NSERC, CIHR & SSHRC Undergraduate Summer Research Award (USRA)

Kindly note that the Faculty of Education is only accepting applications from Indigenous and Black students for the year 2024.

Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRAs) are meant to nurture your interest and fully develop your potential for a research career in health, natural sciences, engineering, social sciences or humanities. These awards are also meant to encourage you to undertake graduate studies by providing research work experience that complements your studies in an academic setting.

Value and Duration:

  • Value: $9,268
  • Duration: 16-week period

Kindly take note that the Tri-Agency contribution remains fixed at $6,000 per award, per student. Additionally, USRA supervisors are required to contribute a minimum top-up of $3,268 to the award stipend, resulting in a total award amount of $9,268.

Deadline:

The USRA Deadline is March 4, 2024, by/before 4 PM.

Eligibility:

  • Student must be a Canadian citizen, a permanent resident of Canada or a Protected Person under subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada), as of the deadline date for applications at the institution.
  • NSERC requires that students be registered in a Bachelor’s degree program at an eligible university in at least one of the 2 terms immediately previous to the award. Therefore, undergraduate students who wish to hold an NSERC USRA in the Summer of 2024 must have been registered students in either Fall 2023 or Winter 2024, or both.
  • More information regarding eleigibility

Indigenous and Black Student Scholars

For NSERC only:

For Indigenous and Black student researchers to be recommended for awards above the institution quota, they must self-identify and provide consent within the application form for this information to be shared with Western and NSERC. If this is not indicated on the NSERC form, they will be counted as part of the institution’s quota. NSERC will not accept replacement applications.

For CIHR and SSHRC:

With only 4 allocations for a CIHR USRA and 4 allocations for an SSHRC USRA reserved for Black student researchers, it has been decided that a central lottery will determine the final decision for these spots. This process will likely change as the program evolves.

Selection Process:

The selection process is done by the institution based on the following three criteria:

  1. Academic excellence
  2. Research potential
  3. Expected quality of the training and mentorship to be received.

Transcript:

A Western student can upload:

  1. an official transcript (optional), or
  2. a copy of the most current ‘Academic Record’

Western students must request the Academic Record from their Faculty/department; they cannot access it themselves.

NSERC provides more details on transcripts in “Instructions for completing an application – Form 202”.

More information regarding the transcript.

Supervisor:

  • Every student must be working under the supervision of a research-eligible faculty member who can oversee the project and obtain applicable certification approvals. Supervisors can hold grants from NSERC, CIHR or SSHRC, provided the research proposed for the USRA project falls within the selected agency’s mandate.(See: Selecting the Appropriate Federal Granting Agency)
  • Faculty supervisors are responsible for communicating clear expectations and guidance on the research project, including required training, anticipated outcomes, and outlining hours per week.

 

Forms & Guidelines: