Doctoral Training for Medical Students (M.D.-Ph.D.) / 2018-2019

• Applicants with an undergraduate or graduate university degree
• Applicants who hold a college diploma and who have accumulated at least 90 credits of courses in a university program

Applications from individuals holding a college diploma but who have not accumulated 90 course credits in a university program must be validated by the faculty of medicine in a letter of recommendation from the dean.

• Canadian citizens or permanent residents domiciled in Québec (as defined in the Common General Rules, art. 2.1)

Canadian citizens or permanent residents that did not reside in Québec previously and individuals who are not currently Canadian citizens or permanent residents are eligible to submit an application for training awards under certain conditions (see section 2.1 of the Common General Rules).

Citizenship and residency in Québec status must remain in effect for the entire duration of the award.

• Individuals must be enrolled:

in a regular undergraduate medical program in a Québec university

and simultaneously, in a regular research doctoral program (Ph.D.) in human health sciences within a structured M.D.-Ph.D. program recognized by the FRQS in that Quebec university.

• Submit a research project that can be completed within a maximum of 3 years (Ph.D.).

• To be considered “a research program,” the doctoral program must consist of a minimum of 36 credits dedicated to research and lead to the writing of a doctoral thesis.

• Awardees must temporarily interrupt their regular medical studies for a maximum of 3 years.

• Individuals must be supervised by a university researcher or clinical university researcher  (as defined in the Definitions section of the Common General Rules)

Basic research ethics training is compulsory for all FRQS awardees conducting research projects that involve human subjects.

Research that involves human subjects includes work on :

• living human subjects
• cadavers, human remains, tissues, biological fluids, gametes, embryos or fetuses, cells or genetic materials
• personal information from files that enables a person to be identified.

Awardees must therefore successfully complete levels 1 and 3 of the Online Tutorial in Research Ethics developed by the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux.

This training must be completed within one year of the date of confirmation by the FRQS that the award was granted.

The FRQS encourages awardees to follow a one-credit research ethics training course in addition to the mandatory basic research ethics training, whenever possible.

Documents sent via mail or e-mail will not be accepted.

Transmission via the FRQS electronic Portfolio  only

Any missing document or document that is not in conformity with the program rules and forms may result in the ineligibility of the funding application.

No extension will be permitted. After the application deadline, forms that are not already submitted will be automatically rejected.

New with FRQnet : Once the application is submitted, it will no longer be possible to modify it.

• Canadian Common CV, Funding CV version, for the FRQS (updated since June 2015);

• Detailed contributions updated since June 2015 (attachment required through the FRQS Electronic Portfolio on the Canadian Common CV page),  consult the document entitled Guidelines for the CV attachment in the Toolbox

• Electronic application form : Formation de doctorat pour les étudiants en médecine (M.D.-Ph.D.)
  PDF version – for information (to come)
• A copy of official academic transcripts for all university courses taken, whether completed or not.

Academic transcripts must be complete and include grading scales (at the back of the transcript), for candidates from Québec as well as for candidates outside of Québec.

For transcripts from institutions located outside North America, the applicant must include a note explaining the institution’s marking system

• Copies of all awards, honours and distinction notices, including FRQS awards
• Acknowledgements from publishers for articles submitted or accepted for publication.

For individuals with a Canadian citizenship or permanent residency:

• a copy of a valid Québec health insurance card

OTHERWISE

• another official document confirming that the individual lives in Québec on a regular and daily basis for at least 6 months (before April 17, 2017) at the time of the application submission (see the list of accepted documentation in the Toolbox)

AND

• a proof of application, registration or admission to a Québec university at the time of the application submission

For individuals without a Canadian citizenship or permanent residency:

• an official document confirming that the individual lives in Québec on a regular and daily basis for at least 6 months (before April 17, 2017) at the time of the application submission (see the list of accepted documentation in the Toolbox)

AND

• a proof of application, registration or admission to a Québec university at the time of the application submission.

Applicants who have not accumulated 90 course credits in a university program must submit a letter of recommendation from the dean of the faculty of medicine.

Candidates will be notified of the reception of their application and of their eligibility via email by the month of November at the latest.

• Canadian Common CV, Funding CV version, for the FRQS (updated since June 2015);

• Detailed contributions updated since June 2015 (attachment required through the FRQS Electronic Portfolio on the Canadian Common CV page), consult the document entitled Guidelines for the CV attachment in the Toolbox

•  Supervisor’s electronic form and co-supervisor, if applicable
  PDF version – for information (to come)

To start the second year of the award , the awardee will have to provide:

• a confirmation from the supervisor indicating that the student is still under his/her supervision (and annually thereafter) (by email)
• ethics training certificates (levels 1 and 3) , if applicable (by email in a single PDF document)

May 2018 (Summer term), September 2018 (Fall term) or January 2019 (Winter term)

6 years, 3 of them must be devoted to full-time research

In accordance to section 6.13 of the Common General Rules, the awardee may benefit from an award payment deferral during parental leave (maternity, paternity or adoption) for a maximum period of 12 months. In addition, during this deferral period, the awardee may obtain an award supplement for the parental leave for up to 6 months, provided that the awardee held the FRQS award for at least 4 months, unless that the awardee is already holding another FRQS award.

