Mitacs Elevate provides advanced training for postdoctoral fellows while supporting their work on high-quality collaborative research projects with industry. The program provides the opportunity for postdoctoral fellows to remain in Canada while pursuing a meaningful career within the knowledge sector.

The goals of the program include:

• Increase retention of PhD holders in the provinces and Canada and create a more valuable and effective talent pool;
• Increase the capacity within industry to support high quality personnel in the development of research and innovation;
• Connect researchers from academia and industry to develop innovative solutions to Canada's industrial and societal challenges.

Based out of a partner university, each Mitacs Elevate Industrial Fellow will work collaboratively on a research project of mutual interest with a supervising professor and a company partner. Unlike other industrial fellowship programs, Mitacs Elevate also offers a large training component to help fellows develop leadership and management skills for their future careers. Participants spend about 20% of their time over the year honing their skills in areas including project management, communications, presentation skills, and entrepreneurship. In addition, Mitacs Elevate provides diverse opportunities for fellows to develop and practice networking skills with companies and possible employers.

Industrial Fellows are expected to spend at least 25% of their time over the year working at the company's facilities.

The program is for one year, with the possibility of renewal for a second year after successful evaluation of a midterm report.

A Mitacs Elevate Industrial Fellowship award consists of a $65,000 research grant provided to the academic supervisor. Of this, the fellow must receive at least $55,000 as a stipend. The remaining $10,000 is available for research costs.

The industrial partner must contribute at least $30,000 cash (see Section 3.4) annually towards the Mitacs Elevate program as well as in kind support as necessary (see Section 2.3).
No funding will be released by Mitacs until any necessary documentation such as Declaration of Conflict of Interest, Environmental Impact Assessment, permits or licenses, University Research Ethics Board report, University Animal Care Committee report, or biohazards review report is provided.

All funds must be spent according to NSERC guidelines.

A Mitacs Elevate Postdoctoral Fellowship is a comprehensive program with a range of components designed to provide advanced training to enhance the professional skills and research independence needed to pursue the fellow’s chosen career path. As such, during the tenure of the award, the postdoctoral fellow is expected to:

• Work with and receive mentorship from their academic supervisor at the university;
• Spend at least 25% of their time working at the partner site on research projects of mutual interest;
• Work with Mitacs personnel to develop and implement a personalized training program to enhance their future career;
• Attend professional skills training workshops given by the Mitacs Elevate program;
• Attend networking, research showcase, and other Elevate events ;
• Participate in the Mitacs Ambassador program as appropriate; and
• Submit all documentation required by the Mitacs Elevate program and its funding partners.

The supervising professor is expected to:   

• Provide ongoing mentorship and research support to the fellow;
• Meet with the industrial partner as appropriate and provide research expertise;
• Take fiduciary responsibility for the internship grant, including ensuring appropriate expenditures consistent with the objectives and guidelines of the program;
• Attend relevant Mitacs Elevate events; and
• Ensure financial reporting and provide feedback on the program to Mitacs as required by our funding partners.

A primary contact at the company needs to be identified and is expected to:

• Assist the intern with identifying appropriate research issues and developing the research plan;
• Ensure that the company provides in-kind support including hosting the fellow on site at least 25% of the time, providing supervision and guidance on their research project, and helping the fellow make other connections within the company and/or industry;
• Attend relevant Mitacs Elevate events;
• Ensure the company’s financial contribution is forwarded to Mitacs; and
• Provide feedback on the program to Mitacs as required by our funding partners.

Mitacs will administer the Mitacs Elevate program. Its responsibilities include: 

• Promoting program opportunities to postdoctoral fellows, companies and university faculty across Canada;
• Adjudicating fellowship proposals through an arms-length peer-review process;
• Delivering a comprehensive training program for fellows that includes individualized mentorship and coaching opportunities, professional development courses, and networking opportunities;
• Collecting and managing funds from partners and funding agencies;
• Providing said funds to academic supervisors via their university’s Office of Research Services; and
• Monitoring the overall success of the program and reporting back to its stakeholders and funding partners.

