Scholarships, Grants and Awards

Deadlines and Procedures

Most awards and scholarships open to students are administered through SFU using the Graduate Awards Application Adjudication System (GA3). Students should set up their GA3 profile early to simplify their application process when an award is opened to applications. Awards administered by the award-granting agency are not processed through GA3 and students apply directly to the agency. See the Terms of Reference for each award to see the specific details about the application process. It is the students responsibility to ensure that all documents arrive on time at the department. Incomplete applications cannot be considered.

The Graduate Studies provides a comprehensive guide to awards availble to gradaute students.   

Graduate Fellowships
The Graduate Fellowship (GF) is a one-term award normally valued at $7,000 and students must have a GPA of 3.5 or higher to be eligible. REM awards its GFs by nomination. Students cannot apply directly.

The majority of the Graduate Fellowships in REM are awarded to new students of the fall cohort. The Graduate Studies Committee considers all eligible students each semester and makes recommendations based on availability of awards, previous financial support through the department, and academic accomplishments. Students who do not qualify for a GF on entrance may be considered and nominated by the department once their GPA reaches the 3.5 minimum. GF funding can not be guaranteed and depends on available funds.

Donor Awards
Private awards funded by donors are open to applications in the spring (usually May) and dependant on funds available from the previous year (growth in the investment account). For awards that REM students are eligible to apply for, see the list on the GPS website. Awards applications are assessed over the summer with payments to student accounts in the fall term.

Tips for applicants:

• review the terms of reference for each award well in advance of applications opening. Determine which awards you might be eligible for and review the application requirements. Christmas break is not too soon for this step.
• where a letter of recommendation from a referee will be required, be sure to notify your referee well in advance. They will have to submit into the system, so once applications open, student need to fill in their application, and then the referee will be notified to upload their letter. Do not expect your referee to respond to an email request that arrives 24 hrs before deadline. The more notice they have for this, the better. You can alert them to the request before applications open to ensure they have time to draft a nice letter for you.
• Ensure you click all the buttons you need to click and review your application after you think you are done. There are sometimes failures in the system that result in an incomplete application or a missed deadline. Contact your GPA before the application deadline if you are not confident that your application is complete.
  

Travel and Research Awards (TARA)
REM offers two rounds of TARA funding per budget year. The first round is open to applications in the fall (usually 3 weeks towards the end of October) for payment in the spring term and again in the spring (usually in February) for payment in the summer term. Applicants are asked to request funding in advance of anticipated expenses. Receipts are not usually required, but applicants should keep them handy should GPS request an audit of any of the awards. Include the TARA form from the forms page with your application.

Tips for applicants:

• review the Terms of Reference for the TARA awards and ensure you understand what you can and can't include.
  
• funds for TARA awards is limited. REM prioritizes funding for knowledge mobilization first, research second, other expenses last.
• students should submit a full accounting of anticipated expenses, but understand its highly unlikely the request will be fully funded.
  
• Amounts can be rounded to the nearest $25, it is not necessary to give a precise accounting of expenses. The minimum request is $50. If you have a small request (eg an online conference with a registration fee of $30) you can look for lower priority expenses to include to make it up to $50 (eg office supplies or books as per the TOR for the award)

Entrance Scholarships
SFU’s Entrance Scholarships are only available to applicants during the first semester of their program. Applicants do not apply for these awards but are nominated by the department.

Tri-Agency (NSERC/SSHRC/CHRC) and Trudeau and Vanier Scholarships

See the GPS website about these awards for more information.

REM students can apply for NSERC or SSHRC grants, depending on their area of research. Students can not apply for both NSERC and SSHRC.

Undergraduate students who are considering graduate school and have been out of University for a certain amount of time should check the NSERC / SSHRC website for the correct process of application if they meet the minimum GPA requirements. The deadline for these applicants may be earlier than the University deadline for graduate students. Check the agency’s website for details.

Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (PICS)
PICS offers funding related to their mandate. More information can be found on the PICS website.

MITACS
This national internship program managed by MITACS Inc connects companies and other organizations with the research expertise in Canada’s universities. See the MITACs website for full details and speak with your supervisors if you wish to pursue one of these opportunities.