Mitacs Elevate Fellowship Program for Postdoctoral Students

The Mitacs Elevate Fellowship Program posts an exclusive professional development curriculum component. Fellows address complex challenges through:

• A two-year research project with a partner organization in need of high-level expertise
• A professional development curriculum that prepares Elevate fellows for success as leaders in research and industry

Fellows progress through the program in a cohort, giving them cross-disciplinary networking and peer-learning opportunities they might not have otherwise in their careers.

Over the two-year fellowship, fellows divide their time between their partner organization’s project and academic institution-based research with their academic supervisor.

• Intent to apply deadline: 15th December, 2021
• Final application deadline: 19th January 2022

Benefits of the Mitacs Elevate Fellowship Program

Elevate fellows receive:

• A $55,000 minimum annual stipend/salary
• An exclusive professional development curriculum valued at $4,000 per year
• Proposal assistance, including application feedback, from Mitacs representatives
• Certificate of completion after receipt of their exit survey and final report submission

Explore enhanced leveraging opportunities available to your partner organization with your local business development representative. 

Eligible applicants are welcome to apply for our Elevate thematic funding opportunity:

• Elevate fellows receive $70,000 minimum annual stipend/salary for projects addressing at least one of the key priority sectors of artificial intelligence, biomanufacturing, clean tech, or quantum science
• An exclusive professional development curriculum valued at $4,000 per year 
• Proposal assistance, including application feedback, from Mitacs representatives 
• Certificate of completion after receipt of their exit survey and final report submission 

Explore enhanced leveraging opportunities available to your partner organization with your local business development representative. Check out the “Thematic call’ tab for more information.

Eligibility Criteria for Postdoctoral Students

• Elevate supervisors must hold a faculty position at a Canadian university and must be eligible to administer Tri-Council funds and be in a position that allows them to supervise graduate students.
• Mitacs Elevate is open to Canadian citizens, permanent residents, and international applicants. The fellow must be based at a university located in Canada for the duration of the fellowship.
• Fellows must be committed to the two-year fellowship, including the training and development, when applying to Elevate. Replacement and/or substitute fellows are not allowed.
• Postdoctoral fellows may apply for Mitacs Elevate fellowship if their date of graduation from a PhD program is no more than 5 years prior to the proposed start date the research project.  Fellows who have had a break in their career due to military service, illness, or family leave may be considered as exceptions and must be approved in advance of proposal submission. If this situation applies to you and/or you have any questions, please contact Mitacs at elevate(at)mitacs.ca.
• Successful candidates must have fulfilled all degree requirements (e.g., successful defense, final deposit, and signoff of dissertation) for their PhD at time of project start date.
• All fellows who successfully enter into the Elevate program are responsible for ensuring that they meet the PDF eligibility criteria at their host institution and that they will hold a PDF status by the start date of their fellowship and for the two-year duration of the Elevate program.
• Fellows must not have been employed for more than six months in an R&D position outside the university after receipt of their doctoral degree; and
• Fellows must not have received an offer of employment from the partner organization except an offer of this fellowship or short-term employment of up to six months while awaiting a decision on the fellowship.
  • If the application is not recommended for an award, the candidate may not be eligible to apply again once he or she has accumulated more than six months of industrial or partner organization work. It is therefore recommended that candidates accept a temporary contract only if necessary and that the period of the contract be kept as short as possible.
• Fellows who have held a Mitacs Accelerate award as a Masters, or PhD student are eligible to apply. Applicants may also apply if they have been approved for no more than 3 internship units of Accelerate funding (1 year equivalent) support at the postdoctoral level to be completed before the start of the Elevate fellowship.  Postdoctoral fellows who have already held a Mitacs Elevate award are not eligible to apply again to Elevate or to apply afterwards to Accelerate.
• Fellows cannot apply to multiple Mitacs programs for the same period of time.

How to Apply

1. Connect with a Mitacs Business Development representative

a. Get your Elevate application started here
b. Click here for guidelines on how to write your proposal. IMPORTANT: When filling in the proposal, please make sure to follow the format provided. Changing or modifying the format provided may result in your application becoming ineligible.

2. Upload the following documents to your Elevate application: 

a. For postdoctoral fellow, please upload the following to your profile:

• Postdoctoral fellow’s CV
• One (1) recommendation letter* from a former supervisor or person familiar with the fellow’s research expertise 
• Any supplementary documents as applicable 

b. For academic supervisor, please upload the following to your profile:

• Proposed academic supervisor’s CV 
• One (1) recommendation letter* from the proposed academic supervisor 
• Any supplementary documents as applicable 

c. For partner organizations, please upload the following to your profile:

• One (1) recommendation letter* from an eligible partner organization including financial contribution in dollar amount 
• Any supplementary documents as applicable

*All recommendation letters must include letterhead and signature. Please refer here for guidelines.

3. Submit your Elevate application by January 19, 2022, at 5 p.m. PT.

a. IMPORTANT: Please connect with your academic institution or Mitacs Business Development representative to confirm internal academic institution deadlines that may impact your submission timeline.

START YOUR MITACS FELLOWSHIP APPLICATION HERE

After you apply

1. You will receive an email confirmation that your application has been received.
2. The result announcement for the Elevate thematic call for projects addressing at least one of the key priority sectors of artificial intelligence, biomanufacturing, clean tech, or quantum science is expected sometime in March 2022.

Result announcement for the Elevate standard call is expected in June 2022. 

For more information on the adjudication process, click here.

• If accepted, the project can only start after research approval of the proposal AND the receipt of the partner organization funds at Mitacs as per Mitacs Policy.
• The last day to start the project is on September 7, 2022.

Questions? Consult the FAQ or reach out to elevate(at)mitacs.ca 

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