GRADUATE RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

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1 Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Office of the Vice-Dean, Graduate Studies, Research & Innovation GRADUATE RESEARCH SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM Procedures and Regulations General information The Graduate Research Scholarship Program administered by the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (FMSS) aims to support the brightest students who want to acquire training in health research, regardless of the methods or models used. The creation of a Faculty fund has made it possible to offer scholarships worth $15,000 per year for two years at the master's level and $19,000 per year for three years at the doctoral level. This amount includes 25% in matching funds from a grant held by the research director or from a grant held in common or by a group of researchers. Two scholarship competitions are held annually. The deadlines for submitting applications are March 15 th and September 15 th of each year. The results are announced in early April and October, respectively. The number of scholarships awarded is subject to rigorous analysis with the objective of achieving a fair and optimal offer. 1. Eligibility* On the scholarship start date, i.e. at the beginning of the winter semester following the September competition or at the beginning of the summer semester (or the fall semester, if the student's admission is expected then) following the March competition, the applicant: must hold an undergraduate or master's degree, or be registered to the Faculty s Doctorate in Medicine program; must reside in Quebec (or in Moncton, N.B. for students studying on that campus); must not already hold a full scholarship from an external funding body (e.g. NSERC, CIHR, FRQS, etc.) covering the same period or a longer period than that covered by the FMSS Graduate Research Scholarship Program; must be enrolled as a full-time student in an FMSS graduate research program at the Université de Sherbrooke and dedicate the majority of his or her time to research or research-training activities. *These conditions must be maintained for the entire duration of the scholarship. A student may only apply once for a master's scholarship and once for a doctoral scholarship. The scholarships are reserved for applicants that have been enrolled in a master's or doctoral program for at most one year on the deadline of the competition entered. In other words, when their application is being evaluated, their situation corresponds to one of the following scenarios: 1) they are registered in semester 1, Graduate Scholarship Program Page 1

2 2, or 3 (S1, S2, or S3); 2) they have been admitted to their master s or doctoral program and will register for the next semester; or 3) they commit to submitting an application to their master s or doctoral program in time to register for the following semester should they be selected to receive a scholarship. The maximum duration of a master's scholarship is two years. The maximum duration of a doctoral scholarship is three years. Students who have interrupted their master's or doctoral program for parental leave may have their eligibility period extended by up to one year. Similarly, students can have their eligibility period extended for health reasons if they can present a medical certificate stating the length of their leave. In all cases, the scholarship payments will be interrupted for the duration of the recipient's absence. Master's level scholarship-holders that fast-track to a doctorate program before having received all the payments of their master's scholarship can transfer the remaining payments to their doctoral program. Students who obtain a master's or doctoral scholarship from this program are required to apply to a scholarship competition administered by an external granting agency. Applicants enrolled in a diplôme d études approfondies (DEA) program (similar to a master's of advanced study) or equivalent are only eligible to apply for a master's scholarship. Unless otherwise decided by the Selection Committee, the grades taken into account during the selection process are those recorded in the transcript for the diploma having served as the basis for admission to the applicant's master's or doctoral program. Applicants must submit a short description of a project in health research and be supervised by an FMSS research professor. Specific Eligibility Requirements for a Master's Scholarship In order to be eligible for a scholarship, applicants must have maintained, up until submission of their applications, an average of B, GPA 3.0 / 4.3, or equivalent during the course of their previous university studies, unless the Selection Committee considers the student's accomplishments, as presented in the CV, to be exceptional. 2. Required Documents** The applications must be submitted by to VDES-Med@USherbrooke.ca before midnight on March 15 th for the winter competition or before midnight on September 15 th for the fall competition and must be presented as a single PDF file containing the following documents in this order: Duly completed scholarship application form; Streamlined CV; Official transcripts issued by the registrar's office for the diploma serving as the basis for admission; Certificates, proof of scholarships, editors' notices for articles accepted for publication or any other Graduate Scholarship Program Page 2

