Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement (MSFSS)

The MSFSS program supports active Tri-Council master's and doctoral CGS award holders with travel supplements of up to $6,000. These supplements are available to help offset the costs of undertaking research studies outside of Canada for a defined period. They are awarded by Canada's three federal funding agencies:

• Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

Amount

Up to $6,000

Application deadline

June or October

Are you eligible?

To be eligible to apply for this funding opportunity, you must:

• be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada by the application deadline dates;
• be registered at an eligible Canadian institution at the time of application;
• have accepted or currently hold one of the following Canada Graduate Scholarships:
  • Joseph-Armand Bombardier (SSHRC);
  • Alexander Graham Bell (NSERC);
  • Frederick Banting and Charles Best (CIHR); or
  • Vanier CGS (if eligible);
• undertake your proposed trip abroad no earlier than the competition deadline date; and
• not hold, or have held, any other CGS-MSFSS during the course of your graduate studies.

How to apply

• There are two MSFSS competitions each year – one in June and one in October.
• The Faculty of Graduate Studies has an internal deadline for your application (always set earlier than the deadlines noted on the NSERC, SSHRC, and CIHR websites) and selects which applications to submit to the granting agencies.
• If you are an active CGS award holder you will receive an email from the Faculty of Graduate Studies, before each MSFSS competition cycle, to advise you of the application process and internal submission deadline.
• If you are a qualified applicant, you must complete the necessary documentation and submit it to the Faculty of Graduate Studies for consideration.

Acceptance criteria

The university is restricted by how many MSFSS applications we can send forward to the granting agencies. The Faculty of Graduate Studies is informed of the number of supplements available to them in each of the three areas of research disciplines. A committee of associate deans will review the applications and decide which ones will be forwarded to the agencies with a recommendation.

• June MSFSS competition - you will be advised if your application has been forwarded to the appropriate agency in early June. Official funding decisions are announced in late July.
• October MSFSS competition - you will be advised if your application has been forwarded to the appropriate agency in early October. Official funding decisions are announced in late November.