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Finances and Scholarships

Guaranteed Stipend

Graduate Students in Cell and Systems Biology are guaranteed a minimum annual stipend. This minimum is approximately $16,500 plus 2012-2013 tuition and fees.  For domestic (i.e., Canadian) students this is an annual income of $24,902 and for new international students the stipend is $35,312.  The minimum stipend is guaranteed for students in the funded cohort who maintain good academic standing.  The funded cohort includes M.Sc. students in years 1-2, PhD students in years 1-4 if they entered with an MSc degree, or in years 1-5 if they entered directly from a BSc degree. Transfer students from the MSc program are guaranteed a total of five years of funding.

Students are required to be teaching assistants as part of their minimum funding guarantee. For students without external scholarships, 140 hours of teaching are required at present.  In August preceding the new academic year documents detailing the stipend for the coming academic year are sent to individual students and their supervisor(s) along with an explanatory letter outlining components of the stipend and associated information.

Scholarships and Awards

NOTE: useful information can be found at www.sgs.utoronto.ca/informationfor/students/money.htm

1. NSERC, OGS, and CIHR CGSM

The CSB departmental deadline for NSERC scholarship applications is Thursday October 4, 2012 and the deadline for OGS applications is Wednesday May 1, 2013 for domestic students, and Thursday March 14th, 2013 for International students.  Students must complete applications online by the respective due dates. 

CSB will provide a life sciences NSERC/OGS workshop on Friday, September 21st at 12:00 pm in Room 432, Ramsay Wright Zoology Labs, 25 Harbord St.  Students interested in applying for either of these scholarships through CSB should plan to attend this useful session.

Much more general SGS NSERC/OGS Workshops will be held on all three campuses: 

UTM - Wednesday September 12, from 10am-12pm in Room 3130 (Council Chambers) of the William G. Davis Building

St. George Campus -  Friday September 14, from 12pm-1:30pm in Room 2118 of Sindney Smith Hall

UTSC - Monday September 17, from 10:30am-12:30pm in Room AA160 of the New Council Chambers

General information about NSERC scholarships can also be found at the main NSERC page at http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/  and more specifically, for NSERC Postgraduate Awards, see www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Students-Etudiants/PG-CS/BellandPostgrad-BelletSuperieures_eng.asp  

The CIHR CGSM departmental scholarship deadline is Monday, November 19th.  Please note that the deadline to apply using the ResearchNet online application could be earlier than the departmental deadline.  You will not be able to apply and meet the November 19th deadline if you do not have the ResearchNet application completed by the date that the application closes.

The CIHR website can be found here. 

2. The Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarships in Science and Technology (QEII-GSST, formerly known as OGSST)

There are two QEII-GSST awards available to CSB graduate students – the Joan M. Coleman Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology for CSB students conducting research focused on plants and the Sherwin S. Desser Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology for CSB students conducting research focused on animals.  These scholarships are each valued at $15,000, and nominations for both QEII-GSST awards are sent to the School of Graduate Studies by the CSB Graduate Office.  The competition will be held simultaneously with the OGS competition, and all domestic OGS applications submitted to the department by May 1, 2013 will automatically be entered into the QEII-GSST competition. These scholarships count as part of the guaranteed minimum graduate stipend for the academic year beginning in September following the May competition.

3. Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships

The Vanier CGS program aims to attract and retain world-class doctoral students by supporting students who demonstrate both leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies in social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and engineering, and health.

Canadian and international students are eligible to be nominated for a Vanier CGS. In an effort to support students in broadening their research horizons and seeking new challenges, the Vanier CGS program strongly encourages candidates to pursue their studies beyond the university that granted their undergraduate and graduate degrees. Students wishing to apply for a Vanier CGS must do so through the Canadian university to which they are applying for doctoral studies. The Vanier CGS Scholarships are valued at $50,000 per annum for a maximum of three years.

For more information, please visit the Vanier CGS website. 

4. Ontario Trillium Scholarships

The Ontario Trillium Scholarship (OTS) is designed to attract international PhD students to the University of Toronto.

Value and Duration:

The University will have 15 awards to distribute annually.  Each OTS will be worth $40,000 per year, and is renewable for four years. 

*Please note that students who intend to begin in a masters program and transfer to a PhD within 12 months are not eligible for the OTS program. Nominees must be entering a PhD program directly.

Deadline: Deadlines occur in the spring of each year. Check with your graduate unit, as students must be nominated for the Ontario Trillium Scholarship. 

5. Connaught International Scholarships

These prestigious scholarships are for international doctoral students only and are funded by the University of Toronto. In late February, the CSB Graduate Admissions Committee nominates outstanding candidates from the group of international students who have been offered admission to the department. Further information is available at http://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/informationfor/students/money/support/international.htm

Frequently asked questions about Connaught International Scholarships can be found here.

6. Graduate Admission Awards

For the 2012-2013 academic year, the Department of Cell and Systems Biology awarded 10 Department of Cell and systems Biology Graduate Admission Awards to exceptional graduate applicants. These students were chosen by the Graduate Admissions Committee and no application was necessary. These awards were valued at $3,000 and are in addition to the minimum guaranteed stipend. This program may be continued in future years but information is not yet available.

7. Cell and Systems Biology Restricted Awards

Through the generosity of private donors and matching funds from the University, a substantial number of endowments have been established to provide internal awards to CSB graduate students.  In the Department of Cell And Systems Biology, many of these awards are provided as a top-up to the student's regular stipend in recognition of research and academic excellence.  Further information on these awards is posted here.