3 supporting document required (as detailed in the Streamlined CV); Any additional documents deemed important to support the student's application. No updates are allowed after the submission deadline. **The application form and the Streamlined CV template are available online at the following address: 3. Other funding sources With the research director's consent and subject to the condition that the work does not negatively impact the recipient's academic activities, a recipient is authorized to teach a maximum course load of 30 hours per semester or to engage in a maximum of 100 hours of remunerated work per semester. Recipients that are health professionals with a valid license to practice in Quebec may receive a salary supplement for professional work, subject to the condition that they commit at least 75% of their time to research or research-training activities. The institution or research director may provide complementary funding to supplement the scholarship provided it does not exceed 30% of the total value of the FMSS Graduate Research Scholarship (i.e. an additional $4,500 per year at the master's level and an additional $5,700 per year at the doctoral level). If a recipient is awarded an external scholarship or receives a salary for research or research-training activities while holding the FMSS Graduate Research Scholarship, one of the following scenarios will apply: If the external scholarship or salary for research or research-training activities (or the combination of external scholarships/salaries for research activities) obtained does not exceed 30% of the total value of the FMSS Graduate Research Scholarship (i.e. an additional $4,500 per year at the master's level or an additional $5,700 per year at the doctoral level), the recipient continues to receive the FMSS scholarship payments; If the external scholarship or salary for research or research-training activities obtained is of equal or superior duration to the FMSS scholarship, the FMSS scholarship will be terminated and offered to a student on the waiting list; If the duration of the external scholarship or salary for research or research-training activities obtained is inferior to that of the FMSS scholarship, the FMSS graduate research scholarship will be interrupted for the duration of the external scholarship or salary for research or research-training activities. The unused portion of the FMSS graduate research scholarship will be set aside for the recipient and payments will resume once the external scholarship or salary for research or researchtraining activities has expired. The duration of the remaining payments will be calculated based on the following equation: Graduate Scholarship Program Page 3

4 Total duration of the FMSS graduate research scholarship M.Sc. = 2 years Ph.D. = 3 years Minus (-) Duration of external scholarship or salary for research/ researchtraining activities Plus (+) Period during which the student was covered by the FMSS scholarship prior to obtaining the external scholarship or salary for research/research-training activities Is equal to (=) Duration of the remaining FMSS graduate research scholarship payments All other situations must be brought to the Graduate Studies Secretariat's attention and will be examined on a case-by-case basis; 4. Assessment of Applications Applications are assessed by a committee of experts comprised of FMSS faculty members from various fields of research and chaired by the Vice-Dean of Graduate Studies, Research and Innovation. The assessment is based on excellence in the following criteria: University Record Academic excellence; Scholarships obtained; Awards and honors; Aptitudes and experience Publications; Oral presentations; Poster presentations. 5. Quality of the Research Director The research director must be authorized to direct students at the level applied for. A research director working at the FMSS for at least 5 years must be recognized for the quality of his or her Graduate Scholarship Program Page 4

5 ability to supervise students. The committee of experts assessing the application must deem that the research project presented is feasible in order for the scholarship to be awarded. 6. Research Directors' Commitments The research director of a recipient commits to: providing 25% in matching funds from a grant held by the research director or from a grant held in common or by a group of researchers. This amount is included in the $15,000 per year paid to the master's level recipient and $19,000 per year paid to the doctoral level recipient; if he or she (or they) is inclined, offer a supplement to the scholarship as long as it does not exceed 30% of the scholarship's initial value (i.e. offer up to an extra $4,500 at the Master's level or up to an extra $5,700 at the doctoral level); supervising the work of recipients and providing them with the material (e.g. number of patients or biological samples) and financial means required to successfully carry out their research projects. 7. Recipients' Commitments By accepting the scholarship, the recipient commits to: complying with the Faculty s general graduate education rules and regulations, as well as all the conditions described in the present document failure to do so will lead to the scholarship being revoked; applying for scholarships administered by external funding agencies during the first year of the funding provided by the FMSS Graduate Research Scholarship (unless no appropriate program is available); advising the Graduate Studies Secretariat if he or she is awarded an external scholarship, in which case one of the scenarios detailed in point 3 will apply; submitting the composition of his or her supervisory committee («comité d'encadrement») for approval as quickly as possible given the scholarship payments will only begin once the supervisory committee has been approved by the student s program and by the Faculty; annually presenting his or her research results at the faculty- or university-level scientific meetings («Journée scientifique»); acknowledging the scholarship in his or her publications and during oral presentations or poster sessions; submitting an annual report to donors describing the progress of his or her work and training. Graduate Scholarship Program Page 5