Affiliated Fellowships Master's Program

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Deadline
Likely in December 2025
Value
$175 - $16,000
Citizenship
Canadian
Permanent Resident
International
Degree Level
Masters

 

The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies offers approximately 50 Affiliated Fellowships each year to meritorious students for full-time study and/or research leading to a graduate degree. Awards are made on the basis of academic excellence, with applications open to current and prospective full-time UBC graduate students. Fellowship values range from $175 to $16,000.

 

Eligibility

Applicants must meet all eligibility requirements.

Academic Standing

Students with a minimum first class standing in each of the last two years of full-time study are eligible to apply. GPA is calculated using all courses taken in a given year. For UBC courses, first class standing is 80% and higher. At other universities, first class standing is determined from marking keys that accompany transcripts. For transcripts that are not accompanied by marking keys, applicants should consult with their UBC graduate program staff.

Citizenship

All students regardless of citizenship are eligible to apply. However, Canadian citizens and permanent residents are required to apply for Canada Graduate Scholarships-Master's (CGS M) (or doctoral funding from CIHR , NSERC , or SSHRC ), if they are eligible to do so, to additionally be considered for Affiliated funding.

Fields of Study / program of study

Students must be enrolled in, have applied for, or will apply for full-time admission to an eligible graduate program. Eligible graduate program must have a significant research component. A significant research component is considered to be original, autonomous research that leads to the completion of a thesis, major research project, dissertation, scholarly publication, performance, recital and/or exhibit that is merit/expert-reviewed at the institutional level as a requirement for completion of the program.

With the exception of those program listed below, students in all fields of graduate study are eligible to apply. Exceptions:

• Programs that are not administered by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (such as MBA, MM, MDS)
• Programs that do not include a significant research component (ie. coursework-based programs such as MPPGA, MOT, MPH, MPT, and MKIN)
• Doctor of Pharmacy

Student Status

Applicants who will be registered full-time graduate students at UBC's Vancouver campus as of September 2025 are eligible to apply (current and prospective UBC students are both eligible to apply).

Months of Graduate Funding
Master’s-level Funding

To be eligible, applicants must have completed, as of December 31, 2024, between 0 and 12 months of full-time (or full-time equivalent) graduate-level studies.

Please note that:

• All previous studies at the graduate level, regardless of institution and discipline, will be included in determining eligibility*.  For example, a previous period of Master’s or PhD study (either completed or incomplete) at another institution would be counted as part of the total graduate-level months of study.
• Successful applicants for Master's-level funding who plan to hold that funding as a Master's student will not receive funding past the end of their 24th month of Master's-level study.
• Successful applicants for Master's-level funding who plan to hold that funding as a doctoral student will receive a funding offer restricted to a maximum of 12 months, and they will not be considered for doctoral-level Affiliated Fellowships funding such as a Killam Doctoral Scholarship.
  • Students in this category would be fast-track program (accelerated from a Master’s program into a doctoral program without obtaining the Master’s degree) or a direct-entry doctoral program (no Masters-level studies) who have completed between 0 and 12 months of graduate-level studies by December 31, 2024.
• Students who will have completed more than 12 months of Master’s-level studies by December 31, 2024 should apply to the doctoral-level funding competition instead, if they are eligible to do so (ex. If they are planning to transfer to a PhD).

Other funding

• While award recipients will be selected based on the evaluation criteria, priority will be given to eligible candidates who do not hold significant scholarship funding (i.e., $16,000 or higher) for the 2025/26 academic year (September 2025 to August 2026).  If a student is offered Affiliated funding and later receives other scholarship funding for the same period, the Affiliated funding offer will normally be rescinded.
• Exceptions:
  • Students are normally permitted to hold GSI, department-recommended donor-funded awards, and RA/TA positions at the same time that they hold Affiliated funding.
  • Some of the Affiliated awards have very niche award descriptions (eligibility requirements).  If an Affiliated award receives a very low number of eligible applications, it may be awarded to a student who already has significant scholarship funding.  This exception only typically only applies to 1 to 2 awards in the competition.

