Master's or Doctoral Training

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Eligible applicants

• Applicants with a university undergraduate or Master's degree

  Health professionals with a valid licence to practise in Québec must apply to one or other of the following award programs:

  • Master's and Doctoral Training for Applicants With a Professional Degree

  • Professional Postgraduate Training in Research (Fellowship)

• Canadian citizens or permanent residents domiciled in Québec (as defined in the Common Rules and Regulations, art. 1.1), on the date the award becomes effective, or by June 30, 2012

  This status must remain in effect for the duration of the award.

Terms and conditions

• Must be enrolled in a full-time Master's or doctoral program as of September 30, 2012.

  Master's awards are reserved for applicants who have been enrolled in a master's research program, since one year or less as of April 30, 2012

  Ph.D. awards are reserved for applicants who have been enrolled in a doctoral research program for three years or less as of April 30, 2012.

  Students enrolled in a doctoral research program straight after his or her bachelor's degree must apply first to master's research program if they are eligible.

  The number of years is calculated on the basis of the enrolment date for the master's program, or doctoral program, according to the application.

  Students who have suspended their master's or doctoral studies to take parental leave may defer their period of eligibility for a maximum of one year.

  If an applicant is a handicapped person in accordance with the Act ensuring handicapped persons their rights for academic, professional and social integration, the rules for registration do not apply. The duration of the award remains at 2 years for the Master's and 3 years for the Doctorate.

  Applicants enrolling in a post-Master's qualification program in France (Diplôme d'études approfondies, D.E.A. or the equivalent) must apply to the Master's Training Program.

• Master's training awards: At the time of applying, the applicant must have earned a grade point average of B+, or the equivalent, in university undergraduate studies.

  Only grades for the degree presented for admission to the Master's or doctoral program will be considered.

• Must submit a health research project and be supervised by an independent investigator (as defined in the Common Rules and Regulations, art. 1.2).

  Applicants enrolled in a Master's program requiring rotations among several laboratories during the first year, and who therefore have more than one research supervisor, must provide a detailed description of the program and the laboratory work that will replace the research project.

Basic training in research ethics

Basic training in research ethics is compulsory for all FRSQ awardees when their research project involves human subjects.

The term "research project involving human subjects" applies when the research project involves:

• living human subjects
• cadavers, human remains, tissues, biological fluids, gametes, embryos or fetuses, cells or genetic materials
• personal information on file. Personal information is defined as information that enables a person to be identified.

This basic training consists of successful completion of Levels 1 and 3 of the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux On-line Tutorial in Research Ethics.

Awardees must complete this basic training within a year of receipt of a positive response concerning the FRSQ award.

FRSQ encourages awardees to obtain, when possible, one-credit research ethics training in addition to the compulsory basic training in research ethics.

TRAINING LOCATION

Choice of training location

Applicants must be enrolled full-time in a Master's or doctoral program in a recognized Canadian or foreign university.

Change of training location

Awardees wishing to change their training location must send the FRSQ a written request detailing the reasons for the change and describing the new research project.

The new research supervisor must

• provide the FRSQ an agreement via email to supervise the awardee
• send the FRSQ via email the Canadian Common CV in PDF format

DURATION OF AWARD

Effective starting date

Between April 1 and September 30, 2012

Master's award

2 years or until completion of Master's studies, whichever comes first

• Applicants continuing on to doctoral studies may use any remaining portion of their Master's award towards those studies.

Doctoral award

3 years or upon termination of doctoral studies, the shorter of the two, if the candidate was registered in the doctoral program for 2 years or less on April 30, 2012

2 years or upon termination of doctoral studies, the shorter of the two, if the candidate was registered in the doctoral program for 3 years or less on April 30, 2012

• Applicants undertaking doctoral studies immediately following a bachelor's degree must first apply to the Master's Training competition, provided they are eligible.

