iCORE ICT Graduate Student Scholarship

An annual $3 million scholarship program for graduate students studying in areas related to Information and Communications Technology (ICT) at Alberta universities.

Program Objectives

iCORE has partnered with Alberta Advanced Education and Technology (AET) and Alberta Ingenuity to manage an annual $3 million scholarship program for graduate students in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) at Alberta universities. These iCORE ICT Graduate Student Scholarships are intended to help Alberta attract and retain world-class graduate students studying in an ICT related area.

This program will:

Further pioneer ICT research in Alberta at the highest levels of excellence
Train highly qualified personnel who drive Alberta's future innovation economy
Create networks of highly qualified people around the world who are linked to Alberta's research institutions
Create and enable strategic linkages with global leaders in priority areas for Alberta
Encourage a sustainable culture of intellectual and entrepreneurial excellence

There are two categories of scholarships within this program:

ICT Automatic top-up awards for Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) recipients
Provincially evaluated awards for all other students

Note: The iCORE ICT Graduate Student Scholarships are awarded by iCORE, however, Alberta Ingenuity will collect and evaluate applications for this program on behalf of iCORE.

DEFINITION OF ICT (Information and Communications Technology)

ICT is a broad-based enabling discipline crossing many research fields including but not limited to computer science, mathematics, biology, physics and many applications in areas across all branches of science, engineering and medicine.

Applicants must identify if their proposal is related to ICT. The ICT Review Panel will confirm the application's relevance to an ICT area.

ICT AUTOMATIC TOP-UP AWARDS

Students currently holding a Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) at an Alberta university in the area of ICT research, who do not hold other iCORE awards, are eligible for an ICT Automatic Top-Up award. A short description of their research project must be provided along with a copy of the offer letter. Contact wong@icore.ca for application forms.

ICT automatic top-up scholarships have a value of at least $10,000 per year (see Stipend chart below) and match the CGS award in duration. In addition, each student will also receive an annual research allowance of $1,500.

PROVINCIALLY COMPETITIVE AWARDS

Students who do not hold a Canada Graduate Scholarship must apply for funding through iCORE's annual scholarship competition.

Applications for the iCORE ICT Graduate Student Scholarship are evaluated by an ICT Review Panel and ranked within the ICT category, as well as with respect to other scholarship categories of Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Nanotechnology. iCORE uses the ranked list of applications to distribute the iCORE ICT scholarships.

The number of iCORE ICT scholarships awarded each year varies depending on the quality of the applications received and the value of each scholarship stipend.

TIMELINE

Application Deadline: December 1, 2009

Announcement of Results: mid-March (first release of award offers)
March 31 (release of remaining result letters)

Scholarship start dates: May 1, September 1 or January 1 (see Start Date)

ELIGIBILITY

The award is open to candidates entering or currently in a full-time graduate program at an Alberta university, in any discipline, working towards a research-based master's or doctoral degree, as long as an ICT relationship can be demonstrated.

Master's students

As of December 31, 2009, eligible students will have completed not more than 12 months of a master's program

Doctoral students

As of December 31, 2009, eligible students will have completed not more than 24 months of a doctoral program
For doctoral students who transfer from a master's program prior to completing the master's degree, eligibility is calculated starting from the first academic session in which you were registered in a doctoral program

Candidates from outside Alberta or Canada are eligible, provided they meet all eligibility requirements for admission to an Alberta university. The candidate should contact the university for information on those requirements.

When candidates have interrupted their training for parenting or other reasons, it is possible to have the program start date for eligibility adjusted upon request. Candidates should contact Lilly Wong at iCORE to explain any special circumstances prior to submitting an application, to determine if they are eligible.

SPONSORING SUPERVISOR

A faculty supervisor possessing both a record of productive research and sufficient resources to ensure the satisfactory conduct of the ICT-related research must sponsor the candidate.

TERM OF AWARD

Master's students

Master's funding will not extend beyond the 28th month of a master's program.

New master's student (at deadline, student is not registered in a master's program)
Award term: 24 months
Funding can be extended if the student registers in a doctoral program during the first 24 months of funding. Support is available for a total of 48 months.
First year master's student (at deadline, student is registered in an master's program and has completed up to 12 months)
Award term: 12 months
Funding can be extended if the student registers in a doctoral program during the first 12 months of funding. Support is available for a total of 48 months.]

