The University of Waterloo offers International Experience Awards to support full-time graduate students pursuing an academic exchange (course), a study term related to their research (field work), an academic requirement (placement), minimally paid (unpaid/underpaid) work, or volunteer experience.
Learn about how International Experience Awards have enriched the experience of graduate students and how you can apply.
Recipients in the Faculty of Arts
Mikayla MacIntyre, a master’s student in Global Governance, travelled to Germany to work on her major research paper, which explores the crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) in Canada.
April Pereira travelled to the University of Illinois to work on a project related to her doctoral research in the Department of Psychology.
Recipients in the Faculty of Engineering
Stephen Robinson-Enebeli travelled to Duisburg, Germany to conduct research at the Centre for Nanointegration Duisburg-Essen.
PhD student Negar Rajabi Dehnavi, from the Department of Chemical Engineering travelled to Brno, Czech Republic, to continue research on a joint project with a research group at the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC).
Rishabh Bajaj travelled to Tokyo, Japan, to conduct cutting-edge research at the National Institute of Informatics, applying AI and 3D vision techniques to fields like medical imaging while blending technology, culture, and collaboration in a transformative global research experience.
Mohammad Shojaati travelled to Singapore to work on research for his PhD.
Recipients in the Faculty of Environment
Joan Kaburia travelled to Kisumu, Kenya to work on her doctoral research.
Alexa Bennett travelled to Cape Coast, Ghana to conduct research for her doctoral thesis.
Farah El-Shayeb travelled to Java, Indonesia to conduct research for her master's thesis.
Kate Manninger travelled to Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal for the fieldwork component of her master's thesis project.
Recipients in the Faculty of Health
Hannah Rayel traveled to Tacloban, Philippines, to collaborate with International Care Ministries on research exploring how low-income adults manage non-communicable diseases and extreme weather events.
Jeremy Cohen travelled to Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan, where he expanded his PhD research by learning advanced biomedical imaging techniques like EchoDynamography and gaining hands-on experience in an international research environment.
Recipients in the Faculty of Math
Cameron Seth travelled to Tokyo, Japan to further his PhD research.
Rick Perche travelled to the United Kingdom and Greece to further his research and professional engagement in the field.
Recipients in the Faculty of Science
Yuheng (Oliver) Song travelled to Shanghai Jiao Tong University to further his PhD research on water's thermodynamic properties.
PhD student Atiyeh Ahmadi travelled to the University of Cambridge to explore one of science’s biggest questions—how life began—combining chemistry, biology, and computational modelling.
Sharon Qiu visited Boston, MA to advance her research on next-generation scleral lenses that use advanced imaging technologies to improve vision and comfort for patients with complex corneal diseases.
Michela Contursi travelled to Gamboa in Panama to research the social biology and animal behaviour of a temperate bat species.
Waterloo offers several international experience awards annually to full‐time graduate students who participate in a minimally paid or volunteer work placement, an academic exchange, or a study term related to academic requirements or research.