April 16, 2024
OTTAWA, ON - Support Our Science, an organization dedicated to advocating for increased funding for Canada’s 300,000 graduate students and postdoctoral scholars, welcomes significant new investments for these essential researchers in Budget 2024.
Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars drive much of Canada’s research, discovery, and innovation. Investing in these researchers means investing in creating solutions to the largest challenges facing our society including disease prevention, sustainable resource extraction, climate change, and artificial intelligence. This new funding will contribute to making Canada more globally competitive in training, attracting and retaining top talent.
Budget 2024 pledges $825 million over five years to directly support next-generation researchers by increasing both the number and value of awards. All federal scholarships and fellowships will now be harmonized to the value of $27,000 for master’s, $40,000 for doctoral and $70,000 for postdoctoral fellows. In addition, grants to the Tri-agency will increase by $1.8 billion over five years. This will allow for increased funding to graduate students and postdoctoral scholars paid directly from their supervisor’s grants.
This is the largest investment in graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in more than 20 years. These investments will help early career researchers meet their financial needs, allow them to focus on their research, and promote diversity and inclusion by reducing financial barriers to pursuing research training, which disproportionately impacts marginalized and underrepresented groups.
"Today, the government has chosen to invest in the well-being of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars and clearly values their critical contributions to Canadian research and innovation," said Kaitlin Kharas, PhD Candidate and Executive Director at Support Our Science. “This investment means that next-generation researchers will be financially supported while they are doing groundbreaking research in Canada and sets a new benchmark for compensation.”
"Budget 2024 takes an important step towards retaining and attracting top talent in Canada while helping to ensure that Canada is developing a diverse pool of researchers. These researchers are key to Canada’s future,” said Professor Marc Johnson, Canada Research Chair and Chair of the Board at Support Our Science. “We look forward to continuing to work with the government to ensure Canada is among the most competitive countries internationally for developing and attracting talent."
Support Our Science looks forward to working with all stakeholders to ensure that the Canadian research ecosystem is one that supports and values next-generation researchers. Budget 2024 means a brighter future for grad students and postdocs, and a lasting impact for all Canadians.
About Support Our Science (SOS): Support Our Science is a grassroots organization advocating for increased pay for all graduate students and postdoctoral scholars in Canada. For more information visit www.supportourscience.ca
Contacts
Kaitlin Kharas
PhD Candidate, University of Toronto
Executive Director
Support Our Science
Dr. Marc Johnson
Professor, University of Toronto
Chair of the Board
Support Our Science
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