Awardees must fill out the Award payment deferral form (Report de versement de bourse) to inform the FRQS of their intention to receive a supplement to their award for a parental leave. In addition to this form, awardees will need to include a statement from their research supervisor confirming the training interruption for parental leave and a midwife’s or doctor’s confirmation of the approximate date of birth or a copy of the adoption proposal.

Only one parental leave is allowed per child even if both parents are recipients of a FRQ award. The parents are free, however, to organize and share this leave at their convenience.

The installments of the award planned for each month of the parental leave will be rescheduled at the end of the funding period.

The FRQS reserves the right to refuse any request that is not properly justified.

$21,000/year* for 3 years of full-time enrolment in a research program

$10,000/year* for 3 years during which the awardee completes the research project or pursues research activities (seminars, thesis writing) concurrently with medical studies

*except in some cases (see the section Awards in partnership)

One new award per year, per university

Exceptionally two awards, if no application for the M.D.-M.Sc. program is submitted by the university

The award will be paid to the awardee by installments. Three installments per year will be made in May, September, and January.

New with FRQnet : at predetermined times, award holders will need to complete a Payment Request Report (Rapport de versement) in their FRQS electronic Portfolio to initiate the payment process.

The awardee is responsible for paying the income tax due on the amounts received from the FRQS. The FRQS does not make any deductions on the amounts disbursed during the taxation year.

The payment date determines the year in which the awardee must declare the amounts received as income for personal tax calculations.

Revenue Canada’s T4A form and Revenue Québec’s Relevé 1will be sent to the awardee’s mailing address (the one specified in the Module My funding (Gérer mon financement) in the FRQS Electronic Portfolio) in February of the following year of taxation.

The details provided in these program rules are for information purposes only. The FRQS is not responsible for the validity of any income tax information.

This program does not benefit from the amount paid out by FRQS to cover indirect costs of research of the institutions.

Awardees may accept additional funding from the institution or their research supervisor.

Holding several scholarships is not allowed. Awardees who obtained an award from another public agency or a foundation recognized by the FRQS must notify the FRQS and decline the FRQS funding as soon as the award is offered. However, if the amount of the other award is lower than the one given by the FRQS, the awardee is eligible to receive the difference.

Each university with a Faculty of medicine is responsible to set up a committee of experts to review applications and submit recommendations to the FRQS.

(New in FRQnet)               

By submitting an application, the applicant must :

• Comply with the obligations outlined in the Common General Rules of the three Fonds and in the Policy Regarding Open Access to Published Research Outputs as well as with the conditions and requirements outlined in the electronic form and program rules.

• Comply with the ethics and integrity standards outlined in the FRQS document Standards en éthique de la recherche et d’intégrité scientifique and in the Policy for the Responsible Conduct of Research of the Fonds de recherche du Québec.

• Authorize the FRQS to retain and use the personal and scientific information included in the application documents, in keeping with the terms outlined in the document Énoncé relatif à la protection des renseignements personnels et confidentiels des dossiers des candidats, candidates et titulaires d’un octroi and provided that the people who are granted access to the information respect its confidentiality.

The supervisor and co-supervisor must :

• Oversee the awardee’s work and provide the awardee with the material and financial means necessary to carry out the research project.

• Comply with the ethics and integrity standards outlined in the FRQS document Standards en éthique de la recherche et d’intégrité scientifique and in the Policy for the Responsible Conduct of Research of the Fonds de recherche du Québec.

• Ensure that the awardee also complies with them.

The FRQS offers a number of awards in collaboration with partners. The financial contribution of FRQS and the partner as well as other funding conditions (i.e. funding period and renewal option) may vary according to the agreements in effect.

Eligible applicants are selected through a three-step process:

1. Applicants must select by priority order, one or more partners whose research areas are in line with the themes of their application in order of preference (see section Partenariats [partnerships] on the form).

2. The FRQS sends the partners a list of applications for relevancy review based on their interests and research priorities.

3. Applications are then reviewed by the regular FRQS committees of experts or peers. Applications with a scientific excellence score of at least 70% and also relevant to one or more partners may be considered for funding in partnership.

Like all other FRQS awards, the awards in partnership are granted based on merit following a scientific evaluation by a committee of experts or peers.

The Jacques de Champlain Award in Cardiovascular health and Hypertension fields includes a research support supplement (maximum of $10,000 per year).