Awards and Funding

The departments of Biology and Chemistry and Biochemistry guarantee a minimum level of financial support for the first four years of full-time study in the PhD program. This minimum is $27,500 per academic year. The financial support is provided by a combination of scholarships, teaching assistantships and research assistantships (paid by the supervisor). Students are eligible for a maximum of eight teaching assistantships over the course of a four-year program. Students in financial need may apply for additional bursaries. For more information, see Graduate Funding and Awards.

Students with major scholarships, such as Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) or Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) are eligible for a $5,000 scholarship from the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and one teaching assistantship. For more information, see the Graduate Calendar.

Teaching Assistantships

The chairs of Biology and Chemistry and Biochemistry, as well as the graduate officers, will decide on the allocation of teaching assistantships to students every academic year.

Once you have been assigned to TA a particular course, you should meet with the lab coordinator to discuss the duties you will be expected to fulfill. Each course will have a teaching assistant job responsibility form that you and the instructor must sign. The signed forms are to be submitted to the appropriate graduate administrative assistant for the signature of the graduate program officer. The forms must be sent to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies by the end of the second week of classes for payroll to be processed. In addition, you must confirm your TAship in LORIS in early August, or prior to your first TAship.

External Scholarships and Awards

Students are expected to apply for any external funding and awards for which they may be eligible. Note that the application process for some major awards starts right at the beginning of fall term.

Since there may be a maximum amount of funds that can be awarded and held by a student, full-time graduate students who accept an award that is not directly administered by Laurier must immediately inform their department chair and the dean of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in writing. This requirement applies to any awards or assistance offered by any agency or institution.

Unless otherwise stipulated by the award-granting agency, if you are successful in winning an external award, you will have that award applied against your (tuition) account. Any outstanding payments owed to the university will be deducted at source before a refund is issued (by direct deposit) for the balance. Major external scholarships from national (Tri-Council) or provincial (Ontario Graduate Scholarship/Ontario Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology) agencies are paid in instalments, one at each term, starting with the term you selected on your response form. The award is applied, along with any other scholarship awarded to you by Laurier, against your student account (tuition).

You must be registered in order to receive your award payment, and the refund will be issued no earlier than the last date for late registration (see the academic schedule in the Graduate Calendar for specific dates). That is, your September instalment will be paid in mid-September, your January instalment in mid-January, etc.

Student Travel Awards

Most graduate students will have an opportunity to travel during the course of their program. In most cases the purpose of the travel will be to present results at scientific conferences. Some students may also travel to conduct research or course work. There are a number of sources of funding available to help offset the cost of travel.

Laurier encourages students to engage in scholarly activity by providing financial support to students who make presentations at academic conferences related to their program of study. To apply to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for funding, see information under "Travel Award Program" on Internal Scholarships and Awards.

The Faculty of Science may have travel funds available over and above what is offered by the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies. You need to apply for these funds prior to travel. Inquiries about funding from the Faculty of Science should be directed to the senior administrative officer, Ruth MacNeil.

In addition to the conference travel funds available from the university, you should discuss other sources of funds with you supervisor. Many scientific societies offer funding to students making presentations at society-sponsored meetings.

There are also some international travel awards available for research or course work abroad.