Mitacs Elevate Industrial Fellows may be in any academic discipline. To be eligible, prospective fellows must:

• By the start of the award, hold a PhD from a recognized university;
• Be recognized as a full-time postdoctoral fellow at a partner university by the start date of the fellowship and during the tenure of the award (please see the Call for Proposals for eligible universities);
• Not obtain a stipend from any other federal or provincial source during the award; and
• Not undertake any additional employment for more than 200 hours per annum.

All else being equal, preference will be given to applicants who have held a PhD for no more than 5 years and to those proposing fellowships at a different university from where they received their PhD.  Please note that your university must consider you to be a postdoc during your fellowship and that individual university regulations can differ on what length of time after PhD completion someone may be considered a postdoc. 

The academic supervisors must hold a regular tenure-track position at the partner university hosting the fellowship, and must be eligible to hold Tri-Council funding.

Eligible industrial partners must:

• Be based in the same province as the university;
• Be end users (receptors) of the research;
• Have a facility outside of a university research laboratory;
• Be prepared to provide mentorship and guidance to the fellow during their fellowship;
• Be prepared to work with and host the fellow at their facilities a minimum of 25% of the time; and
• Provide a minimum of $30,000 cash support and $30,000 in kind support towards the Elevate program.

Note that preference will be given to partners that act as for-profit companies including crown corporations. Federal and provincial government agencies are not eligible partners, but arms-length organizations such as hospitals are eligible.

Industry funds that are currently at a university are eligible, provided that they can be sent to Mitacs. The industrial contributions cannot be leveraged by another provincial or federal organization.

All applications should be submitted electronically no later than 11:59 pm PST on the due date specified in the Call for Proposals.

All files must be in PDF format.
A complete application consists of:

• Research proposal (see the Appendix A for the template);
• Postdoctoral researcher’s CV;
• Academic supervisor’s CV or NSERC Form 100;
• Copy of the completed Office of Research Services approval form from the academic supervisor’s university;
• Two or three letters of support:
a. One letter from the industrial partner
b. One letter from the proposed academic supervisor
c. An additional letter may be submitted by someone who is familiar with the postdoctoral researcher’s abilities if the proposed academic supervisor is a relatively new contact

If referees would like to send their letters confidentially, they may email them to elevatereferences@mitacs.ca. All letters must be received at Mitacs by the due date.

All applicants will receive a confirmation email from Mitacs when a complete application has been received.

Mitacs will review all proposals for program eligibility. Eligible proposals will be adjudicated by the Mitacs Research Review Committee.

The awards will be announced by the date identified in the Call for Proposals. Due to a high volume of applications, Mitacs regrets that it cannot answer any inquiries about the status of individual proposals before that date. 

Reviewers are asked to please comment on the merit and suitability of the proposed Fellowship using the following criteria:

A. Experience

• Demonstrated scientific ability in research
• Demonstrated ability in teaching, supervising and mentoring, and committee membership
• Awards and scholarships held
• Demonstrated ability to complete projects in a timely manner

B. Proposed Research Program

• Overall quality of the research program
• Project objectives are achievable within the scope and timeline of the fellowship
• Proposed methodologies are appropriate and sufficient to achieve the objectives
• Sufficient and appropriate plans for dissemination of research results through seminars, articles, presentations, etc.

C. Industrial Interaction

• Extent to which the research will benefit the partner
• Extent of partner engagement and collaboration on research activities
• Extent and nature of interaction between the fellow and the partner
• If relevant, suitability of plans for dealing with intellectual property

D. Training Plan

• Extent of involvement in training activities such as summer schools, tutorials, university curriculum development, etc.
• Extent of plans for obtaining skills in scientific evaluation, project management, communications, and other business areas

Please follow the following guidelines in completing the submission template

• The research proposal must be submitted as a single PDF file
• The postdoctoral researcher’s name should be printed at the top of every page
• Avoid using acronyms and abbreviations or explain them fully

Proposals that do not conform to these standards may be considered ineligible.

