CIHR Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Doctoral

Key Dates

• Wednesday, September 24, 2025, 11:59 p.m. – McMaster internal ResearchNet deadline
• Early October 2025 – Quotas given to departments by Associate Dean
• Monday, November 3, 2025 at noon – Recommended Candidates due to SGS from departments or Associate Deans.
• No later than Friday, November 21, 2025 8:00 p.m. – McMaster will submit the selected applications to CIHR and inform the applicants of the internal results.

Value and duration

• $40,000 per year for 36 months

CIHR’s Assigned Quota: 49

CIHR provided national quotas to Universities for the number of Recommended Applicants that can be submitted to the national CIHR competition.

Where to apply

If you are a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or protected person:

Where to submit your application based on applicant status at the time of application

• If you are currently registered in a degree program at a Canadian institution with a doctoral award quota for the selected agency (This includes if you are registered concurrently at a Canadian institution and at a foreign institution (e.g., in a cotutelle))
  • Submit your application to the Canadian institution where you are currently registered.
• If you are not currently registered in a degree program but were registered at any other time during the calendar year of application in a degree program at a Canadian institution with doctoral award quota for the selected agency.
  • Submit your application to the Canadian institution where you were registered.
• If you are currently registered at a foreign institution or a Canadian institution without a doctoral award quota for the selected agency.
  • Submit your application directly to the appropriate agency.
• If you were not registered at any time during the calendar year of application in a degree program at a Canadian institution with a doctoral award quota for the selected agency.
  • Submit your application directly to the appropriate agency.

If you are an international applicant:

Where to submit your application based on applicant status at the time of application

• If you are currently registered in a degree program at a Canadian institution with a doctoral award quota for the selected agency.
  • Submit your application to the Canadian institution where you are currently registered.
• If you are currently registered at a Canadian institution without a doctoral award quota for the selected agency.
  • Submit your application directly to the appropriate agency.

Note: If you are on an approved leave of absence from an institution you are considered to be registered at that institution.

If you are unsure of your registration status in the calendar year of application, please contact The School of Graduate Studies at graduatescholarships@mcmaster.ca.

NOTE: Failure to submit an application through the correct channel will result in an application being rejected.

Eligibility

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 currently enrolled in your doctoral program as of the fall 2025 term.
• 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 (such as MD/PhD, JD/PhD, DVM/PhD) or the joint program (such as MA/PhD, MSc/PhD, MBA/PhD) for which you are requesting funding by December 31, 2025 if previously enrolled in a graduate program.

Number of months

Eligibility for CGRS D is based on the number of months of full-time study, including summer months, you completed by December 31, 2025 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.

• Fast-track programs: If you were enrolled in a master’s program and subsequently transferred to a doctoral program (fast-track), the months of study completed are calculated starting from the date on which you transferred into the doctoral program.
• Joint programs: If you are enrolled in a joint program and will obtain a master’s degree as part of the program (for example, MA/PhD, MSc/PhD, MBA/PhD), the months of study are calculated starting from the date on which you officially enrolled in either portion of the joint program (including the master’s portion of the program).
• Joint professional undergraduate/PhD programs: If you are enrolled in a joint professional undergraduate/PhD program (such as MD/PhD, JD/PhD, DVM/PhD), only the months of study in the PhD portion will be counted.

Proposed locations of tenure

You may take up your CGRS D at any eligible Canadian degree-granting institution. To be eligible to hold your award at an international degree-granting institution, you must:

• be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident of Canada, or protected person under subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada) as of the application deadline; and
• have completed at least one previous undergraduate or graduate degree at a Canadian institution.

Up to 20% of all doctoral awards will be eligible to be held abroad.

Other restrictions

• You can submit a maximum of one scholarship or fellowship application per academic year to either CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC. If you submit more than one application, only the eligible application submitted first will be retained.
• You can apply a maximum of three times to this funding opportunity
• You cannot have already received a doctoral-level scholarship from CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC.
• You cannot hold a tenure or tenure-track appointment or be on leave from such an appointment concurrently with your CGRS D award (some exceptions apply; see the Tri-agency research training award holder’s guide for details).

Program of study

An eligible doctoral program must be predominantly research oriented, leading to the completion of a thesis, major research project, dissertation, scholarly publication, performance, recital and/or exhibit that is merit-/expert-reviewed at the institutional level as a requirement for completing the program.

