to strengthen Canada’s ability to attract and retain world-class doctoral students and establish Canada as a global centre of excellence in research and higher learning. Vanier Scholars demonstrate leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies in the social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and/or engineering and health.

About The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships (Vanier CGS) Program

Named after Major-General Georges P. Vanier, the first francophone Governor General of Canada, the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (Vanier CGS) program helps Canadian institutions attract highly qualified doctoral students. Up to 166 scholarships are awarded annually and a total of up to 500 scholarships are active at any time.

Below are other information about the scholarships:

• Valued at $50,000 per year for three years during doctoral studies
• It is for 3 years (non-renewable) and distributed equally between the three federal granting agencies
• Considers three equally weighted selection criteria: Academic Excellence, Research Potential, and Leadership (potential and demonstrated ability)

The application portal will open on: June 30, 2022.

Eligibility Criteria

Before you submit your application, it is important that you confirm that you and your nominating institution meet all the criteria below:

Candidate eligibility

Canadian citizens, permanent residents of Canada and foreign citizens are eligible to receive nomination for a Vanier CGS.

Eligibility to apply for a Vanier CGS

To be eligible 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 program such as MD/PhD, DVM/PhD, or JD/PhD – if it has a demonstrated and significant research component);
• intend to pursue, in the summer semester or the academic year following the announcement of results, full-time doctoral (or a joint graduate research program such as MD/PhD, DVM/PhD, JD/PhD) studies and research at the nominating institution;
• have completed no more than 20 months of full-time study in your doctoral program as of May 1, 2023;
  • The doctoral program would begin after the completion of a Master’s degree. The months of study’s calculation will be from the doctoral enrolment date.
• have completed no more than 32 months of full-time study in your doctoral program (i.e., joint graduate research program, accelerated, previously enrolled without obtaining Master’s degree), by May 1, 2023 if:
  • enrolled in a joint graduate research program, e.g., MD/PhD, MA/PhD, DVM/PhD. Applicants in this category have access to the 32-month window whether or not they were previously enrolled in a Master’s program:
    • The months of study are calculated starting from the date on which an applicant is officially registered in the joint program (including the Master’s portion of the program).
  • enrolled directly from a Bachelor’s to a PhD (not previously enrolled in a Master’s program);
    • The months of study’s calculation will be from the doctoral enrolment date.
  • Previously enrolled in a Master’s program without obtaining the degree.
    • The months of study completed are calculated from the original Master’s enrolment date.
• 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 need 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 program.

Please note that only the PhD portion of a joint program is eligible for funding.

Eligibility of program of study

Below are the eligible programs

• An eligible doctoral program must include a significant research component that leads 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 requirement for a completion of the program.
• Joint graduate research programs with a professional degree (e.g., MD/PhD, DVM/PhD, JD/PhD) as well as clinically-oriented programs of study, including clinical psychology, are also eligible programs if they have a significant autonomous research component, as described above.

Number of months of doctoral studies

Regardless of disciplines, all prior doctoral-level studies that started in Canada or abroad, are considered in the evaluation of eligibility, and are considered to be continuous, full-time, and uninterrupted unless otherwise confirmed by the institution (including the summer months, unless on official leave). The Vanier-Banting Secretariat (the Secretariat) will count two months of part-time study as one month of full-time study.

Students who studied on a part-time basis must outline their part-time study in the Special Circumstances attachment. Your transcripts must reflect this information.

Nominating institution

The nominating institution must have received a Vanier CGS quota.

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^{Footnote 2} in a full-time doctoral program (or joint graduate research program MA/PhD, MSc/PhD, or MD/PhD) at the nominating Canadian institution; 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 from CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC to undertake or complete a doctoral program.
• not be concurrently holding any other SSHRC, NSERC or CIHR training award (note: Michael Smith Foreign Studies Supplement excepted).
• begin their award within 12 months of the earliest possible start date and start on May 1, September 1, or January 1 following the offer of award.

Part-time studies

If you are part-time students due to disability, parental or medical reasons, or even family responsibilities, you can hold a Vanier CGS. 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 they take an unpaid leave of absence with no salary or special allowances.

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, as long as the research proposal in each application falls within the mandate of the federal granting agency to which you are submitting your application. For more information, please refer to Identify area of research.

Note: since eligibility, evaluation criteria and competition deadlines are different, Vanier CGS will not consider applications 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.

Important Timelines

The table below shows important timelines

Nomination Process

Candidates must be nominated by a Canadian institution with a quota* to host Vanier scholars. Candidates should only seek a nomination from the institution at which they want to study.

*The term “quota” refers to the maximum number of nominations an institution can forward to the national competition.

For more information, visit how to receive nomination webpage.