The SSHRC Doctoral Fellowships support high-calibre students engaged in doctoral programs in the social sciences and humanities. This support allows scholars to fully focus on their doctoral studies, to seek out the best research mentors in their chosen fields, and to contribute to the Canadian research ecosystem during and beyond the tenure of their awards.
SSHRC welcomes applications involving Indigenous research, as well as those involving research-creation.
Through its Doctoral Awards funding opportunity, SSHRC offers two types of funding for doctoral students:
- SSHRC Doctoral Fellowships and
- Canada Graduate Scholarships (CGS): Doctoral Scholarships.
Only the SSHRC Doctoral Fellowships can be used at U.S. institutions.
Award
The fellowships are valued at C$40,000 per annum for 12, 24, 36 or 48 months. SSHRC determines the value and duration of an award based on the number of months of full-time study (or equivalent) the applicant will have completed by December 31 of the year of application.
Eligibility
To be eligible to apply, an applicant must:
- be a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada or a Protected Person under subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada), as of the application deadline;
- not have already received a doctoral-level scholarship or fellowship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) or SSHRC;
- not have submitted more than one scholarship or fellowship application per academic year to either CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC (Should more than one application be submitted, the eligible application submitted first chronologically will be retained; nominations to the Vanier CGS program do not count toward this limit—see SSHRC’s regulations on multiple applications and on holding multiple awards for more information.); and
- have completed no more than 48 months of full-time study in their doctoral program by December 31 of the calendar year of application.