Doctoral students

New doctoral student (at deadline, student is not registered in a doctoral program but has completed a master's degree prior to starting PhD or was admitted directly into PhD after completing a bachelor's degree.)
Award term: 48 months
First year doctoral student (at deadline, student has completed up to 12 months of PhD program)
Award term: 36 months
Second year doctoral student (at deadline, student has completed between 12 and 24 months of PhD program)
Award term: 24 months

Award terms for students who transfer from a master's program into a doctoral program without completing a master's degree will be based on the start date of the master's program.

Exceptional cases
iCORE recognizes that situations arise which impact completion of a degree program. In such cases, iCORE will consider a one-time extension request of 12 months. A clear and compelling case for the need for additional time and/or funding must be demonstrated.

REPORTING

Scholarships are renewable upon submission of satisfactory annual progress reports.

START DATE

New graduate students with a program start date of January 1, 2010 or later can take up the award in May, September or January following the offer of award.

Existing graduate students with a program start date prior to January 1, 2010 can take up the award in May or September following the offer of award.

LOCATION OF AWARD

Scholarships are valid only at an Alberta university.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Please note: These awards are known as iCORE ICT Graduate Student Scholarships, but the application and review process is managed by Alberta Ingenuity on behalf of iCORE.

Submit one original COMPLETE application by the deadline. Forms are available on this webpage.

Further instructions are provided on the application form.

REVIEW PROCEDURE AND SELECTION CRITERIA

The Alberta Ingenuity Graduate Scholarship Review Committee reviews all applications and evaluates them based on the excellence of the student and the proposed research.

Detailed criteria are available on the webpage mentioned above.

STIPEND

Automatic Top-Ups

CGS AWARD

CGS VALUE

(per year)

ICT STIPEND

(per year)

TOTAL

(per year)

CGS M (Master's)

$17,500

$12,500

$30,000

CGS D (Doctoral)

$35,000

$10,000

$45,000

Provincially competitive awards

OTHER AWARD	OTHER AWARD (per year)	ICT STIPEND (per year)	TOTAL (per year)
PGS M (Master's)	$17,300	$12,700	$30,000
None (Master's)		$30,000	$30,000
PGS D (Doctoral)	$21,000	$15,000	$36,000
None (Doctoral)		$36,000	$36,000

The full stipend of a provincially competitive award for a master's student is $30,000 per year and $36,000 per year for a doctoral student.

The amount of the stipend may be affected by other sources of income as follows:

Other major peer-reviewed graduate awards (such as NSERC CGS, PGS, IPS, Killam or Ralph Steinhauer Award of Distinction)
Students who hold another major, peer-reviewed graduate award will be awarded an iCORE award, if allowed by the other funding agency. The iCORE ICT award is worth at least $10,000 per year for the duration of the outside award. The stipend will increase to the full amount of $30,000 or $36,000 per year when the other funding ends.
Other awards:
Students offered an iCORE Graduate Scholarship in ICT may receive an unlimited number of awards from other sources, as long as the value of any other single award does not exceed $12,000. The value of the other award will be determined by the amount provided to the student after the iCORE award has been implemented.

All students, regardless of awards held or applied for, follow the same application process and are reviewed in competition with the other applications.

RESEARCH ALLOWANCE

A yearly research allowance of $1,500 will be set up through the university research accounting office and administered by the supervisor. This research allowance may be used by the student for the following purposes:

Travel expenses for relocation
Travel expenses to attend scientific meetings
Purchase of scientific materials, books, periodicals and journals
Supplies and expendables
Computer hardware and software
Costs for the use of libraries, computer and animal facilities
Costs associated with the publication of research results

All purchased scientific and computer materials become the property of the institution. The research allowance may not be used for hospitality or entertaining expenses.

CONDITIONS OF AWARD

Please refer to the "iCORE Graduate Student Scholarship in ICT Handbook" for regulations about holding the award, such as payment of awards, registration status, acknowledging support, leaves, changes, terminations, etc. The handbook will be provided to students who are offered a scholarship and is available at our webpage.

INQUIRIES? Please contact

Kelly French
Manager, Grants
(780) 450-5550
kelly.french@albertainnovates.ca