Funding your graduate studies

The department offers competitive multi-year funding packages that are comprised of a variety of sources. These may include internal and external fellowships, research stipends, research assistantships, teaching assistantships, and course lectureships. While the minimum amount of funding is consistent for all students, the particular configuration of funding (the precise combination of stipends and teaching assistantships for example) is unique to each student and may differ from year to year.

As part of students’ yearly guaranteed funding packages upon admission to our program, additional opportunities present themselves for funding support during a student’s graduate career. Note that as part of their guaranteed multi-year funding packages, students are required to apply for any and all funds for which they are eligible; also note that some sources are taxable while others are not. Yearly funding packages indicate gross, not net, amounts.

Check here as well for useful information:
GPS Funding Opportunities
Future Graduate Students - Funding your studies

Funding that students apply for directly

Canadian and Quebec government funding (check calendars and eligibility criteria).

National sources

• The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s programs for Canadian PhD and MA students.
• The Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplements Program is available to Canadian citizens or permanent residents who hold a Joseph-Armand Bombardier, an Alexander Graham Bell, or a Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarship (CGS) at the master’s or doctoral level, or a Vanier CGS at the doctoral level.
• The Canada-U.S. Fulbright Program for American students seeking to study in Canada:  Intended for Canadian and American graduate students and junior professionals who wish to enrol in a graduate studies program or continue their current course of graduate study and/or research at a university or research centre in the United States or Canada, respectively

Provincial sources for PhD and MA students

• The PBEE & DE/DS or ​Quebec Merit Scholarship for Foreign Students (Programme de Bourses d'Excellence pour Étudiants Étrangers-PBEEE) and DE (FRQNT) / DS (FRQSC) for Foreign Students (FRQSC) are provincial award for foreign students. 

Fellowships

Fellowships (including but not limited to the following examples) are announced on the department’s listserv when they become available.

• BAnQ – Bibliotheque et archives nationales du Québec: For students use the archival fonds and heritage collections of Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) or conduct research on one of the following topics: book history, print history, publishing history in Québec; history and sociology of reading in Québec; and the Aboriginal documentary heritage of Québec.
• Faculty of Arts Graduate Student Teaching Awards: Designed to recognize outstanding teaching in the Faculty by graduate students and will be awarded at the April Faculty meeting. All full-time Arts graduate students in good standing who are Teaching Assistants or Course Lecturers are eligible for this award. Any student or member of the academic staff may submit a nomination.
• Margaret Gillett Graduate Research Award: This award is granted by the Institute for Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies (IGSF) in honour of Dr. Margaret Gillett, Macdonald Professor of Education at McGill University (retired), who initiated the Women's Studies program at McGill.
• McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC): Offers a number of prizes, fellowships, and internship opportunities for graduate students whose work focuses on some aspect of Canada/Canadian Studies.
• Mitacs Accelerate: A national research internship program that supports collaborative research between graduate students, a faculty supervisor, and a nonacademic partner, and provides interns with the opportunity to transfer their skills from theory to real-world applications.
• Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy Graduate Fellowship (non-taxable): For McGill graduate students in the Faculty of Arts whose thesis work reflects the themes of the Chair (application opportunities are always announced on the department’s listserv).

Travel funding for Conferences and Fieldwork

Two forms of funding are available to graduate students for travel to conduct research and to disseminate the results of their research:

• Graduate Mobility Awards (GMA): These awards are for graduate students to study and conduct research abroad as part of their McGill degree program (not for conference travel). Further details are listed on the GPS website but applications must follow the departmental guidelines and deadlines below. GPS accepts applications on a rolling basis until July 15, 2023 for travel starting by August 31, 2023. Note that there is an additional blackout period between April 14, 2023 - May 15, 2023.

• Graduate Research Enhancement and Travel Awards (GREAT)*: These awards cover the dissemination of research through graduate student presentations at conferences, and other research-enhancement activities, such as travel for fieldwork, archival inquiry and extra-mural collaborative research. The deadline for 2023-2024 will be December 10th, 2023. Please see below for application procedures.

Teaching assistantships

TAships are always announced on the department’s listserv and online on the Jobs page. The income is taxable. TAships are governed by union rules.

Course Lectureships

Course lecturer positions are always announced on the department’s listserv and online on the Jobs page. The income is taxable. Course lectureships are governed by union rules.

Funding based on nominations only

​(by the student’s academic supervisor or the department’s Graduate Program Director)

• Arts Insights Dissertation Awards: This award recognizes excellence in doctoral research in the Faculty of Arts and is awarded at the April Arts Faculty Council Meeting. PhD students who defended their dissertation during the previous calendar year may be nominated for this award. Since 2011, two awards are given: one in the Humanities and one in the Social Sciences. Only one nomination per Department will be considered.
• Bram Garber Fellowship in Art History:  Established in 1988 in honour of Bram Garber, this tribute to a well-known and respected member of the Canadian business community was provided by the generous gifts of family and friends.
• Fred and Betty Price Faculty of Arts Research Award: This award supports a meritorious graduate student in the Faculty of Arts whose research involves the collections of the McCord Museum, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the Visual Arts Collection at the University or other professional collections. First preference will be given to a graduate student in the Department of Art History and Communication Studies and second preference will be given to a graduate student in the Department of History and Classical Studies including those pursuing studies of anthropological, economic, political and social history, with a particular reference to Quebec and Canada.
• Friends Graduate Best Paper Prize in Gender and Women’s Studies: Awarded to a graduate student who has written the best essay in either WMST 601 or WMST 602 in the current academic year.
• Jean de Grandpré Prize: Established by the Chancellor of McGill University, Jean de Grandpré; the Chrysler Corporation and Bell Canada.
• Max Stern Museum Fellowship: Offered to meritorious graduate students in the Faculty of Arts at McGill University whose research will directly involve McGill’s Visual Arts Collection.
• Research assistantships (RAships): students should consult with their supervisors about these opportunities that are governed by union rules.
• The Schull Yang International Experience Award: This award provides full or partial funding to assist students with tuition, travel, and other expenses related to their international experience.
• Shree Mulay Graduate Award in Gender and Women's Studies: This recruitment award is granted to a graduate student who is enrolling in the Graduate Option in Gender and Women's Studies and exemplifies excellence in scholarship in gender and/or women's studies. This award is offered based on a consideration of both the applicant's merits and funding needs.
• Stipends (non-taxable): These are scholarships paid to graduate students from a professor's research grant. The recipients and value of these awards are at the discretion of the professor.
• Tomlinson Doctoral Fellowships: Established in 2000 through a very generous gift from Dr. Richard H. Tomlinson, these fellowships are awarded annually by Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies to recruit outstanding students into Doctoral degree programs. 
• Trudeau Foundation Scholarship: For Canadian doctoral students working on one of the following four themes: human rights and social justice, responsible citizenship, Canada and the world, and humans and their natural environment.
• Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship: For Canadian and International students: application by invitation through academic departments only. Administered through SSHRC.

Other resources

• Indigenous Studies Student Awards: Fellowships and awards for Indigenous students and Indigenous Studies at McGill.
• Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA): The CCA offers several research and curatorial programs for both MA and PhD students whose work overlaps with architecture studies. 
• Loans and bursaries: The McGill Student Aid Office is responsible for administering all needs-based financial aid. 
• ProFellow: A large database of professional and academic fellowship programs.