Professional Postgraduate Training in Research (Fellowship) / 2019-2020

• Applicants with a professional university degree in healthcare and a valid license to practice in Québec.

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

Canadian citizens or permanent residents who did not reside in Québec previously OR 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.

Professionals interested in enrolling in a master or doctoral program must apply to:

• Master Training for Applicants with a professional Degree in Human Health (see program rules)
• Doctoral Training for Applicants with a professional Degree in Human Health (see program rules)

Applicants with both a professional degree and a doctoral degree (Ph.D.) who are interested in pursuing research training must apply to:

• Postdoctoral Training program

• Must devote at least 75% of his/her time to the research project.
• Must be supervised by a university researcher or clinical university researcher (as defined in the Definitions section of the Common General Rules).

If the candidate’s supervisor is located outside of Québec, that person should still meet the criteria of university researcher or clinical university researcher in terms of university affiliation and autonomy (see the Definitions section of the Common General Rules).

Not eligible :

• Those who hold an academic position, unless they take unpaid leave for the duration of the training award. An official letter confirming their employment status for the period and stating that they will resume their position once the training is completed should be provided by the employer
• Individuals who have received or are currently receiving a Professional Postgraduate Training in Research (Fellowship) from a Québec granting agency (e.g. FRQNT, FRQS, FRQSC) are not eligible for this competition (except renewal application)
• Applicants are not eligible for a renewal if they have already received 3 or more years of postdoctoral fellowships since the initial offer of the FRQS fellowship, regardless of the granting agency

Basic research ethics training is mandatory for all FRQS awardees conducting research projects that involve human beings.

Research on human beings involves:

• Participation of human beings
• Use of human biological materials (parts, products, tissue, cells, genetic materials, derived from a living or dead individual)
• Assisted procreation activities or the use of human embryos derived therefrom, within the meaning of the Act respecting clinical and research activities relating to assisted procreation (CQLR c. A-5.01)
• The use of administrative, scientific or descriptive data from human participants

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.

Before October 15, 2018, 4:30 pm (EDT)

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

IMPORTANT : 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 2016);
• Detailed contributions updated since June 2016 (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 en recherche post-diplôme professionnel (fellowship)
  PDF version – for information

• A copy of official academic transcripts (except renewal applications)
• Copies of all award, honours and distinction notices, including FRQS awards

• Acknowledgements from publishers for articles that are submitted or accepted for publication

For individuals with a Canadian citizenship or permanent residency and domiciled in Québec:

• a copy of a valid Quebec health insurance card, OR evidence of eligibility to the RAMQ (official RAMQ document before the issuance of the card) (except renewal applications)

For individuals without a Canadian citizenship or permanent residency and domiciled in a province other than Québec:

• an official document confirming that the individual lives in Québec on a regular and daily basis for at least 6 months within the 7 months preceeding the submission deadline of the competition (see the list of accepted documentation in the Toolbox)

For individuals without a Canadian citizenship or permanent residency:

• an official document confirming that the individual lived in Québec on a regular and daily basis for at least six months within the seven months preceding the submission deadline of the competition (see the list of accepted documentationn in the Toolbox)

• Canadian Common CV, Funding CV version, for the FRQS (updated since June 2016);

• Detailed contributions updated since June 2016 (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 if applicable, co-supervisor)
  PDF version – for information

The awardee must submit:

• proof of membership to a professional corporation certifying that the applicant is entitled to practice in Québec

• a written confirmation of the beginning or the continuation of the project from the research supervisor

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

• ethics training certificates (levels 1 and 3), if applicable (by email in a single PDF document)

• in a Québec research environment

OR

• in a internationally recognized Canadian or foreign research environment exclusively for individuals who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents AND have a valid Quebec health insurance card OR evidence of eligibility to the RAMQ

Awardees must complete their research training in the physical location of the host institution.  Distance learning is not allowed.

Awardees who wish to change their research project, supervisor or training institution must submit the FRQS modification request form Change of research project, supervisor or training location (see Toolbox) and the required documents in a single PDF.

Between May 2019 and January 2020, on the first of the month

2 years and possibly a third year, conditional upon the evaluation of a renewal application (renewal may be requested only once).

Applicants are not eligible for a renewal if they have already received 3 or more years of postdoctoral fellowships since the initial offer of the FRQS fellowship, regardless of the granting agency.

The awardee may benefit from an award payment deferral during parental leave (maternity, paternity or adoption) for a maximum period of 12 months as described in Section 6.13 of the Common General Rules.

Awardees must fill out the Award payment deferral form (Report de versement de bourse), accompagnied by the documents supporting the leave, to inform the FRQS of their intention to receive a supplement to their award for a parental leave.

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 reject any request that is not properly justified.

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

Deferrals with the goal of acquiring relevant experience can be consecutive if they are approved by the research supervisor.

To benefit from this measure, the award holder must submit a request to the FRQS by filling out the Award payment deferral form. Furthermore, the research supervisor should provide a letter confirming his or her agreement and the relevance of the paid activities that are involved.

The FRQS reserves the right to reject any request that is not properly justified or relevant.

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

A $10,000 supplement is added for professional postgraduate training outside Québec

The award will be paid to the awardee by installments.

The awardee is responsible for paying the income tax due on amounts received from the FRQS. No taxes are withheld at source by the FRQS on amounts disbursed during the taxation year in question.

The date the amount is granted 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 form 1 are sent to the awardee’s mailing address (the one shown 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 this form are for information purposes only. The FRQS is not responsible for the validity of the information given about income tax.

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.

Holding an FRQS training award concurrently with a research internship to be done in another organization and that is not part of the training program of the awardee, is allowed under certain conditions.

For internships of $ 5,000 or less, awardees must notify the FRQS by email before the beginning of the internship.

For internships of $ 5,000 and more, awardees must ask the FRQS for authorization by completing the Internship authorization form (see Toolbox) before the internship begins. If the internship is approved, it will be allowed either to 1) combine the training award and internships amounts or 2) defer the amount of the FRQS award for a period equal to the duration of the internship or a maximum of 6 months.

The travel expenses (one return economy airline ticket) of awardees and their close family (spouse and children) carrying out their projects in institutions located outside Québec may be reimbursed upon the presentation of supporting documents, as long as these expenses are not reimbursed by another organization.

All applications are reviewed by committees of experts representing various health research disciplines and methodologies.

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• 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:

• 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).

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

• 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.

Candidates must also submit an application to the CCHCSP.

Foundation of Stars
Training awards in the Pediatric research field, primarily in the area of early childhood diseases diagnosis.

Société québécoise d’hypertension artérielle (SQHA) – Jacques de Champlain Award
The Jacques de Champlain Award in Cardiovascular Health and Hypertension fields includes a research support supplement (maximum of $10,000 per year).

The Kidney Foundation of Canada – KRESCENT Research Program

All candidates must also submit an application to the KRESCENT Program (Kidney Research Scientist Core Education and National Training).  Amount of the award: $55,000 per year.

Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada
Training Awards in the Multiple Sclerosis research field. Candidates must also submit an application to the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. Only physicians are eligible. Amount of the award: minimum of $50,500 per year.