Candidates must have been accepted into, or be currently engaged in, a full-time, thesis-based, graduate program at an Alberta-based university in a health-related discipline leading to a master's or doctoral degree. This award is not available to students registered in a course-based graduate program.

Support will not be provided beyond six years of enrollment in graduate school. Candidates who have interrupted their training for parenting or other reasons and who have consequently exceeded this time limit, may be eligible to apply for studentship support. In such cases, however, the candidate is advised to clearly explain the nature of his/her particular circumstances at the time of application.

Applicants are limited to those students that formally enter the M.D./Ph.D. program not later than the start of their second year of Ph.D. studies at either the University of Alberta or the University of Calgary. AIHS's offer of support is contingent on the granting of complementary stipend support from the faculty of not less than 15% of the value of the AIHS award, for the duration of the award.

Candidates must have been accepted into, or be currently engaged in, a full-time graduate program at an Alberta-based university in a health-related discipline leading to a master's or doctoral degree.

Candidates must have a Ph.D., M.D., D.D.S., D.V.M. or D.Pharm. degree.

Applicants with an M.D. or D.D.S. may wish to consider applying for an AIHS Clinical Fellowship award. Please note the special eligibility criteria for this award.

Support will not be provided beyond six years after receipt of the Ph.D. degree, or beyond eight years after receipt of the M.D., D.D.S., D.V.M., or D.Pharm. degrees. Candidates who have interrupted their training for parenting or other reasons and who have consequently exceeded this time limit, may be eligible to apply for fellowship support. In order to be considered, however, the candidate must clearly explain the nature of his/her particular circumstances at the time of application.

1. they must have completed all Canadian clinical requirements and they must be licensable by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta or by the Alberta Dental Association;
2. they must be enrolled in, and nearing completion of, a subspecialty program recognized by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada;
3. they must have completed the Fellowship program of the Canadian College of Family Practice.

Clinical Fellows are expected to commit to a minimum of two years full-time research.

Candidates must hold a Ph.D. and must be engaged in a professional degree program (usually the M.D. program) in Alberta.

The HYRS program runs annually at the University of Alberta, University of Calgary, and the University of Lethbridge.

Summer Studentship awards are only tenable at an Alberta-based university.

Full-time Studentship awards (biomedical) are only tenable at an Alberta-based university.

Full-time Health Research Studentship awards are normally tenable at an Alberta university. AIHS will consider requests for training outside Alberta from Albertan's who have demonstrated outstanding academic performance, and who can provide strong justification for their selection of training environment outside Alberta.

M.D./Ph.D. Studentship awards are only tenable at the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary.

Full-time and Clinical Fellowship awards are tenable at an Alberta university. AIHS will consider requests for training outside of Alberta from Canadian citizens or permanent residents who meet ALL of the following criteria:

1. they have received the majority of their training in Alberta, and have demonstrated exceptional research performance;
2. they have superior academic records;
3. they have strong institutional support at an Alberta-based institution (eg. dean at a university, CEO of a hospital, or medical officer of a health region) as demonstrated by an interest in the Fellow's future re-recruitment to the province.

IMPORTANT: It should be noted that there are a very limited number of fellowship awards that are supported for placements out-of-province. Only candidates who have clearly met ALL of the eligibility requirements and have exceptionally highly rated applications are likely to receive out-of-province fellowship funding.

Part-time fellowship awards are only tenable at an Alberta-based university.

Students work on health research projects in a variety of laboratories or research environments of selected faculty at the University of Alberta, the University of Calgary, and the University of Lethbridge.

A faculty supervisor possessing both a record of productive health-oriented research and sufficient resources to ensure the satisfactory conduct of the research must sponsor the candidate.

A supervisor may sponsor no more than two summer students per year and each student must have a separate project.

A faculty supervisor possessing both a record of productive health-oriented research and sufficient resources to ensure the satisfactory conduct of the research must sponsor the candidate. He/she must provide direct supervision and should not supervise more than four full-time AIHS-supported trainees simultaneously.

4.3.1

4.3.2

A faculty supervisor possessing both a record of productive health-oriented research and sufficient resources to ensure the satisfactory conduct of the research must sponsor the candidate. He/she must provide direct supervision.

Candidates will not receive approval for fellowship training in the same department or with the same supervisor as those associated with the majority of their doctoral training.

The research project should not be substantially altered from that proposed in the original application. If significant changes should become necessary, the trainee must obtain prior written approval from AIHS. The supervisor must agree with the proposed changes and the original aims and conditions of the award must be satisfied.

AIHS reserves the right to terminate support if changes to the proposed research project are not approved.

HYRS Application Deadline is available at http://www.ahfmr.ab.ca/HYRS/index.php.

Summer Student Application Deadline: February 1.

Studentship Application Deadlines: March 1 and October 1.

Please note that unsuccessful applicants may apply a maximum of two additional times for a Studentship Award.

Applications for the M.D./Ph.D. Studentships must include a letter of support from the office of the program coordinator.

Fellowship Application Deadlines: March 1 and October 1.

Please note that unsuccessful applicants may apply a maximum of one additional time for a Fellowship Award, regardless of fellowship award category.

Clinical Fellowship Application Deadlines: March 1 and October 1.

