NSERC and SSHRC Award Portability: Taking a CGS-M or Doctoral Award to a Foreign University

The Core Rule: The Award Stays With a Canadian Institution

NSERC and SSHRC graduate scholarships, including the master's and doctoral level Canada Graduate Research Scholarships, fund research training at a Canadian university. Both agencies require you to be registered full-time in a program at the Canadian institution that nominated you. You hold the award there for its full term, not at a university outside Canada.

What the Scholarship Actually Funds

Both agencies fund a stipend and research support tied to your enrolment at your Canadian host institution, not a portable pot of cash you direct wherever you choose to study. That distinction is the root of the portability rule: the award follows your registration status at a specific Canadian school, so once that registration ends, so does the scholarship.

NSERC Canada Graduate Research Scholarships

NSERC lists its Canada Graduate Research Scholarships under a funding opportunity structure covering a master's stream and a doctoral stream, according to nserc-crsng.canada.ca . Competition status for each stream changes between cycles, so confirm on NSERC's site which stream is accepting applications before you apply. Either way, the scholarship funds work you do while enrolled at your Canadian host institution.

SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarships

SSHRC funds the equivalent award for students in the social sciences and humanities. The portability rule works the same way as NSERC's, since both programs sit under the shared Tri-Agency Research Training framework that NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR administer together. The main difference between the two agencies is the discipline they fund, not how portable the award is.

How Research Stays Abroad Work Instead

If your project benefits from time at a foreign lab, archive or research group, ask your supervisor and graduate office about a research stay supplement rather than trying to move the base scholarship. These supplements cover a defined period abroad while you stay registered at your Canadian institution, so your degree and your scholarship both stay anchored at home.

What Changes If You Transfer to a Foreign University

Accepting a full offer at a university outside Canada means withdrawing from your Canadian program, and your NSERC or SSHRC scholarship ends when you do. There is no mechanism to carry the award with you to a new degree at a foreign institution. If study abroad is the goal, look instead at destination-specific funding: host-country scholarships, Fulbright-style programs, or your target university's own graduate funding.

Co-tutelle and Joint Supervision Degrees

Some Canadian doctoral programs run formal joint-supervision or co-tutelle agreements with a partner university abroad, where you spend real time at both institutions but stay registered at your Canadian school throughout. Because your enrolment stays with the Canadian institution, this kind of arrangement fits the residency requirement in a way that a full transfer does not. Confirm the specific agreement and how it interacts with your scholarship through your graduate office, since the details depend on the co-tutelle agreement itself.

Where NSERC and SSHRC Rules Differ

The two agencies fund different fields: NSERC covers natural sciences and engineering, SSHRC covers social sciences and humanities. Application routes and internal competition timing can differ by institution and by agency, and which stream (master's or doctoral) is open for applications shifts between competition cycles. The portability answer itself does not differ between the two, since both sit under the same Tri-Agency structure once you hold the award.

Common Situations Students Ask About

• A single term abroad on exchange: usually handled as a research stay while you stay registered at home, not a transfer.

• Fieldwork or archive access abroad: the same research stay route applies, arranged through your supervisor.

• Attending a conference abroad: a short trip like this does not touch your residency status at all.

• Accepting a second, foreign degree offer: this means giving up the Canadian scholarship if you withdraw from your Canadian program.

Combining a Tri-Agency Award With Foreign Funding

Some students layer a short-term foreign fellowship, summer research grant or travel award on top of their ongoing NSERC or SSHRC scholarship. This works when the foreign funding covers a defined trip or stay while you stay registered at your Canadian institution the whole time. Check both funders' rules before you accept a second award, since some foreign programs restrict combining their funding with another major scholarship, and your institution's awards office needs to know about any outside funding you hold.

When to Raise This With Your Institution

Bring up any plan to spend meaningful time abroad as early as possible, ideally before you accept your scholarship offer if you already know a foreign research stay is part of your plan. Raising it early gives your supervisor and graduate office time to structure your program around an approved research stay or co-tutelle agreement instead of scrambling to fix a portability problem after you have already committed to travel.

How to Confirm Your Situation

Talk to your graduate studies office before making any change to your enrolment status. They administer the scholarship on NSERC or SSHRC's behalf and can confirm current supplement options, deadlines and paperwork for your specific program.