Faculty of Graduate Studies

Tri‑Agency CGS‑D

Submission deadlines

For students who are currently registered in a degree program at Dalhousie (even if on a leave of absence) or who were registered in a degree program at Dalhousie at any time during the current calendar year: October 1, 2021 at 9:00 p.m. AST

For all other CGS-D applicants who wish to hold an award at Dalhousie, please review the flowchart provided by the Tri-Agency to determine the appropriate application process.

Note: For NSERC applications, transcripts must be submitted by September 24, 2021 through FGS’s Scholarship Management Platform (see application instructions below).

SSHRC, CIHR and NSERC doctoral competitions each have their own eligibility and application requirements. This may include specific priority research areas for each funding body which may change year-over-year. Interested applicants are strongly encouraged to review funding opportunity announcements, award criteria and application preparation documentation available on each respective site. Links have been provided to the post-graduate funding pages of the respective agencies below.

Scholarship information session

Recorded on September 8, 2021, this session provides an overview of the application process for Tri-Agency (SSHRC, NSERC and CIHR) scholarships at Dalhousie University. Available on YouTube, the session includes a panel discussion from experienced reviewers exploring lessons learned and best practices to consider when preparing your application to maximize your chances for success.

The slides from the PowerPoint presentation featured in the session are available to download [PDF - 437 kb].

Application instructions

For all doctoral competitions, applications must be submitted through the respective Tri-Agency portal. Paper or email copies are not accepted. Applicants are expected to review in detail the application instructions associated with each agency:

o NSERC’s application instructions

o CIHR’s application instructions

o SSHRC’s application instructions

To facilitate the internal review process, applicants are also required to create a Tri-Agency Doctoral application in the FGS Scholarship Management Platform. This application is for internal administration only and does not replace the application you submit through the Tri-Agency portal.
For NSERC Applicants: NSERC applicants must obtain official electronic copies of their transcripts and upload them in the FGS Scholarship Management Platform as a single PDF by September 24. The Scholarships Liaison Officer will link the transcripts to the application in the NSERC On-Line System. When asked for the name and email address of the designated individual to upload the transcript in the NSERC portal, please enter Niki Power, Scholarships Liaison Officer, email address: fgs.slo@dal.ca
Submitted applications will be downloaded by FGS, evaluated for completeness, and linked with the Tri-Agency Doctoral application in the FGS Scholarship Management Platform. This will then be used to distribute the applications to departments for review.

An important note regarding transcripts during the COVID-19 pandemic: The Agencies have indicated that they are prepared to offer some flexibility with regard to official transcripts. However, wherever possible, applicants are required to upload electronic versions (in PDF format) of the most recent official transcripts from each university attended. Dalhousie transcripts can be obtained by submitting a request through DalOnline.

These transcripts will be sent to you electronically and must be uploaded with your application (see below for more info regarding the process for NSERC applicants). For transcripts from other universities, please reach out to the respective Registrar’s Office for their policies. Please note that providing complete, accurate and up-to-date transcripts is the applicant’s responsibility and FGS will not provide transcripts for this purpose. If you have hard copies of official transcripts from other universities in your possession, please scan and upload them with your application.

NSERC PGS-D/CGS-D Internal Application Submission/Review Process

Applicants are expected to review NSERC’s application instructions in detail.

NSERC applicants must obtain official electronic copies of their transcripts, whenever possible, and submit them with your Tri-Agency Doctoral application in FGS’s online Scholarship Management Platform . You must submit your NSERC application (NSERC On-Line System) and your transcripts (Scholarship Management Platform) before the October 1st deadline.

Submitted applications will be downloaded by FGS, evaluated for completeness, and linked with the Tri-Agency Doctoral application in FGS’s Scholarship Management Platform.

The Scholarships Liaison Officer will link the transcripts to your application. You must enter the Scholarships Liaison Officer’s information within the NSERC Research Portal as the designated individual to upload their transcript. For the 2021/2022 competition, the individual is Niki Power (fgs.slo@dal.ca).

Complete applications will be sent to departments for review. Departments typically have up to one week to complete the review process, and may request for students to provide PDF copies of their applications in advance of the student submission deadline for additional review/feedback.

Applications supported at the department level are returned to FGS and forwarded to university-level review committees, which evaluate submitted applications based on Tri-Agency criteria and recommend which applications move forward to the national competition. University-level rankings may also be used to identify prospective candidates for additional internal awards.

Please note the following message from NSERC:

NSERC acknowledges that the widespread disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may hinder the ability of some applicants to access official and up-to-date versions of their transcripts in advance of the deadline date, particularly at institutions which do not currently provide official electronic versions of these documents. As such, for the fall 2020 competition, NSERC will not immediately reject applications that include unofficial transcripts in lieu of official transcripts.

Further instructions can be found on the NSERC website.

CIHR: Doctoral Research Awards (DRA/CGS-D) Internal Application Submission/Review Process

Applicants are expected to review CIHR’s application instructions in detail.

Note that CIHR applicants upload their own official transcripts in accordance with very specific guidelines available on the above noted application instructions site.

Submitted applications will be downloaded by FGS, evaluated for completeness, and linked with the Tri-Agency Doctoral application in FGS’s Scholarship Management Platform. This will then be used to distribute the applications to departments for review. Departments typically have up to one week to complete the review process, and may request for students to provide PDF copies of their applications in advance of the student submission deadline.

Applicants intending to pursue studies at Dal are also strongly encouraged to participate in the Harmonized Scholarship Process.

SSHRC: Doctoral Fellowship & CGS-D Internal Application Submission/Review Process

Applicants are expected to review SSHRC’s application instructions in detail.

Note that SSHRC applicants upload their own official transcripts in accordance with very specific guidelines available on the above-noted application instructions site.

Applicants intending to pursue studies at Dal are also strongly encouraged to participate in the Harmonized Scholarship Process.

Acceptance of awards

Tri-Agency Doctoral awards (CGS-D or PGS-D) may be taken up in May, September or January in the year following the competition provided the student meets all eligibility criteria for the award.

For CIHR awards, offers must be accepted or declined by completing the Response to Offer task in ResearchNet and other required steps, if applicable.
For NSERC and SSHRC awards, award recipients must accept or decline by sending an email to the appropriate program contact, stating whether they accept or decline, and confirming the start date.

Doctoral students wishing to activate a Tri-Agency award in May must submit a copy of the Notice of Award and a completed and signed Request for First Installment form to fgs.slo@dal.ca as soon as possible to avoid delays in payment, and should consult with their department on the impact this might have on other department-level funding over the summer.

Doctoral students wishing to activate the Tri-Agency award in September/January must provide this documentation to fgs.slo@dal.ca by May 31^st to avoid delays in payment in the fall or winter.

Note that students who are eligible for president awards can only hold the award while Killam-D or Tri-Agency Doctoral funding is active.

All students receiving awards should familiarize themselves with the following documents: