Eligibility

Citizenship
To be eligible to apply, you must be a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident of Canada, a Protected Person under subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada), or an international student*.
*If you are not a Canadian citizen, permanent resident of Canada or protected person under subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada), you must be registered in your doctoral program of study at McMaster by November 3, 2026. Up to 15% of awards will be available to international applicants.

Months of study
To be eligible to apply to the CGRS D program, you must have completed no more than 36 months of full-time equivalent study in the doctoral program, the PhD portion of the joint professional undergraduate/PhD program or the joint program for which you are requesting funding by December 31, 2026.
Months of study are calculated as follows:
• all months of full-time study, including summer months, count toward the degree for which you are requesting funding
• two terms of part-time study count as one term of full-time study
• the agencies count all studies toward the doctoral degree for which funding is requested, whether or not they were completed in the same program or at the same institution

Value and duration
$40,000 per year for 36 months

The CGS-Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplements (CGS-MSFSS) has been rebranded to the Canada Research Training Awards Suite – Research Travel Supplements (CRTAS-RTS).

Complete instructions can be found on the following webpage: https://gs.mcmaster.ca/canada-research-training-awards-suite-research-travel-supplements-crtas-rts/

The value of a CRTAS-RTS is $9,000 and is non-renewable.

Applicants apply directly to the tri-agency no later than June 10, 2026. Supplements will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis. The agencies will review the applications received for eligibility and completeness.

After the applicant has submitted the application to the tri-agency, we ask that they upload a copy of their completed application to MacDrive. The MacDrive upload link is included on CRTAS-RTS webpage.

Note: Part 6-Confirmation of institutional approval is to be completed and signed by the applicant’s Department Chair or Graduate Chair (authorized institutional official). Section 6 is to be signed only after the application is complete, including signatures in parts 4 and 5.  No signature or approval is required from the School of Graduate Studies.

 
Students who hold the following scholarships/awards are eligible to apply:

Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Doctoral program
Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Master’s program
Canada Graduate Scholarship – Doctoral program
Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s program
CIHR Doctoral Foreign Study Award
NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships – Doctoral program
SSHRC Doctoral Fellowships program
Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships program

Amount: Science will cover the tuition of 2 students (5K per student + $2500 from the MELD program).

Dates: The dates for the 2026 edition are July 20 – August 28, 2026.

The call for applicants for MERGE (McMaster English Readiness for Graduate Excellence, https://meld.humanities.mcmaster.ca/merge/) is now open.

Please advertise this program to your graduate students. If they are interested, they are to contact the MERGE program or register directly using this Registration Form. Once the students are registered, the program will contact them directly with details. Please have students CC me on any emails so that I can keep track of interest.

Applications are first come, first served!

The GSA awards a number of travel awards (up to $500) every semester (Sept-Dec, Jan-Apr, May-Aug) for travel to conferences to present, or to undertake research relevant to their field of study. GSA Travel Awards are funded from the proceeds of the GSA Development Fund, which is sustained by contributions from Graduate Students and the University. Award recipients will be asked to voluntarily contribute a 250-word statement of how this award and travel contributed to their graduate experience, which may be posted on the Graduate Studies and GSA websites and other media sources.

Students can apply through AwardSpring.

For more information and application instructions please visit the GSA Website.