The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships for the 2025-2026 academic year are expected to open for applications around mid-June 2024. This prestigious Canadian scholarship is designed for doctoral students from around the world, focusing on areas like social sciences, humanities, natural sciences, engineering, and health. Sponsored by the Government of Canada, the scholarship will provide CAD$50,000 annually for three years.
So lets get in details now!
Scholarship Benefits for 2025 Batch of Vanier Canada Graduate Program
Each Vanier Scholar will receive $50,000 annually for three years. This generous funding supports scholars in focusing full-time on their doctoral studies, research projects, and professional development without the burden of financial constraints.
How to Become Eligible for the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships?
Let’s look at how to make sure you qualify for the 2025-2026 academic year:
- Check Your Citizenship: First, know that the Vanier CGS is open to Canadian citizens, permanent residents of Canada, and foreign citizens. No matter where you’re from, you can apply as long as you meet the other requirements.
- Pick the Right Doctoral Program: You need to be enrolling in your first doctoral degree to be eligible. If you’re thinking about a combined program, like an MD/PhD or JD/PhD, make sure it involves a lot of research. Only the PhD part of your degree will count for the scholarship.
- Find a Canadian Institution to Nominate You: You can’t apply on your own to the Vanier CGS. You must be nominated by a Canadian institution that has a Vanier quota. Start looking for universities that match your academic and research interests early, and connect with faculty members who could be your advisors.
- Keep Track of Your Study Time: Your eligibility also depends on how much time you’ve already spent in your doctoral program. By May 1, 2025, you should have completed no more than 20 months of full-time doctoral studies. Be careful with this, especially if you’re in a joint or a direct-entry PhD program from a bachelor’s degree.
- Avoid Holding Other Major Scholarships: If you’ve already received a doctoral-level scholarship or fellowship from CIHR, NSERC, or SSHRC to start or finish a doctoral degree, you can’t get the Vanier CGS. Plan your applications carefully to avoid this conflict.
Application Process for the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships
As you consider applying for the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (Vanier CGS) for the 2025-2026 academic year, here’s a straightforward guide to lead you through the application steps:
Step 1: Choose Your School
Firstly, you’ll need to choose a Canadian research institution, lab or university and a doctoral program that suits your academic goals. If you want to get considered for the Vanier CGS 2025 batch then make sure to get nominated by a research institution as per their assigned quota.
This means you need to write emails to professors of those Canadian research institutions requesting to join their research groups in order to obtain their acceptance letter or willingness to supervise your studies. These are the people who will advocate for your nomination based on your confidence in your research and leadership potential.
Step 2: Assemble Your Application Material
If a professor accepts to supervise your studies then your next step would be to gather following listed documents to get ready to submit your Vanier CGS scholarship application:
- ResearchNet application form (includes two letters of reference, each with three sections)
- CCV (limited entries; please see Completing the Common CV (CCV) for complete information)
- research contributions (maximum one page)
- personal leadership statement (maximum 2 pages for English applications; maximum of 2.5 pages for French applications)
- special circumstances (maximum 1.0 page, optional)
- two leadership letters of reference (maximum 2 pages)
- research proposal (maximum 2 pages for English applications; maximum of 2.5 pages for French applications)
- project references (maximum 5 pages)
- transcripts
Step 3: Wait for the Decision
Once your nomination has been submitted, it will be reviewed on a national level, where your academic abilities, research potential, and leadership skills will be scrutinized. The outcome will be announced around April 2025, giving you plenty of time to plan your next steps based on the results.
Application Deadline for 2025-2026 Batch
Students should submit their applications to their nominating institutions in accordance with the internal deadlines, which may vary by institution. The final deadline for institutions to submit nominated candidates to the Vanier CGS program will be November 1, 2024.