*All previous months of master's will be counted in assessing eligibility, except in cases where the previous master’s study was required by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies as a basis of admission to the applicant's UBC graduate program. This exception may affect a small number of students from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the Philippines. This exception does not apply in cases where the previous master’s study was required by the applicant’s graduate program, but not by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

Evaluation Criteria

The evaluation of Affiliated Fellowship applications for Master’s funding - for all disciplines - is based on the following criteria:

Academic excellence - 50%

As demonstrated by past academic results, transcripts, awards and distinctions. Indicators of academic excellence:

• Academic record
• Scholarships and awards held
• Duration of previous studies
• Type of program and courses pursued
• Course load
• Relative standing (if available)

Research potential - 30%

As demonstrated by the applicant’s research history, their interest in discovery, the proposed research, its potential contribution to the advancement of knowledge in the field, and any anticipated outcomes. Indicators of research potential:

• Quality and originality of contributions to research and development
• Relevance of work experience and academic training to field of proposed research
• Significance, feasibility and merit of proposed research
• Judgment and ability to think critically
• Ability to apply skills and knowledge
• Initiative and autonomy
• Research experience and achievements relative to expectations of someone with the candidate’s academic experience

Personal characteristics and interpersonal skills - 20%

As demonstrated by the applicant’s past professional and relevant extracurricular interactions and collaborations. Indicators of personal characteristics and interpersonal skills:

• Work experience
• Leadership experience
• Project management including organizing conferences and meetings
• The ability or potential to communicate theoretical, technical and/or scientific concepts clearly and logically in written and oral formats
• Involvement in academic life
• Volunteerism/community outreach

Application Procedures

Affiliated Fellowship applicants (such as international students) must submit their application materials to their UBC graduate program. The deadline by which applications for Master's-level funding must be submitted to the applicant's UBC graduate program is 1 December 2024 before 5:00 pm PT.

Many of the Affiliated Fellowships have no specific criteria (open/unrestricted), while many others have some affiliation or special research focus as part of their criteria (restricted/criteria-based). All graduate students in the Affiliated Fellowships competition are automatically considered for unrestricted awards. In order to additionally be considered for any criteria-based awards, students are asked to:

• review the list of criteria-based affiliated awards at the end of the application to determine if they meet any of these awards' criteria
• check in their Affiliated Fellowships application the award numbers of any and all criteria-based affiliated awards for which they are eligible

application materials

• application form and instructions
• reference form

 

Note: Students who are eligible for the Canada Graduate Scholarships-Master’s (CGS M) (such as Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada) are required to apply for CGS M in order to additionally be considered for the Affiliated Fellowships-Master’s awards. Students who submit a CGS M application to UBC are also automatically considered for ‘unrestricted/open’  Affiliated Fellowship funding, and do not need to submit a separate Affiliated Fellowship application.  However, to be considered for 'restricted/criteria-based' Affiliated funding, CGSM applicants must submit the list of criteria-based affiliated fellowships  to their graduate program by the application deadline.

Nomination Procedures
Applications for Master's-level funding

Graduate programs review and rank the applications they receive, and forward their top applicants to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies by 23 January 2025 at 4:00 pm PT.  Graduate program resources will be posted on the Awards Administration webpage .

Adjudication Procedures

Affiliated Fellowships are adjudicated at both departmental and university levels. Rankings reached at each of these levels are independent, thus applicants' rankings at the departmental level may be different from their rankings at the university level.

Department Ranking

Graduate programs conduct their own internal Affiliated Fellowships review process, after which they recommend only their highest ranked candidates to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.

University-Wide Ranking

The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies co-ordinates the university-wide ranking which is carried out by six sub-committees comprising faculty members representing various disciplines.

Meet Award Holders

Zeba Khan

Doctor of Philosophy in Women+ and Children's Health Sciences (PhD)

Choices for Alleviating Menstruation-Related Pelvic Pain Study - CrAMPPS

Ahmed Kabil

Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering (PhD)

Development and functional diversity of innate lymphoid cells

Starr Sandoval

Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics (PhD)

Expressive meaning in Ktunaxa

Daniel Lipshutz Forrest

Doctor of Philosophy in Resources, Environment and Sustainability (PhD)

Co-constructing a mutualistic city: Envisioning future scenarios to support people and nature in urban landscapes

Grace Melchers

Master of Science in Oceans and Fisheries (MSc)

Employing environmental DNA to understand the impacts of urbanization on nearshore fish communities and migrations

Sadie Lye

Master of Science in Oceans and Fisheries (MSc)

The impact of the urban environment on land to sea connection in Burrard Inlet, B.C.

Mia Frier

Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Genetics (PhD)

Regulation of endosomal protein sorting by Vrl1 and the VINE complex

Rebekah Kartal

Doctor of Philosophy in Geography (PhD)

The search for solidarity in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands/occupied O'odham land

Elise Ng-Cordell

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD)

The development and impact of co-occurring anxiety and ADHD in autism

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