The Canada Research Training Awards Suite – Research Travel Supplements (CRTAS-RTS) (formerly known as Foreign Study Supplement (Michael Smith)) is administered by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and aims to support the next generation of innovators by providing funding and high-quality research training, cultivating research skills, fostering creativity and empowering awardees to make significant contributions to Canada’s research ecosystem, economy and prosperity.
Value and duration
The value of a CRTAS-RTS is $9,000 and is non-renewable. Up to 250 supplements are available each year, subject to the availability of funds: 45 allocated to CIHR, 80 to NSERC and 125 to SSHRC. Additional supplements may be awarded should funds become available.
The CRTAS-RTS supports a minimum of two months (59 days) and a maximum of six months (184 days) of research travel.
You must start your research travel:
- on or after the application deadline date
- during an active master’s or doctoral award
- within one year of receiving the notice of award for a CRTAS-RTS
You cannot take up a CRTAS-RTS during an interruption of your master’s or doctoral award.
If you begin your research travel before results are announced, the agencies are not liable for any costs incurred if the application is not funded or is deemed ineligible.
Deadline
June 10
Late applications will not be accepted.
Should additional funding be available, the agencies may announce a second intake with a deadline of October 10.
Eligibility
To be eligible to apply for this supplement, you must:
- be a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident of Canada, or a Protected Person under subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada)
- have accepted or currently hold a master’s or doctoral award from CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC (including a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship)
- begin your proposed research travel on or after the application deadline date
- not have held or be currently holding a Canada Graduate Scholarships – Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplements (CGS-MSFSS)
- not hold a CRTAS-RTS more than once
You may apply more than once for a CRTAS-RTS if you were unsuccessful in previous competitions or declined a previous CRTAS-RTS offer.
Eligible master’s and doctoral programs include:
- Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Doctoral program
- Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Master’s program
- Canada Graduate Scholarship – Doctoral program
- Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s program
- CIHR Doctoral Foreign Study Award
- NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships - Doctoral program
- SSHRC Doctoral Fellowships program
- Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships program
Host institutions and supervisors:
If your master’s or doctoral award is held in Canada, the supplement must be for research outside of Canada. If your doctoral award is held outside Canada, the supplement must be used for research in Canada.
Eligible host institutions include universities, interuniversity research centres, international or national research institutes or laboratories, or other institutions with a research mandate. If your doctoral award is held outside Canada, you cannot hold the supplement at a Canadian federal government research institution.
A host supervisor must be a researcher affiliated with and employed full-time at the proposed eligible host institution. Research assistants and postdoctoral researchers are not eligible to be host supervisors.
If you are unsure about the eligibility of a particular host supervisor or host institution, contact the appropriate federal granting agency prior to submitting your application.
How to apply
Applicants must submit their application directly to the relevant agency electronically via a secure portal. We invite you to consult the scholarship website to access the application form and detailed instructions.
Important: Part 6 of the Research Travel Supplement application (Confirmation of Institutional Approval) requires the signature of an authorized institutional official. Students must contact the Financial Aid and Awards Service at [email protected] well in advance of their submission deadline to arrange for the required signature.
Result Notification
The agencies will send results within two months of the application deadline.
If your master’s or doctoral award is held at a Canadian institution, the agencies will also notify the institution.
You must notify the agency of your decision to accept or decline the award by the deadline indicated in the notice of award sent by the agency.
Any supplement not accepted by the deadline indicated in the notice of award will be cancelled.
Accepting or declining the scholarship
Successful applicants must notify the granting agency of their acceptance or refusal of the offer via email as well as cc’ing [email protected].
The agency will cancel any supplement not accepted by the deadline date indicated in the notice of award.
* The information on this page is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment from the University of Ottawa.