Parental leave

Awardees are entitled to a maximum of 6 months of paid parental leave (maternity, paternity or adoption), in which case the duration of the award will be extended by a maximum of 6 months. If both parents are awardees, only one of them is entitled to paid parental leave.

An applicant who wishes to take parental leave must have held the award for at least 4 months, unless he or she is already receiving an award from the FRSQ.

Awardees must give the FRSQ written notice of their intention to take parental leave, accompanied by a statement from their research director confirming that their training is being suspended for parental leave.

The paternity leave cannot begin before the first week of the child's birth. The awardee must attach a copy of the birth certificate to his application.

Sick leave

The awardee may defer the award in case of serious illness (his or her own or the illness of a close family member) upon presentation of a medical certificate that includes the precise length of leave prescribed by the physician. Payments will be suspended during that period.

AMOUNT OF AWARD

Master's award

$ 15 000/year

Awardees who continue on to doctoral studies without having used all the instalments of their Master's award may transfer the remaining instalments to their doctoral studies.

Doctoral award

$20 000/year

Administration

The awards are paid in instalments at the applicant's training location.

Income Tax

The awardee is responsible for paying the income tax due on amounts received from the FRSQ. No taxes are withheld at source by the FRSQ on amounts disbursed during the tax year in question.

The date the amount is granted determines the year in which the awardee must declare the amounts received as income for personal tax calculations.

Revenue Canada's T4A form and Revenue Québec's form 1 are sent to the awardee's mailing address (the one shown in the candidate's module /module du candidat) in February of the following year of taxation.

The details provided in this form are for information purposes only. The FRSQ is not responsible for the validity of the information given about income tax.

Parental leave

See Duration of award

OTHER SOURCES OF INCOME

Authorized paid work

Awardees may accept a teaching load of 45 hours per session or a job that does not represent more than 150 hours of remunerated work per session, provided their director is in agreement and that this work does not interfere with their research activities.

Institution or supervisor

The awardee may accept additional funds from the institution or his/her research supervisor.

Concurrent funding

See Common Rules and Regulations, art. 6.13

REVIEW

Process

All applications are reviewed by committees of experts representing various disciplines and institutions.

Criteria

Academic record

• Excellence of academic record
• Awards
• Honours
• Distinctions

Aptitudes and experience

• Lectures and presentations
• Publications
• Research projects and research training programs

Research project

• Clear, concise background for research problem
• Clarity and agreement between hypotheses and objectives
• Relevant methods and analysis
• Feasibility
• Originality of project and contribution to the advancement of knowledge

Training environment

• Justification of the choice of the candidate
• Quality of supervisor's publication record related to student training record

The weighting of the evaluation criteria and sub-criteria is detailed in the evaluation grids (see the toolbox).

AWARDEE'S AGREEMENT

 

In accepting this award, the awardee agrees to observe the Common Rules and Regulations, the Policy regarding open access to published research outputs as well as the terms and conditions stipulated in this program description.

The award will be revoked if the awardee fails to observe these rules.

The awardee must notify the FRSQ of his/her acceptance of the award within 30 days of receiving the offer.

Failure to give notice of acceptance will be regarded as refusal of the award.

The awardee agrees to provide official proof of enrolment from the Registrar's Office at the start of each academic year.

SUPERVISOR'S AGREEMENT

 

The research supervisor agrees to oversee the awardee's work and to provide the material and financial resources required for the research project.

IMPORTANT MODIFICATIONS SINCE LAST COMPETITION

 

• Required documents
• Evaluation grids now available in the toolbox
• Partnership awards

SPECIFIC THEMES FUNDED BY PARTNERS

 

FRSQ offers a certain number of awards in collaboration with its partners. The portion of financing from the FRSQ and the partner respectively, as well as other funding features such as the duration of the award and renewal options, if any, may vary according to the agreement entered into with each partner.

