Mitacs internships for
Yukon economic recovery

Through a partnership with Government of Yukon, Yukon University, and University of Alberta North, Mitacs is offering an opportunity to participate in research internships that support Yukon’s economic recovery.

What type of research will this support?

Through the Mitacs Accelerate program, this initiative supports collaborative research between businesses, non-profit organizations or municipalities, interns, and faculty supervisors — providing cost-effective access to researchers, resources, and project planning.

These internships focus on economic recovery priorities identified by our Yukon partners, and the connection of those priorities to planning and decision-making for businesses, communities, and organizations. Broad thematic areas include:

Social, cultural, economic, environmental, and mental and physical health impacts of the pandemic
Governance and sustainable community development
Education and knowledge mobilization
Sustainable communities: water quality management, landfill management, alternative fuels and environmental conservancy
Emerging economic opportunities: mitigating challenges for Indigenous procurement, not-for-profit sustainability, tourism, culture and creative industries
Food security: supporting local food production
Mining: water remediation, land re-vegetation, determining and mitigating mine-specific climate change impacts
Evolving opportunities and challenges: new cross-cutting, integrative, solution-driven research, technology and innovation that support the growth of an economic sector, adoption of new technologies and processes

How Mitacs can help;
examples include:

How has COVID-19 impacted my business or sector in Yukon?
What are the best strategies for mitigating impacts and moving forward?
What types of mental and physical health impacts have my clients experienced during COVID-19?
How effective was my service delivery during the shutdown and how could it improve?
How have Yukon First Nations’ cultural practices been impacted by the pandemic?
What can my organization do to support cultural vitality and connection in a post-pandemic context?
What business opportunities has COVID-19 revealed for Yukon?
How can we effectively capitalize on these?
Is my current risk-assessment approach appropriate to Yukon’s COVID-19 recovery?
What do I need to build on or change within this context?

Who is eligible?

Businesses, municipalities, hospitals, and approved not-for-profit organizations in Canada
All sectors and academic disciplines
Interns: full-time post-secondary students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows
For this initiative, at least one of the three participants (student, host organization, or academic institution) must be based in Yukon, and the research must focus on a Yukon economic recovery priority

Internship costs

Interns receive a $10,000 stipend and up to $5,000 for research costs. The academic institution administers this payment.

Mitacs and the Yukon partners cover $11,250 of the costs
The host organization covers the remaining $3,750
Yukon businesses or non-profits that cannot contribute $3,750 may be eligible for funding through Yukon Department of Education Staffing UP or Building UP programs

How to apply

Email Candice Loring or Jennifer Tedman-Jones for information. They will help you through the application process and find the necessary students and academic supervisors with interests and expertise that match your needs.

Email Yukon’s Office of the Science Advisor to discuss Yukon research priorities or to be connected to the Department of Education for host funding.

A note on intellectual property

All participating institutions and interns are bound by the intellectual property terms of the academic institution where the intern is enrolled.
The academic institution, academic supervisor, interns, and the industry partner may negotiate a separate agreement about how intellectual property will be shared.
Government of Yukon does not lay claim to any private, confidential, or propriety information, nor to the intellectual property rights for these projects, and will receive a summary of the research to be completed.