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President's Doctoral Recruitment Scholarship in Transdisciplinary Research

The President’s Doctoral Recruitment Scholarship in Transdisciplinary Research is a major graduate scholarship funded by the University of Calgary’s Start Something fund. This scholarship can be offered to qualified applicants alongside offers of admission, and is awarded on top of a doctoral student’s guaranteed funding.

The University of Calgary’s Framework for Growth is future-focused on program delivery, deeper community partnerships and transdisciplinary research while prioritizing Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, Accessibility and Reconciliation. This scholarship was established to attract the best doctoral students to the University of Calgary and support them to become leading transdisciplinary researchers while achieving Framework for Growth objectives.

Graduate students funded through this scholarship will be required to apply for all provincial, national, or international scholarships for which they are eligible with renewal contingent on applications being submitted. Those who win external awards will have their Recruitment Scholarship and program/supervisor funding adjusted.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • The President’s Doctoral Recruitment Scholarship in Transdisciplinary Research is valued at $12,000 per year for four years. The guaranteed graduate stipend students will receive on the PDRSTR will be the program’s minimum funding requirement plus the recruitment scholarship ($12,000) for 4 years.
  • The scholarship is open to students registered in the first year of a doctoral program in the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Graduate Studies.
  • Students transferring directly from a master’s program are not eligible.
  • Programs nominating a student for this scholarship must submit documentation demonstrating how the student’s recruitment focuses on transdisciplinary research while addressing equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility and reconciliation within the program or faculty.
See the Terms of Reference for full eligibility requirements.
  • The scholarship is unrestricted, meaning that both domestic and international graduate students may be considered.
  • No, students cannot apply directly for this scholarship. A student must be nominated by their program at the time the student applies for admission.
  • Nominations are recommended by the faculty of the admitting program. Each faculty receives a quota of recruitment awards based on current doctoral registration. Nomination procedures will vary by faculty. For example, some faculties may review admissions as a group following program admission deadlines. Other faculties may have a rolling nomination process where eligible candidates can be forwarded for nomination contingent on meeting selection criteria.  
  • Once a nominee has been selected for an award, the faculty will notify the program and the program can then include the award offer with the offer of admission for the student.
  • Contact your graduate program staff for your program/faculty’s deadlines if any and nomination procedure.
  • This will vary between programs and faculties. Programs are required to submit how the nomination addresses UCalgary’s Framework for Growth focus on transdisciplinary research and addresses equity, diversity, inclusion, accessibility, and reconciliation within the program/faculty.
  • If you are applying for a doctoral program, discuss this question with your prospective supervisor and graduate program staff.
  • While you cannot apply for the scholarship directly, you can reach out to your program and/or your prospective supervisor to express your interest in being nominated and to discuss the suitability of your research for the scholarship. It’s important to have this conversation early once you’ve applied for admission to allow adequate time for the nomination process.
  • No, this scholarship can only be offered to students at the time of admission.
  • No, the scholarship cannot be deferred.
  • Each teaching faculty is given a scholarship allocation. It is at the discretion of each faculty to determine how scholarships will be allocated to programs.
  • No, however, they must have a UCID in order to be nominated to FGS. So they need to have started an application to program, at minimum, for the nomination to be processed.