There is a four-step process for selecting applicants eligible for partnership funding:

1. Applicants select a partner or partners from a list. The applicants must be involved in research in the fields targeted by the potential partner(s). See the Partenaires page of the form. To be considered for a partnership award, applicants must select a partner on the form.
2. The FRSQ transmits an anonymous list of applicants to the partner(s) for evaluation of how the proposed research fits in with the field(s) of research and the research priorities of the partner(s)
3. The FRSQ receives a list of the applicants approved by the partner(s)
4. Further to review by a peer committee or expert committee, the applicants who obtained the rank of excellence for scientific merit may be selected by the FRSQ for an offer of partnership funding

As with all FRSQ awards, partnership awards are granted by merit and applications are subject to scientific review by an expert committee or a peer committee and to the FRSQ's standards of excellence.

Alzheimer's disease
(Ph.D. only)

Alzheimer Society of Canada

Applicant must also submit an application to the Alzheimer Society of Canada.

Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health
(Ph.D. only)

• Fondation des maladies du cœur du Québec

  Aimed at applicants who are collaborating with a researcher whose work is currently funded by the FMCQ.

Chiropractic
(Ph.D. only)

• Fondation de recherche chiropratique du Québec
• Ordre des chiropraticiens du Québec

Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis
(Ph.D. only)

Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of Canada (CCFC)

Environment-cancer
(Ph.D. only)

Cancer Research Society

Only aimed at applicants who received a project grant under the CRS's Environment-cancer Fund – GRePEC competition in partnership with the FRSQ and MDEIE.

Hypertension
(Ph.D. only)

Société québécoise d'hypertension artérielle (SQHA) = Jacques de Champlain Award

(Includes a research support supplement)

Infectious diseases and AIDS

Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS) – Service de lutte contre les infections transmissibles sexuellement et par le sang (SLITSS)

Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada

Applicant must also submit an application to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada.

Nutrition and Health

Programme de recherche en partenariat sur la préservation et l'amélioration de la valeur nutritive des aliments en lien avec la santé

• Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies (FQRNT)
• Fondation des maladies du cœur Québec (and Visez santé)
• Ministère de l'Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l'Alimentation (MAPAQ)
• Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS)

Obesity-related chronic diseases
(Ph.D. only)

Environmental, cultural and social factors to prevent obesity-related chronic diseases

• Centre de recherche en prévention de l'obésité (CRPO)
• Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC)
• Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux du Québec (MSSS)

Occupational Health and Safety

Research training program in the field of ethical, economic, legal, social and environmental issues related to nanotechnologies (NE3LS)

• NanoQuébec
• Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST)
• Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies (FQRNT)
• Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC)
• Réseau de recherche sur les aspects éthiques, économiques, légaux, sociaux et environnementaux des nanotechnologies (NE3LS)

Optimal drug use

Conseil du médicament

Parkinson's disease

Parkinson Society Canada

Applicant must also submit an application to the Parkinson Society of Canada.

Perinatology

Integrated Research Network in Perinatology of Quebec and Eastern Ontario (IRNPQEO)

(Only applicants who are members of the Integrated Research Network in Perinatology of Québec and Eastern Ontario (IRNPQEO) are eligible.)

Road Safety
(Ph.D. only)

Programme de recherche universitaire en sécurité routière

• Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC)
• Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ)

 

Programme de recherche en sécurité routière FQRNT-MTQ-FRSQ

• Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies (FQRNT)
• Ministère des Transports (MTQ)

Suicide

Réseau québécois de recherche sur le suicide (RQRS)

Trauma
(Ph.D. only)

Traumatology Research Consortium

• Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS)
• Société de l'assurance automobile du Québec (SAAQ)
• Institut de recherche Robert-Sauvé en santé et en sécurité du travail (IRSST)
• Provincial Rehabilitation Research Network (REPAR)
• Association québécoise d'établissements de santé et des services sociaux (AQESSS)
• Quebec Association of Rehabilitation Establishments for the Physically Impaired (AERDPQ)

Updated: 15-06-2011