Fellowships & Other Major Awards

Congratulations! 

Congratulations on receiving another major award! You should be very proud to receive any major competitive scholarship during your graduate program. We are so thrilled to have you as a part of our Faculty.

As a Fellowship recipient, we know you're probably wondering how the Fellowship is affected by a new award like the NSERC CGSM, OGS/QEII, Vanier, and CIHR or NSERC Doctoral Awards. Learn more below. 

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Fellowships and other major awards 

Most students assume that if you win another major award while holding an Engineering Excellence Fellowship it gets added to your existing funding but, as is the case for most major graduate awards in Canada, you can only receive funding from one major award at a time. The Terms of Reference for the Engineering Excellence Fellowships stipulate this limitation and so we are bound to follow that rule. We know this can be a disappointment.  

On a positive note, because the Engineering Excellence Fellowships are administrated by the Faculty of Engineering, we can keep you under the Fellowship umbrella - so once your new award is over you will receive the Fellowship funding, rather than the minimum funding most graduate students receive, until you reach your program time limit. Key Point: You do not need to decline your Fellowship in order to accept a major award.

Throughout your program, regardless of other awards you hold, you'll be included as a Fellowship Recipient in all Fellowship community events and activities.

Benefits in accepting the NSERC/CIHR or OGS/QEII awards

  • You have earned it! It's considered an honour to receive one of these very competitive and rare awards
  • In all cases you will receive the same or higher funding overall by accepting the NSERC or OGS award because you will also receive the PGS top up funding from UWaterloo and the Faculty of Engineering to raise the overall funding amount (see below for specifics)
  • The OGS/QEII and CIHR/NSERC/Vanier awards are competitive Provincial and National awards respectively and they carry more prestige than an internal award like the Fellowships. This will better support your career progression in academia or industry than the Fellowship alone
  • Winning one of these awards makes you more competitive for future award or grant competitions, so you will want it included in your CV or award or grant proposals in the future

Any Fellowship funding questions can be directed to the Managers in the EGSO.

How your funding can look - Examples

For MASc students

For PhD students 

For PhD3 students

Students who join a PhD program without completing a Master's Program (referred to as PhD3s) often have unique awards arrangements and should contact their Department Coordinator or the EGSO to discuss their awards.

Example: PhD3 students are considered Master's students for NSERC/CIHR award purposes for their first 3 terms. 

When to start receiving your award

New Students: You should accept the new award for the first term of your program.

Current Students: As a general rule, accept the new award for the first term you are eligible (typically the Spring term) or the first term after you are finished with another major external award like the NSERC CGSM, PGSD, CGSD or OGS/QEII.

Contact your department coordinator if you are unsure which term to select when confirming your acceptance. 

Last updated: November 2022