Award Overview
| Student submission deadline: | Friday, September 12, 2025 | |
| CIHR Application goes offline for applicants: | CIHR only*: | September 30, 2025 (11:59 PM) |
| Value/Duration: | $40,000 per year for 36 months | |
| Level of Study: | Doctoral | |
| Required Legal Status: | Domestic (Canadian citizen or permanent resident), Protected Persons, and (new) International | |
| Results: | April 2026, directly from The Tri-Agency | |
*Note: CIHR application on ResearchNet will go offline for University of Toronto applicants on October 1st; however, the NSERC and SSHRC application systems will remain open. All applicants for all three agencies must submit their application by their graduate unit’s deadline.
Purpose
The CGRS D is a scholarship in the Canada Research Training Awards Suite (CRTAS) administered by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). Scholarships are awarded through national competitions by these three granting agencies.
The CGRS D program supports and promotes research excellence in a wide variety of disciplines and broad fields of natural sciences and engineering, health and social sciences and humanities, including interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research. This support allows scholars to concentrate on their doctoral studies more fully, to seek out the best research mentors in their chosen fields and to contribute to the Canadian research ecosystem during and beyond the tenure of their awards.
Note: CGRS D replaced the former CGS doctoral, agency specific doctoral awards, and Vanier CGS.
Eligibility to Apply
For complete eligibility requirements and additional details, please refer to:
- Tri-Agency CGRS D website
- University of Toronto Canada Graduate Research Scholarships – Doctoral webpage.
The following is a brief summary with any changes noted as “new”.
Applicants 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) as of the application deadline, or (new) an international student currently enrolled in a doctoral program of study at an eligible Canadian institution at the time of application”;
- (new) have completed no more than 36 months** of full-time equivalent study in the doctoral program (including direct entry), 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 they are requesting funding by December 31 of the calendar year of the application;
- submit a maximum of one scholarship (master’s or doctoral) or fellowship application per academic year to either CIHR, NSERC, or SSHRC (other exceptions may apply to CIHR internships). Should more than one application be submitted, the eligible application submitted first chronologically will be retained;
- have not already received a doctoral-level scholarship or fellowship from CIHR, NSERC, or SSHRC (does not apply to CIHR Fellowships);
- not hold a tenure or tenure-track (faculty) appointment or be on leave from such an appointment concurrently with a CGRS D award; and
- (new) have not exceeded the maximum of three (3) applications submitted to the CGRS D national competition. Beginning with the fall 2025 competition, applicants will be limited to three CGRS D applications in total; only those received at the national level will count towards the maximum.
*The Tri-Agency will cap awards to international applicants at 15% maximum per agency.
**SSHRC applicants who have completed more than 36 months are no longer eligible.
Application Process
Students registered in a U of T degree program at any time between January 1- December 31 in the year of application, or on an approved leave of absence must complete the appropriate agency’s online application form and submit through their current or proposed graduate program at the University of Toronto. Applicants are to contact the unit’s graduate administrator directly regarding the submission deadline and process.
NOTE: Agency-specific award competitions (SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, NSERC PGS D) have been discontinued.
Applicants must access the online application through the respective granting agency’s portal:
- CIHR CGRS D: ResearchNet; see CIHR instructions.
- NSERC CGRS D: NSERC Online System; see NSERC instructions.
- SSHRC CGRS D: SSHRC Online System; see SSHRC instructions.
Applicants in Public Health Sciences need to make a submission on this MS Form to ensure that their unit is aware of their submission.
For transcript requirements and additional application reminders, please refer to the University of Toronto Canada Graduate Research Scholarships – Doctoral webpage.
Results
Graduate units will inform their internal applicants of the unit/departmental competition results. The SGS Graduate Awards Office will notify those who were forwarded to SGS of the University competition results in late November. The results of the national competition will be communicated directly by the Tri-Agency in April 2026.
Contacts & Resources
For more information, visit the University of Toronto Canada Graduate Research Scholarships – Doctoral webpage and the Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Doctoral Program website (housed on the NSERC website), and/or contact the appropriate Awards Officer at the SGS Graduate Awards Office:
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CIHR CGRS D Janine Harper Graduate Awards Officer P: 416-987-3555
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NSERC CGRS D Acting Graduate Awards Officer P: 416-978-2205 |
SSHRC CGRS D P: 416-978-2150 |
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CIHR: |
NSERC: |
SSHRC: |