Awards and Funding

Guaranteed Funding

The Department of Sociology provides competitive funding packages to all full-time thesis-based graduate students in the department. Our funding approach – which includes employment, scholarships, and travel awards – is designed to support both the scholarly and the professional development of each graduate student. Funding for students in the course-based program is allocated per term contingent upon availability.

Awards + Scholarships

The Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research administers and adjudicates a great variety of scholarships and fellowships.

Some of the awards administered through GPS during the year that students should be aware of are:

  • Graduate Recruitment Scholarships (GRS): Newly admitted students are automatically considered for these scholarships by the department. Nominees will be contacted by the graduate office.
  • Graduate Entrance Scholarships: These are highly competitive, and highly valued, scholarships for incoming students that require departmental nomination. Nominated incoming students will be contacted by the department for required documents.
  • Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship (AGES): These provincial merit scholarships are available to domestic and international students at the MA and PhD level. The department will typically announce competition information to all students in October of the Fall term.
  • Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship: The Killam scholarships are some of the most prestigious available to doctoral students (years 2-4).

The department typically announces details of the nomination process in December of the Fall term.

  • Andrew Stewart Memorial Graduate Prize: This is an annual competition that focuses on mid-degree PhD students who have demonstrated research excellence. The department typically announces details of the nomination process in January.
  • SSHRC CGRS-M + CGRS-D: Each year, all eligible Master's and PhD students in Sociology are expected to apply for Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council scholarships; students receive support for their applications through proposal workshops offered each fall. These do not require department nomination.

Note: Doctoral and MA students who are successful at winning a major scholarship from SSHRC or the Trudeau Foundation are eligible for select top-up awards from the Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies (GPS).

Loans and bursaries can be accessed through the Student Service Centre.