Undergraduate Student Research Awards

The Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) program supports more than 3,000 students annually and is administered jointly by Canada's three granting agencies: NSERC, CIHR, and SSHRC. These awards are meant to nurture students' interest and fully develop their potential for a research career in health, natural sciences and engineering, or social sciences and humanities. The program encourages students to undertake graduate studies by providing research work experience that complements their studies in an academic setting. USRAs have a value of $6,000, and the host institution is required to supplement the award. The duration of the award is 14 to 16 weeks on a full-time basis. Students must work full time in eligible research and development activities in their proposed field of research during tenure of the award. Awards are tenable only at eligible Canadian institutions with an assigned allocation, and students must work under the supervision of a person who has been approved by the institution. Applications must be completed and submitted to the Canadian institution where the student wishes to hold the award through NSERC's online system. Selected applications are submitted to NSERC by institutions. The selection process is carried out by institutions based on academic excellence, research potential, and expected quality of training and mentorship. Students may hold only one USRA per fiscal year and a maximum of three USRAs throughout their undergraduate career. Presently, CIHR and SSHRC USRAs are exclusively for Black student researchers. NSERC provides supplementary allocations for additional awards for Black student researchers, and institutions may recommend applications from self-identified Indigenous student researchers for USRAs beyond their allocation.