Overview
Canada's tri-agency Canada Graduate Research Scholarship—Doctoral provides CAD 40,000 per year for 36 months. Direct SSHRC applications for the 2026 competition are due 19 October 2026 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern; institutional deadlines may be earlier.
Complete scholarship details
The Canada Graduate Research Scholarship—Doctoral (CGRS D) supports research-oriented doctoral study across health, natural sciences and engineering, and social sciences and humanities. The award value is CAD 40,000 per year for 36 months. Applicants select the federal granting agency—CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC—that best matches their research field. Applications are electronic through the relevant agency platform, but the submission channel depends on registration status and whether the Canadian institution has a quota. SSHRC states that direct applicants in the 2026 competition have until 19 October 2026 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern because the standard 17 October date falls on a weekend. Applicants who must submit through a Canadian institution must follow that institution's deadline, which is often significantly earlier.
Eligibility requirements
Applicants must have completed no more than 36 months of full-time-equivalent study in the doctoral program or eligible doctoral portion of a joint program by 31 December 2026. The doctoral program must be predominantly research-oriented and lead to a thesis or another substantial, merit-reviewed research output. Applicants may submit only one Canada Research Training Awards Suite application per academic year and may apply to CGRS D a maximum of three times. International applicants who are not Canadian citizens, permanent residents or protected persons must be registered in their doctoral program at an eligible Canadian institution by the application deadline; up to 15% of awards are available to international applicants.
Tips for this scholarship
Practical Job and Scholarship guidance. These tips do not replace official rules or create new eligibility requirements.
- Confirm which of CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC best matches your research subject before starting the application.
- Check whether you must submit through your institution and, if so, use the institution's earlier internal deadline.
- Check eligibility, funding coverage, study/project level and every required document before investing time in the application.
- Prepare transcripts, references, language tests, proposal/motivation statement and proof documents early.
- Separate the scholarship deadline from any university/program admission deadline; they may be different.
- Treat “fully funded” as a source fact only when the official provider explicitly confirms the covered costs.
Verification notes
Verified against current SSHRC and NSERC tri-agency pages. SSHRC explicitly gives the 2026 direct-application deadline as 19 October at 8:00 p.m. Eastern because 17 October falls on a weekend; this is normalized to 20 October 00:00 UTC. Institution-routed applicants can face significantly earlier internal deadlines, so the record does not present the agency deadline as universal.
Job and Scholarship is the discovery and verification layer. Confirm eligibility, dates, salary/funding and application instructions on the original source before submitting anything.
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council / Canada Research Training Awards Suite ↗