Improving the Accessibility of Federal Graduate Research Awards in Canada

Canadian federal graduate research awards provide graduate students with support that impacts both their experience during their degree and their future career progression. Obtaining federal funding during graduate education qualifies students for additional awards, provides financial security, and increases their research independence. However, the number and value of awards have remained unchanged for almost two decades and the evaluation and eligibility criteria are not designed to encourage applications from students from historically underrepresented groups (URGs). The three federal research funding agencies (the Tri-Agency) have recently released an Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan to better support early-career individuals from these groups, with a commitment to “identify and address barriers to equitable participation of members from underrepresented groups” (Initiative 1.2.2) and increase participation of URGs in the post-secondary research system (Objective 2). In this memo, we propose three changes to broaden the eligibility and evaluation of federal student awards, as well as increase and standardize the award values. Ultimately, these recommendations will reduce the barriers faced by URGs in applying for and obtaining these awards in a manner not currently addressed by the Tri-Agency’s EDI plan.