McMaster’s graduate and postdoctoral community is set to welcome 22 top doctoral and postdoctoral researchers as recipients of the first phase of federal funding delivered through the Canada Impact+ Research Training Awards (CIRTA).
These early-career scholars will join McMaster’s world-class learning and research ecosystem, investigating across a broad range of studies spanning five faculties – from examining risks associated with artificial intelligence, to the ethics of enforcing climate justice, to the developmental origins of autism.
“The Canada Impact+ Research Training Awards represent a major step in attracting top doctoral and postdoctoral researchers to McMaster and other universities across the country,” says Steve Hranilovic, Vice-Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies.
“This investment will strengthen McMaster’s research enterprise and drive meaningful innovation on issues and challenges we face on the local, national, and global stages.”
The McMaster recipients secured a total of $2.8 million through CIRTA, a one-time funding initiative that aims to attract top international and expatriate researchers across all levels of experience — early career to established researcher — as part of Canada’s new Talent Attraction Strategy.
“We are very excited to open our labs, seminar rooms, and libraries to these incredible researchers who are making their way to our beautiful campus. We offer a heartfelt welcome to those experiencing Canada for the first time,” Hranilovic says.
“And to those Canadian scholars who have been studying and working abroad, welcome home.”
Fourteen PhD students and eight postdoctoral researchers will join campus in the first phase.
| Canada Impact+ Research Training Awards (CIRTA) by faculty |
| Faculty |
Doctoral |
Postdoctoral |
| Engineering |
9 |
3 |
| Health Sciences |
1 |
1 |
| Science |
3 |
3 |
| Social Sciences |
1 |
0 |
| Humanities |
0 |
1 |
The CIRTA initiative supports research priorities across a broad range, including
- advanced digital technologies (including AI, quantum, and cybersecurity)
- health, including biotechnology
- clean technology and resource value chains
- environment, climate resilience, and the Arctic
- democratic and community resilience
- manufacturing and advanced materials
- defence and dual-use technologies
The CIRTA doctoral award is valued at $40,000 per year over three years, while the postdoctoral award is valued at $70,000 per year over two years.
Nominations for Phase Two of CIRTA funding for PhDs and postdocs closed on June 3, with results expected this summer.
The awards are administered by the Tri-Agency: Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.