MITACS Program: research scholarships at the University of Montreal for UNIL PhD students

The MITACS program enables UNIL PhD students to complete a research stay of 3 to 6 months at the University of Montreal (UofM). All fields of research are eligible. A stay in an institution affiliated to the University of Montreal (e.g. HEC Montreal, Polytechnic School of Montreal) is not possible.

For such a research stay, a scholarship of 6,000 Canadian dollars is available, regardless of the length of the stay. Half of this sum comes from MITACS, a Canadian not-for-profit organization, which has signed an agreement with the University of Montreal, and the other half from UNIL. In total, 5 scholarships are awarded to UNIL PhD students.

• No enrolment fee is payable to the University of Montreal 
• Stay in one of the leading research universities in the world
• Enlargement of the professional network in a new scientific and cultural environment 
• Exchange program student status and access to student services
• Most of the stay is financed by the scholarship.

• Be enrolled as a PhD student at UNIL and remain enrolled throughout the research stay at UofM
• Have a research project while wishing to benefit from the expertise of a researcher from the UofM
• The curriculum attended at UNIL must allow you to stay at the University of Montreal for 3 to 6 months
• Find a research professor at the University of Montreal who agrees to invite you and supervise your research:
  • contact your PhD supervisor at UNIL to see if he·she can put you in touch with a research professor at the University of Montreal
  • refer to the procedure to be followed to enable you to find a supervisor at the University of Montreal
• Payment of transport costs and living expenses (accommodation and food) in Montreal; these costs will be largely covered by the scholarship
• PhD students will be required to conclude an agreement with the UofM related to intellectual property
• Obligation to take out a group health insurance plan for the duration of the stay and to pay the premiums
• Compilation of a report for the attention of MITACS and of Matthias Buess within 4 weeks after the end of the stay (template report available from MITACS) 
• Completion of the application forms (see below).

• Call for applications: beginning of July 2021 
• Deadline for submitting the application forms: 4 January 2022 

An application can be sent to us at any time before the indicated deadline. However, there are two important points to keep in mind: 

• it takes approximately 16 weeks from the time the complete file is submitted and the start of the stay at the UofM
• after official acceptance of an application by MITACS, you have one year to start your research stay at the UofM. 

Please take note of the important information below before completing the application form. The forms in the "application package" must be sent electronically, completed and signed, to Mr Matthias Buess. You should not send your application directly to Anaïs Détolle (as mentioned in the program guide). 

• Please read carefully the preliminary information in the program guide (form 0 of the application form)
• In the forms to be filled out, you must describe your project during your research stay at the University of Montreal. Do not describe your thesis in general. It must be consistent with the calendar
• The "Research award adjudication guide" edited by MITACS can be consulted here. Note that this guide refers to "interns", but that UNIL will not consider a PhD student who is selected as an intern
• The stay must be entirely devoted to research – this must be reflected in the forms
• This is a full-time research stay. Therefore, do not mention courses and seminars that will be taken during the stay at UofM
• The different forms can be completed either in French or in English (see the respective version of this website)
• It is not necessary to have signed the letter of commitment for co-funding that is mentioned in the program guide (form 101)
• A PhD student being already in Canada cannot apply for a MITACS scholarship unless he or she returns to his or her country and then departs again for the research stay at the University of Montreal.