Joint programs with a professional degree (for example, MD/PhD, DVM/PhD, JD/PhD, MBA/PhD), as well as clinically oriented programs of study, including clinical psychology, are eligible if they have a significant autonomous research component as described above.

CIHR CGRS-D applications are submitted through ResearchNet

We have provided key application instructions below, please be sure to review all the information and instructions on the following web pages Canada Graduate Research Scholarships – Doctoral Program (CGRS D) and Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Doctoral (CGRS D) Program: Application instructions – CIHR. The onus is on the applicant to provide a clear and complete application that demonstrates attention to detail and permits a comprehensive assessment.

Before beginning

Applicants and their supervisor(s) must make sure they have the following:

• a ResearchNet account
• a CIHR PIN in ResearchNet
• a Common CV account (applicant only)

Applicants and their supervisor(s) should each only have one ResearchNet account. If you have already accessed ResearchNet, do not register for a new account.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Applications submitted in French are now allowed additional space in some sections of the application. This provision will ensure an equitable amount of space (e.g. research project summaries and training expectations) written in either official language, as evidence demonstrates that documents written in French require approximately 20% more space than similar documents in English.

How to Submit an Application

Important: The “Institution Paid” field determines which organization will receive the application (Canadian institution with a quota or CIHR). Failure to submit an application through the correct channel, as described below, will result in an application being rejected from the competition.

• For Canadian, Permanent Resident or Protected Person applicants, enrolled during the calendar year (January 1 to December 31, 2025) of application at McMaster University:
  • select McMaster University from the Institution Paid drop down menu.
• For Canadian, Permanent Resident or Protected Person applicants, not enrolled at McMaster University during the calendar year (January 1 to December 31, 2025) of application:
  • Are ineligible to apply through the McMaster University Competition. Applicants can apply directly to CIHR and manually type CIHR in the “Other” field.
• For International applicants, enrolled at the time of application (Fall 2025 term) at McMaster University:
  • select McMaster University from the Institution Paid drop down menu.

For more information, refer to the flow chart “How to Submit an Application to the Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Doctoral (CGRS D) program“.

Tasks required for completing a Doctoral Research Award application:

A. Complete the Common CV
B. Complete the CGRS D ResearchNet application

1. Identify Participants
2. Identify Sponsors
3. Enter Proposal Information
4. Attach Other Application Materials
5. Apply to Priority Announcements / Funding Pools (Optional)
6. Print/Upload Signature Pages
7. Preview
8. Consent and Submit

Assessments/References: Applicants can manage the deadline by which sponsors must submit their assessments. By default, the Sponsor Required Deadline in ResearchNet is set for two days before the application deadline. However, applicants can adjust this to any date prior to the application deadline.

Transcripts

Applicants are required to provide the following documents, which must be uploaded as a single PDF document (unprotected) not to exceed 30 MB under “Transcripts” in the “Attach Other Application Materials” task:

1. Complete and print the Doctoral Studies Timelines form available from the CIHR website under Index of Funding Related Forms.
2. Up-to-date Official transcripts of the applicant’s complete academic record (this includes all undergraduate and graduate studies, completed or ongoing). Instructions below must also be followed:

• • One copy of the legend (reverse of each transcript) must be included;
  • Transcript text must be horizontal. Original copies of any uploaded transcripts must be retained since they may be requested by CIHR for verification purposes at any point in the process.

Up-to-date official transcripts are defined as transcripts issued by the registrar’s office and dated or issued in the fall session of the year of application (if currently registered) or after the last term completed (if not currently registered). Note: If you started your degree at McMaster in Fall 2025, you are still required to include a McMaster transcript to confirm your registration. If you submit transcripts written in a language other than English or French, you must provide a certified English or French translation.

CIHR Research Priority Areas

• Ageism (Geroscience)
• Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
• Lung Health in Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit or Métis) populations
• Priority Areas in Pandemic Preparedness and Health Emergencies Research
• Sex and Gender in Health Research

Candidates may request that their application be considered for up to three (3) priority announcement research areas per application, in each Doctoral Research Award competition.

