Alberta Innovates funding is available to successful applicants as full scholarships. Tri Council Scholarships (NSERC/CIHR and Vanier), China Scholarship Council and other external peer-reviewed award holders who win an Alberta Innovates GSS will receive a top-up for the duration of their eligibility, and this top up value may increase to the full scholarship value when the external funding ends, for the remainder of the Alberta Innovates scholarship terms, if applicable.

Master's full value: $26,000
PhD full value: $31,000
Top-up value: $12,000

Scholarship terms vary from one to four years, depending on the circumstances of the applicant.

Eligible applicant requirements:

• A minimum of 3.5 GPA is an eligibility requirement for all applicants. The GPA will be calculated based on the current graduate program graded course work at the University of Alberta, or, if a student is newly admitted, AGPA will be used to determine eligibility.
• Students applying for a master's level Alberta Innovates GSS must have been admitted to their master's program no earlier than Spring 2017.
• Students applying for a doctoral level Alberta Innovates GSS must have been admitted to their doctoral program no earlier than Spring 2015. Please note that in case when you transfer from a master's to a PhD program, the time spent in your master's program counts towards the time spend in your PhD.
• Students cannot receive more than a total of four years of combined Master’s/doctoral Alberta Innovates Graduate Student Scholarship funding.
• There are no citizenship restrictions on this award.
• Your study and research must fall into the categories funded by Alberta Innovates: ICT, Nano and Omics.
• If you are not yet registered in a graduate program at UAlberta, your eligibility to apply for the Alberta Innovates GSS is contingent upon meeting all eligibility requirements for admission to a UAlberta graduate program. You should contact your prospective department for information on those requirements and must apply for this competition through that department.
• Each candidate must be sponsored by a faculty supervisor, possessing both a record of productive research within an Alberta Innovates-funded research area (ICT, Nano, Omics) and sufficient resources to ensure the satisfactory conduct of the research.

 

Additional details can be found in the 2018 Alberta Innovates GSS Program Guidelines and Handbook.

The following categories of students are not eligible to apply:

• Students who have previously accepted support from Alberta Ingenuity or iCORE in a doctoral program.
• Students who accept support from Alberta Innovates Graduate Studentship (Health), cannot receive simultaneous support from the Alberta Innovates Graduate Student Scholarship program.
• Students who accept support from NSERC’s Industrial Postgraduate Scholarships (IPS) program cannot receive simultaneous support from the Alberta Innovates Graduate Student Scholarship program.

Consult your department regarding their application process and internal deadline.

Applications sent directly to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research (FGSR) by the applicant and/or applications received without a University of Alberta ID# will not be considered.

Application

Complete application package contains: 

1. Alberta Innovates Graduate Student Scholarship Application form - ensure that both you and your supervisor have signed the application

2. Two Letters of Reference: A Letter of Reference to Support Application for Graduate Awards Form must be completed and signed by each applicant’s referee. Confidential letter of reference may accompany the standard letter of reference form, but may not replace such. Departments are asked to ensure the letters of reference are in sealed envelopes if submitted by the applicant, or sent directly to the department if submitted by the referee. This particular form is mandatory.

3. Copies of transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended.

• Incoming students: All transcripts of university degree programs submitted as part of the admission application are accessible to FGSR. No additional transcripts are required.
• Current U of A students: Up-to-date official U of A transcripts are the only transcripts FGSR requires.
• Foreign Transcripts: If FGSR does not have a certified English translation of your transcript on file, one must be submitted with the application. If unsure, please contact us, grad.awards@ualberta.ca, to confirm whether or not we have an English translation of your transcript.

For Departments only:

Please see the 2018 Alberta Innovates GSS Competition Memo for additional information.

Please use the FGSR Department Nominee Ranking Form to rank your applicants.

Note: For this competition be sure to rank your PhD and master's applicants separately. Please also rank all applicants, including those who hold a Tri-Council Scholarship (NSERC/CIHR and Vanier), China Scholarship Council or other external peer-reviewed award.

FGSR will review all applications for eligibility and completeness and forward them to the Graduate Scholarship Committee (GSC) for adjudication. The GSC will evaluate the applicants based on excellence and strategic alignment in Platform Areas of scientific research important to Alberta. These Areas are: Information and Communications Technology (ICT), Nanotechnology and Omics; (Omics consists of: Genomics, Proteomics, Metabolomics, Transcriptomics and Regulomics) in and of themselves or which additionally support the innovation priority areas of Environment & Climate, Energy, Food & Agriculture, Fibre/Bioindustrial and Health.

Applications must be delivered to your department by their internal deadline date.

Deadline for departments to submit their ranked applications to FGSR is Friday, October 12, 2018 by 4:00 pm.

Application Outcome

• Candidates whose applications are forwarded to FGSR by the departments will be notified of the adjudication outcome by FGSR via the e-mail address provided on their application.
• Departments will also be notified of the adjudication outcome by FGSR.

Important Notes

If you receive a master's level Alberta Innovates GSS and then switch into a doctoral program, conversion of your funding to the PhD level is not guaranteed.

If you were awarded a multi-year renewal Alberta Innovates Graduate Student Scholarship:
• Ensure that you are full-time registered in the renewal year
• Ensure that you maintained a GPA of 3.5 or higher in the past year
• Submit a renewal form to FGSR 6 weeks in advance of your funding ending.

Students who have been awarded an Alberta Innovates Graduate Student Scholarship need to complete final reports.
For more information, complete eligibility and binding rules for holding Alberta Innovates GSS, please see the 2018 Alberta Innovates GSS Program Guidelines and Handbook.