The Canada Graduate Research Scholarship (CGRS) is a Tri-Agency award funding graduate students directly at two levels: CGRS-M ($27,000 for 12 months) for Master’s students, and CGRS-D ($40,000/year for up to three years) for Doctoral students. CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC jointly administer CGRS under the Canada Research Training Awards Suite (CRTAS) — it funds the student directly, not a supervisor’s grant or an institutional training program.
CGRS is the successor to what most Canadian researchers and graduate offices still call by its older name, CGS-M and CGS-D, harmonized under CRTAS following Budget 2024 alongside the consolidation of the three councils’ separate postdoctoral fellowship programs into the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award (CPRA).
CGRS-M and CGRS-D at a glance
| Feature | CGRS-M (Master’s) | CGRS-D (Doctoral) |
|---|---|---|
| Value | $27,000 | $40,000 per year |
| Duration | 12 months, non-renewable | 36 months (3 years) |
| Level | Master’s (or fewer than 12-13 months into a doctoral program in some cases) | Doctoral |
| Typical deadline | December 1, before 8:00 p.m. ET | Varies by council; check the specific competition year’s dates |
| Reapplication | Not renewable — one 12-month term | Maximum of three applications to the program |
Both figures and dates are published on the administering agency’s own program page and are revised periodically — always confirm the current competition year’s value and deadline directly with NSERC, CIHR, or SSHRC (or your institution’s graduate studies office) before relying on them for planning.
Which council administers your application
CGRS-M and CGRS-D are not filed through a single portal that then gets routed internally. An applicant applies directly to whichever of the three councils best matches the subject matter of their proposed research:
- CIHR — health-related research
- NSERC — natural sciences and engineering
- SSHRC — social sciences and humanities
The official guidance on both the Master’s and Doctoral program pages is to contact the faculty of graduate studies (or its equivalent) at the institution where the award will be held for guidance on subject-matter eligibility before choosing an agency, since interdisciplinary proposals can sit close to a boundary. This three-way subject-matter split is the same structure used across Tri-Agency programs more broadly — see the Tri-Agency Research Funding System guide for how CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC divide responsibility across the full range of Canadian federal research funding, including for the CGRS-M/D program’s closest post-doctoral counterpart, the CPRA.
Eligibility
Core eligibility criteria for both CGRS-M and CGRS-D:
- Canadian citizen, permanent resident of Canada, or Protected Person under subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada).
- Full-time enrollment in, or a pending application to, an eligible graduate program at a Canadian institution.
- A first-class average, as determined by the host institution(s), in each of the last two completed years of study (institutions retain some discretion in how this is applied).
- For CGRS-D specifically: the applicant must not already hold, or have already received, a doctoral-level scholarship from CIHR, NSERC, or SSHRC — including a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (see below) — and may apply to the CGRS-D program a maximum of three times.
How CGRS-D relates to the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship
The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship (Vanier CGS) is a separate, larger flagship doctoral award — $50,000 per year for three years — evaluated on three equally weighted criteria (academic excellence, research potential, and leadership) rather than on subject-matter fit alone, and awarded through institutional nomination against a fixed quota per university rather than an open competition. Multiple Canadian university graduate-studies offices report that the Vanier program’s fall 2024 competition was its last, with the award effectively folded into the CGRS-D program as part of the same CRTAS harmonization that consolidated the three councils’ postdoctoral fellowships into the CPRA. Because this is a program-status change rather than a stable structural fact, confirm current status directly with your institution’s graduate studies office or the Vanier program before advising a student either way.
How CGRS-M/D differs from other Tri-Agency awards already covered on this site
- Postdoctoral Fellowships / CPRA (Postdoctoral Fellowships in Canada) — CPRA funds researchers who have already completed a doctorate; CGRS-M and CGRS-D fund students who are still in a Master’s or doctoral program. Both are individually held, portable, harmonized-value Tri-Agency training awards, but they sit at different career stages within the same CRTAS structure.
- Canada Research Chairs (CRC) — an institutional, investigator-level award for established or early-career faculty (with an associated salary/research-support envelope), nominated by the host university, not a student scholarship. CGRS-M/D and the CRC program share Tri-Agency joint administration but serve entirely different populations and purposes.
- CIHR Project Grant, NSERC Discovery Grant, SSHRC Insight/Partnership Grants — investigator-initiated operating grants that pay for a program of research (and can employ graduate students as paid research personnel on that grant); CGRS-M/D is a separate, individually competed award held directly by the student rather than paid out of a supervisor’s grant.
For the full picture of how these programs fit together under CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC’s joint administration, see the Canada’s Tri-Agency Research Funding System guide.
Frequently asked questions
What does CGS stand for in Canada?
CGS stands for Canada Graduate Scholarship, the program’s long-standing name at the Master’s (CGS-M) and Doctoral (CGS-D) levels. Following the Budget 2024 harmonization of Tri-Agency training awards, the program is formally named the Canada Graduate Research Scholarship (CGRS) — CGRS-M and CGRS-D — though “CGS” remains in wide informal use.
How much is a Canada Graduate Scholarship worth?
CGRS-M pays $27,000 for a single 12-month, non-renewable term. CGRS-D pays $40,000 per year for up to 36 months (3 years). Confirm current figures with the administering council, since Tri-Agency award values are revised periodically.
Can I hold a CGRS-M and later apply for CGRS-D?
Yes — the two are separate programs at separate levels of study; holding a CGRS-M does not use up CGRS-D eligibility. What does affect CGRS-D eligibility is having already received a doctoral-level scholarship from CIHR, NSERC, or SSHRC, including a Vanier CGS.
Do I apply to CIHR, NSERC, or SSHRC?
Whichever of the three matches the subject matter of your proposed research (health sciences, natural sciences and engineering, or social sciences and humanities). Check with your institution’s faculty of graduate studies if your research sits across disciplines.
Is the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship the same as CGRS-D?
No. Vanier is a separate, larger ($50,000/year), leadership-weighted, quota-nominated flagship doctoral award. Recent reporting from Canadian university graduate-studies offices indicates Vanier’s last standalone competition was fall 2024, with the award effectively absorbed into CGRS-D under the same CRTAS harmonization — confirm current status with your institution before advising a student.
This guide reflects Tri-Agency program terms as published on nserc-crsng.canada.ca as of mid-2026. CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC revise award values, deadlines, and eligibility details periodically — always verify current figures against the administering council’s own program page before an application.