Clarification of Signature Pages

• Only supervisor(s) signatures are required. Printed names should always accompany signatures.
  • Ensure your supervisor is also listed as the primary advisor under the participant list.
• No institutional signatures are required on the pages at the time of application.
• Scan and upload the signed signature pages, including the routing slip, as one PDF (unprotected and not exceeding 30 MB), in the Print/Upload Signature Pages task in ResearchNet prior to submitting the application.

General application process

This document provides general instructions but does not necessarily represent an exhaustive list of all information required to complete an application.

• Applications must be prepared, finalized and submitted by applicants using ResearchNet in either one of the official languages.
• Applicants must preview all components of their application to ensure its completeness.
• Any information that is not required or exceeds the page/character limits will be removed from the application prior to peer review without notification.
• Applicants who wish to self-identify as an Indigenous applicant to their Canadian institution with a quota may do so by following instructions found under “Attach other application materials” section of this document.
• Applications must be submitted prior to the deadline posted on ResearchNet or the institutional internal deadline, whichever comes first. CIHR cannot legally accept an application until the “Consent and Submit” task is completed on ResearchNet.
• This document provides general instructions but does not necessarily represent an exhaustive list of all information required to complete an application.
• Information provided in the application package must be self-contained. Links to external websites or documents hosted on a drive should not be included in the application.
• No changes or updates can be made to an application after it has been submitted to CIHR (either before or after the deadline).
• All attachments must be in unprotected PDF format, not exceed 30 MB and must adhere to the Acceptable Application Formats and PDF Attachments guidelines. CIHR reserves the right to remove your application if it does not meet these requirements. Note: failure to comply with these requirements can negatively impact the status and evaluation of your application in a competition.

Additional Information

Equity, diversity and inclusion

The three agencies are acting on evidence that achieving a more equitable, diverse and inclusive Canadian research enterprise is essential to creating the excellent, innovative and impactful research necessary to advance knowledge and understanding, and to respond to local, national and global challenges. This principle informs the commitments described in the Tri-Agency Statement on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), and is aligned with the objectives of the Tri-Agency EDI Action Plan.

Self-identification data and consent provided with applications may be used to determine eligibility for additional awards or priority funding opportunities designated for specific underrepresented groups.

Indigenous student researchers and Indigenous research

The three agencies have implemented measures to support Indigenous research and First Nations, Inuit and Métis graduate students.

These measures include:

• an opportunity for self-identified Canadian Indigenous doctoral applicants to have their application considered for submission beyond their institution’s quota—self-identified Indigenous student researchers must agree to their personal information being used for this purpose by making the appropriate selection in the application form;
• a checkbox in the application form to identify a proposed program of study as Indigenous research, such that the Guidelines for the Merit Review of Indigenous Research will apply (CIHR and SSHRC only);
• instructions for members of the doctoral review committees to take into account special circumstances that may have had an impact on the academic or career paths of Indigenous applicants; and
• concerted efforts by the three agencies to include Indigenous members and experts in Indigenous research on review committees.

Black student researchers

The Government of Canada has provided additional funds to increase direct support for Black student researchers. CGRS D applicants who self-identify as Black and provide consent to be considered for funds designated for specific groups may be selected to receive this funding. Each agency has up to 10 additional CGRS D awards reserved for Black student researchers.

San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment

CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC, along with other Canadian research funding agencies, are signatories of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA). The agencies are committed to meaningful assessment of excellence in research funding and to ensuring that a wide range of research results and outcomes are considered and valued as part of the assessment process. The agencies will continue to work to ensure that their strategies, policies and guidance align with DORA.

Notification of results

Applicants will be notified of the results by April 30.

McMaster internal application deadline: Wednesday, September 24, 2025, 11:59 p.m.

Applications are prepared and submitted by students in ResearchNet by the internal deadline set by McMaster. You will not be able to submit your application to ResearchNet until all the required tasks are completed, including the letters from your sponsors.

Helpful links

Canada Graduate Reasearch Scholarships – Doctoral Program (CGRS D)

Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Doctoral (CGRS D) Program: Application instructions – CIHR

CIHR CGRS-D ResearchNet

CIHR Contact Information

Applicants should consult the CIHR Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Doctoral (CGRS D) program – Frequently Asked Questions. For information not addressed therein, email support-soutien@cihr-irsc.gc.ca.

For technical help, you can contact CIHR Monday to Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
1-888-603-4178
1-613-954-1968
support-soutien@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

SGS Contact Information

graduatescholarships@mcmaster.ca