Postdoctoral fellow eligibility:
- They are Canadian citizens, permanent residents or international applicants.
- They are based at an academic institution (including colleges or polytechnics) located in Canada for the duration of the fellowship.
- Their date of graduation from a PhD program is less than five years to proposed start date of the Elevate project, unless:
- Fellows who have had a break in their career due to military service, illness, or family leave may be considered exceptions and must be approved in advance of application
- If this situation applies to you or you have any questions, please contact Mitacs at elevate(at)mitacs.ca.
- They have fulfilled all PhD degree requirements (e.g., successful defence, final deposit, and sign-off of the dissertation), meet the postdoctoral fellow eligibility criteria at their home academic institution, hold a postdoctoral fellow status for the entire duration of their Mitacs Elevate fellowship.
- They can commit to the two-year Mitacs Elevate fellowship, including the exclusive professional development curriculum. Replacement or substitute fellows are not allowed
- Fellows who have held a Mitacs Accelerate award as a Master's or PhD student are eligible as long as they have not completed more than two year (six internship units equivalent) of Mitacs Accelerate at postdoctoral level. This must be completed before the start of the Mitacs Elevate fellowship.
- Elevate alumni that have completed a 1- or 2-year Elevate project will be able to apply for another Elevate project. Postdocs can only be funded for a maximum of 3 years
- Postdocs can complete nine internship units (typically 3 years) of Mitacs funding, including any combination of Elevate & Accelerate in any order (e.g. Accelerate after an Elevate; hold more than one Elevate). One year of Elevate counts as 3 internship units.
- Fellows cannot apply to multiple Mitacs programs for the same period of time.
Fellows are ineligible if they have:
- Been employed for more than six months in an R&D position outside the academic institution after receipt of their doctoral degree
- Received an offer of employment from the proposed partner organization except an offer of this fellowship or short-term employment of up to six months while awaiting a decision on the Mitacs Elevate fellowship
- If the application is not recommended for an award, fellows may not be eligible to apply again if they have accumulated more than six months of industrial or partner organization work. It is recommended that fellows accept a temporary contract only if necessary and that the period is kept as short as possible.
Questions about Mitacs Elevate eligibility? Contact a Mitacs advisor.
