UK-Canada Globalink Doctoral Exchange Scheme Opens for Applications

Exchange scheme to enable UK and Canadian doctoral candidates in all academic disciplines to undertake research placements in Canadian and UK universities respectively.

UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) is inviting proposals for UK doctoral students to participate in a UK-Canada research exchange scheme. The initiative is supported by Mitacs, a not-for-profit organisation that has designed and delivered research and training programmes in Canada since 1999.

Through the UK-Canada Globalink Doctoral Exchange Scheme, a total of 200 UK doctoral candidates will have the opportunity to carry out 12-week research placements at Canadian universities, while a similar number of Canadian students will visit UK universities. The ambition is to help students develop into global citizens with international competencies.

Successful applicants will be required to deliver a programme of collaborative research and network-building activities that will further their studies, enhance their research career prospects and increase links within the research community. Placement projects can be on a topic unrelated to the students’ studies, thereby helping to create multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary researchers.

UK Students should make contact with potential Canadian host supervisors to discuss and design a research project and work out costings for the placement with their home and host supervisors. Applicants should make clear what benefit their research placement will have for themselves, Canada and the UK.

There is an online list of Canadian professors who have registered an interest in hearing form UKRI students. Students are also encouraged to make contact with other Canadian professors who they are interested in working with. Canadian professors who want to register their interest in working with UKRI students can do so by entering their details on the UKRI-Mitacs Globalink host professor expression of interest form.

The UK side of the scheme is open to doctoral students aged 18 and over funded by the research councils of UKRI (AHRC, BBSRC, ESRC, EPSRC, MRC, NERC, STFC and the UKRI CDTs in Artificial Intelligence). Placements are available at numerous universities across Canada in a variety of academic disciplines.

On the Canadian side, the scheme is open to Canadian doctoral students working in all areas.

All applicants must evidence commitment from their PhD supervisor as well as the hosting supervisor and university.

Individual applicants can request between £10,000 and £15,000 at 100% full Economic Cost (fEC) to cover fees and stipends, research costs and travel and subsistence costs. Exceptional additional costs (eg childcare) will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Placements should last for 12 weeks and should take place between 1 August 2022 and 31 July 2023. Students must be able to start their placement before the end of their funded period of study.

Proposals should submitted by the 26 April 2022 (16:00 BST) deadline.

(This report was the subject of a ResearchConnect Newsflash.)