Students must meet the following eligibility criteria:

• Can hold any citizenship, including Canadian citizenship, permanent resident status, and protected persons under subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada).
  • Participation of Canadian citizens in this initiative is intended for those who have previously left Canada for research and/or work experience and who wish to return to Canada to continue their research.
• Cannot have a current affiliation with a Canadian institution and must be currently studying or working abroad.
• Must be eligible to enroll in a doctoral program at McMaster University for Fall 2026 or Winter 2027 (i.e., have a complete submitted application to a McMaster graduate program or an offer of admission for Fall 2026 or Winter 2027).
• Can only be nominated by one nominator (cannot have multiple proposed supervisors or locations of tenure).
• International students/researchers already working or studying at a Canadian institution are not eligible for the Impact+ training awards.
• Cannot be currently holding another scholarship or postdoctoral research award from the Tri-agencies (CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC) or be currently benefitting from Tri-agency funds from a supervisor’s grant.
• Cannot have previously held doctoral-level scholarship from any one of the three agencies (CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC)

Supervisors must meet the following eligibility criteria:

• Must be the primary grant holder (PI) (Nominated Principal Applicant/Investigator or Principal Investigator) on an active Tri-agency grant. A co-applicant, co-investigator or collaborator is not eligible.
• For the purposes of this initiative, eligible active grants are those that received a payment or have a planned payment in the 2025-26 or 2026–27 fiscal year (April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2027). A grant in an unfunded extension year is not eligible. Refer to question 17, as listed on the CIRTA Q&A page.
• Must be eligible to supervise a doctoral student as per McMaster University regulations.
• May nominate one doctoral applicant.
• While the nominator’s research grant does not have to specifically be within one of the eight identified priority research areas, they must be able to facilitate the nominee conducting research in one of the identified areas.
• In consultation with the program, commit to providing support for the PhD student for the full duration of their PhD degree program (beyond the 3 years of CIRTA funding) as per McMaster’s institutional minimum funding level.

Research Security

Due to the list of priority research areas (see question 5), recipients of the Canada Impact+ Research Training Awards are likely to participate in research that aims to advance a Sensitive Technology Research Area, as defined under the Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern (STRAC Policy). While the STRAC Policy does not apply to scholarship and fellowship programs, such as the Canada Impact+ Research Training Awards, nominators who are a recipient of a grant that is subject to the STRAC Policy requirements — or who are expecting to apply for such a grant in the future — should be aware that these requirements may extend to their prospective nominees. Prospective nominees who have an active affiliation with or are in receipt of financial or in-kind support from a Named Research Organization must terminate this relationship before joining any research team that is supported by a grant in scope of the STRAC Policy and that aims to advance a Sensitive Technology Research Area. Consult the Tri-agency Guidance on the STRAC Policy for more information on the requirements that apply to federal grants subject to the STRAC Policy.

Where applicable, nominators are encouraged to conduct open-source due diligence to verify a prospective nominee’s affiliation(s) and sources of funding or in-kind support. Institutions may provide support to nominators in doing so, via their institutional research security offices, where available. For further guidance on research security, institutions and researchers may consult the Tri-agency Guidance on Research Securityand associated resources.

Proposed research conducted at McMaster must align with one of the following priority research areas:

• Advanced digital technologies (AI, quantum, cybersecurity)
• Health, including biotechnology
• Clean technology and resource value chains
• Environment, climate resilience, and the Arctic
• Food and water security
• Democratic and community resilience
• Manufacturing and advanced materials
• Defence and dual-use technologies

1. The faculty member supervisor (nominator) identifies eligible prospective PhD student (nominee) based on previous interactions, engagements, and/or recruitment efforts.
2. The nominator confirms with the program on the eligibility of the nominee for admissions in the Fall 2026 or Winter 2027 intake.
3. The nominator collects necessary documentation from the nominee so they can provide nomination package to the program for review and submission to SGS by the deadline:
   • Complete Impact+ nomination form
     1. Nominee complete Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4, and signs confirmation of agreement to the terms and conditions
     2. Nominator completes Part 5 and signs confirmation of agreement to the terms and conditions.
     3. NOTE: Part 6 will be completed by the School of Graduate Studies for nominations moving forward to the Tri-Agency competition
4. Program representatives review nomination form to verify nominee and nominator meet eligibility requirements; sign Eligibility Checklist.
5. Completed Eligibility Checklist and Nomination form to be combined into one document and uploaded to MacDrive.
   • File naming convention: CIRTA_AGENCY_McMaster University_Nominee Last Name_Nominator Last Name_PhD
   • Deadline for program submission of nominees: Noon, February 17, 2026, EST
6. Institutional selection committee (chaired by SGS) will review nomination packages and SGS will forward selected nominations to the Tri-agency based on quotas.
   • Deadline to forward nominations: March 4, 2026
7. The Tri-agency confirms eligibility and makes final decisions – April 1, 2026.
8. The Tri-agency shares results with institution and SGS communicates results to the nominees and nominators.

Nominations are now closed