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, the 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. For students who transfer from a master's to a PhD program, the time spent in the master's program counts towards the time spent in the 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.
• Areas of study and research must fall into the categories funded by Alberta Innovates: ICT, Nanotechnology, or Omics.
• Each candidate must be sponsored by a faculty supervisor, possessing both a record of productive research within an Alberta Innovates-funded research area (ICT, Nanotechnology, Omics) and sufficient resources to ensure the satisfactory conduct of the research.
• For those 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. Applicants are to contact their prospective department for information on those requirements and must apply for this competition through that department.

Additional details can be found in the 2018 Alberta Innovates GSS Program Guidelines and Handbook. The 2019 Handbook with the updated Eligibility and Term of Scholarship Chart is forthcoming.

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.

Students must be nominated to FGSR by their home department; students cannot apply online in the GSMS Awards Portal at this time. Students are to consult with their department regarding their internal application process and deadline. Applications and accompanying documents sent directly to the FGSR by students will not be considered.

Students’ must submit the following documents to their Department for internal adjudication:

1. Alberta Innovates Graduate Student Scholarship Application form. The Application form must be completed in its entirety. Applications missing UAlberta ID#’s, and student and/or supervisor signatures will be deemed incomplete. FGSR will not follow up regarding applications that are incomplete.

2. Two Letters of Reference. The Letter of Reference to Support Application for Graduate Awards Form must be completed and signed by each applicant’s referee. Confidential letters of reference may accompany the standard letter of reference form, but may not replace such. Students may submit letters of reference in sealed envelopes to their Department. Alternatively, referees may send the confidential forms directly to the department.

3. Up-to date unofficial U of A transcript (may be printed from BearTracks), and copies of transcripts from all other post-secondary institutions attended. FGSR will not provide copies of transcripts; students are to contact their Department if copies are required.

For Departments only:

Refer to the 2019 Alberta Innovates GSS Competition Memo for complete details and instructions.

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.

Deadline for departments to submit nominations to FGSR through the GSMS Awards Portal is Friday, February 14, 2020.

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. The 2019 Handbook is forthcoming.