Please note that unsuccessful applicants may apply a maximum of one additional time for a Fellowship Award, regardless of fellowship award category.

The original application should be submitted at least three months before the date at which the candidate intends to begin his/her training in Alberta. The appropriate application form from the Studentship or Fellowship sections must be used. The results of the competition are usually available approximately three to four weeks after the application is submitted.

Results of the HYRS competition are usually available on the AIHS website in early June. Candidates will be informed by official letters regarding the outcome of their submission shortly thereafter.

Results of the Summer Studentship competition are usually available on the AIHS website approximately six to eight weeks after the close of the competition. Candidates will be informed by official letters regarding the outcome of their submission shortly thereafter.

Results of the Trainee competitions are usually available on the AIHS website approximately 2 1/2 months after the close of the competition. Official letters with the competition results and Pro-Grid ratings are sent to the applicants shortly thereafter.

Studentship awards may be implemented at any time within six months of the date of offer. Offers will be withdrawn for any award not implemented within this time period.

Fellowship awards may be implemented at any time within 12 months from the date of offer.

Trainees may undertake a maximum of 200 hours of non-research related activities per year ONLY with the approval of their faculty supervisors, in subjects relevant to the research project. This limit could include direct participation in:

1. teaching;
2. preparation time;
3. contributions to laboratory supervision.

Clinical Fellows are expected to commit to a minimum of two years of full-time research.

Vacation entitlements are in accordance with the policies of the host institution and must be taken during the term of the award.

Summer Studentship awards are not renewable, but eligible students are welcome to re-apply in subsequent years.

Studentship awards are normally provided for an initial period of 24 months and are renewable (upon submission of annual progress reports that are satisfactory to AIHS) to a maximum total period of support of five years, determined by eligibility.

M.D./Ph.D. Studentship awards are normally provided for an initial period of 24 months and are renewable (upon submission of annual progress reports that are satisfactory to AIHS) to a maximum total support period of six years, determined by eligibility.

Fellowship awards are normally provided for an initial period of 24 months and may be renewed for one additional year upon submission of a progress report that is satisfactory to AIHS.

Clinical Fellowship awards are normally provided for an initial period of 24 months and may be renewed for one additional year upon submission of a progress report that is satisfactory to AIHS. Candidates enrolled in a graduate program (Masters or Ph.D.) may be eligible to receive additional years of support.

Fast-track Studentships and Fellowships are tenable for one year only. Awardees may apply to the regular Full-Time Studentship or Full-Time Fellowship competitions during the fast-track year of support to be eligible for continued support.

Awardees for multi-year awards are required to submit an annual progress report. Failure to submit this report will result in suspension of the funding and may lead to cancellation of the award.

Awardees will receive a reminder letter outlining the required submission date along with the required report forms from AIHS along with the required submission deadline.

The trainee and the supervisor must complete and submit the final report form within one month of the termination or completion of an award.

Final report forms:

Summer Studentship

Studentship and Fellowship

AIHS full-time Studentship and Fellowship awardees may receive up to 20 weeks of paid maternity leave.

Paid parental leave may be awarded to an AIHS Studentship or Fellowship recipient when the mother works. The duration of such a leave will be up to 20 weeks, less any period of maternity leave taken by the mother.

An additional 20 weeks can be taken as a leave of absence without pay.

Following the maternity/parental leave, and upon the request of the trainee and supervisor, the term of the AIHS training award may be extended by an amount of time equal to the duration of the leave.

AHFMR awardees who take a maternity or parental leave during the tenure of their award must notify AIHS PRIOR to the commencement of the leave period.

There is no limit to the number of maternity/parental leaves that can be taken during the tenure of a given award.

Time added to the award is a maximum 40 weeks.

Unpaid leaves of absence of up to six months may be granted following a formal request to AIHS outlining the purpose of the leave. The support of the supervisor and the host institution is required. Each request will be considered on a case by case basis by AIHS.

AIHS reserves the right to terminate the award should the required approval not be met.

Upon the trainee's return, AIHS will extend the award by the duration of the approved leave.

All publications, including public messages, arising from research supported by AIHS grants or awards must acknowledge the support of AIHS. Please go to http://www.ahfmr.ab.ca/logo/ for downloadable logos.

Awardees are asked to inform the AIHS communications staff in advance if their research will be published in a major journal such that it might result in a press release from the university and/or the journal.

AIHS reserves the right to publish and/or disseminate information regarding its grants and awards.

AIHS supports Alberta research institutions in their efforts to promote and ensure the highest standards of research and scholarship practice and behavior.

It is incumbent upon each applicant to adhere to all research policies and procedures in place at his/her institution, including those regarding integrity in research and scholarship.

AIHS reserves the right to confirm, through independent means, representations of authorship, credentials or research support.

In the event of material deviations in the submitted information, including citation sources (in the case of authorship), issuing organization(s) (in the case of credentials), or granting agencies (in the case of research support), AIHS reserves the right to disqualify any applicant from the competition in question. Further AIHS actions may include disqualifying the applicant from future AIHS competitions for a time period to be set at AIHS's sole discretion, withdrawal of any remaining installments of support for any existing AIHS grant or award for which misrepresentation appears in the submission, and seeking partial or full repayment of any past financial support under any AIHS grant or award for which misrepresentation appears in the submission.