1. Participants

Postdoctoral researcher:
Name:
Current Address:
Email Address:
Alternate Email Address:
PhD Completion Year:
PhD Granting Department and University:

Academic Supervisor:   
Name:
Department:
University:
Address at University:
Email Address:

Industrial partner: 
Organization name:
Contact name:
Position:
Address:
Email Address:

2. Title:  Title of the project.

3. Area:  Choose one of the following: (a) Life sciences (health and biotechnology), (b) Technology (information and communication, new media and wireless),  (c) Clean Technology (alternative energy and sustainable technologies), (d) Natural Resources (forestry, agriculture, fishing, mining, oil and gas), (e) Other (please specify).

4. Key words: Please list up to 5 key words that describe your project.

5. Executive summary (maximum 150 words): Provide a brief description in non-technical language of the proposed research and the expected benefit to the industrial partner.

6. Proposed research (maximum 2 pages, excluding list of references): Must include the following sections:

• Background
• Overall project objectives
• Methodology and novelty of approach and/or application
• Project milestones and timeline

7. Industry partner interaction (half page): Please outline the role of the industry partner in the project, the amount of time the fellow will be spending at the company facility, and the types of activities the fellow will be engaged in at the facility. 

8. Career goals (half page):  Please briefly describe your career goals and how the Mitacs Elevate Industrial fellowship will help you in achieving these goals.

9. Applicant statement (half page):  Please describe why you would be an excellent candidate for a Mitacs Elevate postdoctoral fellowship.

10. Optional applicant statement (half page):  Please use this space to describe why you should still be considered for a Mitacs Elevate fellowship if you don’t meet some of the eligibility requirements.  Examples include not changing universities for your postdoctoral research, completing a PhD more than 5 years ago, etc. 

11. Supplemental Information:

(a) Are any authorizations, permits, or licenses required to undertake any activity for any phase of the proposal? If yes, please list here and attach copies to this proposal.

(b) Does the proposed research involve living human subjects or human remains, cadavers, tissues, biological fluids, embryos or fetuses? If yes, the proposal must be reviewed by the participating University Research Ethics Board, and a report from the board must be attached to this proposal.

(c) Does the proposed research involve animal subjects?  If yes, the proposal must be reviewed by the participating University Animal Care Committee and a report from the committee must be attached to this proposal.

(d) Will have potential impact on the environment? If yes, please list here and attach documentation supporting approval by the appropriate regulatory organization.

(e) Is a biohazards review required? If yes, the necessary review/report from your University must be attached to this proposal.

(f) Please confirm that the funds contributed by the industrial partner towards this program have not and will not be leveraged by another organization.  Please note that these funds must be sent directly to Mitacs prior to the commencement of the fellowship. 

(g) Please confirm that neither the postdoctoral researcher nor the academic supervisor is: an owner or a co-owner of the partner organization; a relative of an owner or co-owner of the partner organization; or a participant in the day-to-day management of the organization.

12. References:  Please provide a list of the names of people who will be providing your support letters

Each reference letter should be 1-2 pages in length.

The letter from the industrial partner should include:

• A statement of their ability and intention to provide the $30,000 cash contribution
• A statement of their intention to provide in kind support and a general description of this support (please refer to the Roles and Responsibilities section)
• A description of the importance and relevance of the research project to the company

The letter from the academic supervisor should include:

• A statement of their support for the fellow (please refer to the Roles and Responsibility section)
• An outline of why the proposed fellow is the right candidate for the project
• Their assessment of the overall quality of the proposed research program, including objectives and methodologies
• Their assessment of the demonstrated scientific ability of the fellow. If this is not appropriate, an additional letter may be submitted by someone who is more familiar with the postdoctoral fellow’s performance and experience, such as their PhD supervisor