Pacific Leaders Graduate Student Fellowships

The Pacific Leaders Graduate Student Fellowship will attract top-quality researchers to the B.C. Public Service while producing research to address key issues facing British Columbia. The fellowships support graduate students whose areas of research are relevant to the future of the province.

Pacific Leaders fellows will receive $20,000 per year for each year of graduate studies up to two years, with up to 20 fellows chosen each year.
This award is intended for students in the final full-time year, or the last two full-time years of either a master’s or doctorate degree. Fellows are expected to be employed by the government soon after they finish their degrees.
Applicants must have at least an A-minus average in each of their most recent two years of full-time study and show potential to develop as excellent researchers or analysts.
Their research and findings must be available for the use of the B.C. government, and students applying for fellowships must show how their research is relevant to government.
Once students complete their graduate degrees, they must work one year for the B.C. Public Service for every year of graduate studies funded through the fellowship.
Areas of focus will be related to government’s priorities in areas of current and future skills shortage and/or immediate research needs.
Fellowships are available to students in either master’s or doctoral studies. Professional programs or “applied” or “executive” graduate degrees are not included, as these graduate programs have smaller research components.

The deadline for applications for the Pacific Leaders Graduate Student Fellowship is Oct. 31. Graduate students at B.C.’s four research-intensive universities – Simon Fraser University, the University of British Columbia, the University of Northern British Columbia, and the University of Victoria – can apply.

For more information, contact your faculty of graduate studies department:

Simon Fraser University - Thea Hinds [hinds@sfu.ca]
University of B.C. - Brendan Morey [brendan.morey@ubc.ca]
University of Northern B.C. - Bethany Haffner [haffner@unbc.ca]
University of Victoria - Carolyn Swayze [cswayze@uvic.ca]

Or AVED.SpecialPrograms6@gov.bc.ca

In the future, the program is expected to expand to include all public B.C. universities and university-colleges with research-intensive graduate programs. As well, consideration will be given to including other Canadian institutions.
An internal selection panel from the B.C. government will adjudicate applications.
Fellowship awards will be announced in early spring and are awarded for studies commencing in the May, September or January academic term following announcement of the results.