Awards and Deadlines
All awards listed are for current UBC CS graduate students. The deadlines may change from year-to-year. Students should review the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies website for the deadline and the complete list of awards available.
September
| Award Name | Application Deadline | Summary |
| Canada Graduate Scholarships Doctoral (CGSD) Program | Likely in September | The Canada Graduate Scholarships - Doctoral (CGSD) program is a federal program of scholarships awarded through national competitions by the granting agencies: the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). |
| Affiliated Fellowships Doctoral Program | Likely in September | The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies offers Affiliated Fellowships each year to current and prospective full-time UBC graduate students regardless of citizenship or visa status. |
| CIHR Doctoral Research Awards | Likely in September | The CIHR Doctoral Research Awards provide special recognition and support to students who are pursuing a doctoral degree in a health-related field. |
| Killam Doctoral Scholarships | Likely in September | The primary purpose for the Killam Doctoral Scholarships is to support advanced education and research at five Canadian universities and the Canada Council for the Arts. |
October
| Award Name | Deadline | Summary |
| IBM Scholarship | The IBM PhD Fellowship Awards nomination period is closed | Exceptional Doctoral students |
| ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award | Likely in October | Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) established the Doctoral Dissertation Award program to recognize and encourage superior research and writing by doctoral candidates in computer science and engineering. The award is presented each June at the ACM Awards Banquet and is accompanied by a prize of $20,000 plus travel expenses to the banquet. All winning dissertations are published exclusively in print and electronic formats as part of the ACM Books Series, which includes distribution through the ACM Digital Library. Honorable Mention(s) may also be awarded, with a prize of $10,000 shared among recipients. |
November
| Award Name | Deadline | Summary |
| CRA-E Graduate Fellows Program | Applications are now closed | The CRA-E Graduate Fellows program provides opportunities for Ph.D. candidates in a computing field to contribute to CRA-E projects, to network with computer science education advocates on the committee, and to engage in advocacy for mentoring undergraduate students and promote computer science research and undergraduate education at the national level. |
| IBM PhD Fellowship Award | Likely in early November | Since 1951, the IBM PhD Fellowship Program has collaborated with faculty, students and universities by recognizing and supporting exceptional PhD students that address focused areas of interest in technology. |
December
| Award Name | Deadline | Summary |
| Canada Graduate Scholarships Master’s (CGS M) Program | December 1 | The objective of the Canada Graduate Scholarships-Master's (CGS M) Program is to help develop research skills and assist in the training of high-calibre scholars who are engaged in eligible master's or, in some cases, doctoral programs in Canada. |
| Affiliated Fellowships Master's Program | December 1 | The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies offers Affiliated Fellowships each year to current and prospective full-time UBC-Vancouver graduate students regardless of citizenship or visa status. |
| Google Lime Scholarship | Likely December | The Google Lime Scholarship provides funding and networking retreats for computer science students with disabilities. |
| IBM PhD fellowships | December 15 - early February | Since 1951, the IBM PhD Fellowship Program has collaborated with faculty, students and universities by recognizing and supporting exceptional PhD students that address focused areas of interest in technology. |
| Jane Street Graduate Research Fellowship | 17th December | In its second year, the Fellowship supports students who have at least one year remaining in a program in computer science, math, physics, or statistics. Fellows are awarded full tuition and fees for the upcoming academic year and a $45,000 USD (or local currency equivalent) stipend to help with living expenses. This year, we are excited to expand the fellowship to include Canadian and European universities. International students are eligible and encouraged to apply. |
January
February
| Award Name | Deadline | Summary |
| Aboriginal Graduate Fellowships | Likely in February | Multi-year fellowships are offered to Indigenous graduate students. |
| Mackenzie King Memorial Scholarship | Likely in February | Mackenzie King Scholarships support graduates of Canadian universities who pursue graduate study in any discipline, in Canada or elsewhere. |
March
| Award Name | Deadline | Summary |
| Governor General's Gold Medal | Likely in March | A gold medal is awarded to the graduate student who has achieved the most outstanding academic record in the graduating class for the Doctoral degree. A second gold medal is awarded to the graduate student who has achieved most outstanding academic record in the graduating class for the master’s degree with thesis. |
| CAGS/ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation | Likely in March | The CAGS-ProQuest Distinguished Dissertation Award recognizes Canadian doctoral dissertations that make unusually significant and original contributions to their academic field. They were established in 1994 and are presented annually by the Canadian Association for Graduate Studies (CAGS), with sponsorship support provided by ProQuest. There are two awards: one for engineering, medical sciences and natural sciences; and one for fine arts, humanities and social sciences. Winners of this award will be granted a $1,500 cash prize, a certificate of recognition. |
| CAIAC Best Doctoral Dissertation Award | Mid March | This award recognizes an outstanding PhD thesis completed at a Canadian University in the field of Artificial Intelligence. The winner will receive a monetary award and will be invited to give a talk at the next Canadian AI Conference. Registration cost and travel expenses will be covered by CAIAC. |
| CAIAC Best Master's Thesis Award | Mid March | This award recognizes an outstanding masters-level thesis completed at a Canadian University in the field of Artificial Intelligence. The winner will receive a monetary prize and will be invited to give a talk at the next Graduate Student Symposium of the Canadian AI conference. |
| Walter Sumner Memorial Fellowship | Likely Late March | The Walter C. Sumner Memorial Fellowships support Canadian citizens engaged in doctoral studies in Chemistry, Physics, Electrical Engineering or Computer Science. |
April
| Award Name | Deadline | Summary |
| Google PhD Fellowship | April 7 | Google PhD Fellowships support PhD students pursuing research in computer science and related disciplines. |
| Schmidt Science Fellowships | Likely in April | The Schmidt Science Fellows program provides the world’s best emerging scientists with new skills and perspectives to develop novel solutions to society’s challenges, become scientific and societal thought leaders, and accelerate ground-breaking discoveries. |
May
| Award Name | Deadline | Summary |
| 4YF for PhD Track students | Likely early May | The department collects nominations for the Four Year Fellowship for PhD track students who started last September and January. These students should be able to transfer to the PhD program in the coming academic year. |
| Spring Graduate Awards Competition | Likely mid May | A number of University awards for the upcoming academic year are available to current and incoming graduate students. |
June
| Award Name | Deadline | Summary |
| Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship | Likely start in June | Microsoft Research PhD Fellowships support students pursuing research aligned to the research topics carried out by Microsoft Research |
July
August
| Award Name | Deadline | Summary |
| Vanier Scholarship | Likely in August | The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships (Vanier CGS) program is designed 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 the social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and engineering, and health-related fields. The Vanier CGS is valued at $50,000 per year for up to three years. |