Funding

Our department aims to provide adequate funding for all of our students within the limit of our abilities. We also do our best to support our students in the pursuit of external financial awards.


MA Funding Packages

We offer full TA funding to incoming MA students. We also offer some additional fellowship funding to our top candidates, including tuition coverage and Research Assistantships, if and when available.


PhD Funding Packages

We offer a full five-year funding package for our PhD students, which generally consists of a combination of UBC Four-Year Fellowships (4YFs), Department Funding, Teaching Assistantship, and Research Assistantship.


Research Assistantships (RA positions)

In some cases, we are able to offer additional funding in the form of RA positions, but these are contingent on several factors, including faculty members having available research funds for RAs.


Teaching Assistantships (TA positions)

The Department of Political Science will offer TA opportunities to PhDs when available. We consider it an important aspect of the professional development of our PhDs to work as Teaching Assistants, at some point in their PhD program, to develop their teaching skills under the guidance of faculty members. For the 2020-21 academic year, a full Teaching Assistantship for PhD students amounts to $6,611.96 per semester.


External Awards

We support our students in the pursuit of external awards. Our students have been exceptionally successful in SSHRC competitions, and a number of our PhDs have secured prestigious awards such as the Vanier Scholarship and Trudeau Scholarship.

Graduate students at UBC are obliged to apply for Tri-Agency (SSHRC, NSERC, CIHR) funding if they are eligible. Students who receive a Tri-Agency award must accept it in place of their UBC fellowship. Recipients must notify the Department if they receive a Tri-Agency award or any other external funding.

Tri-Agency award recipients may receive an annual 4YF tuition award in addition to their external award funding, but only if the total of the student’s external scholarship funding and 4YF tuition award does not exceed $35,000. If the total of a student’s external scholarship funding and 4YF tuition award exceeds $35,000, the 4YF tuition award will be reduced accordingly.


PhD Student Supplemental Funding

Conference Travel, Methods Schools, and Research Expenses

Within the limits of available resources, the Department does its best to support PhD students who need financial assistance to attend scholarly conferences, get supplemental methods training outside UBC, or carry out costly components of their dissertation research.

All grants will be subject to availability of funds within the Departmental budget. Because university budgeting rules do not allow the Department to carry over significant funds from one year to the next, we are unable to commit to a given level of funding in advance.

PhD student supplemental funding will thus vary from year to year as the Department’s annual budgetary situation changes. Moreover, allocations across conference, methods-training, and research funding may vary with the number and quality of applications received each year.

Applications for grants to support conference travel, methods schools, or dissertation research will typically be considered in two rounds, with deadlines of in Fall and Spring.

Conference Travel

External Methods Schools

Dissertation Research Funding 

Book Stipend

To apply for any of the above funding, please complete this form by the designated deadline: Supplemental Funding Form


Other Supplemental Funding

The UBC Sustainability Initiative (USI) is excited to offer the Student Sustainability Network (SSN) members the opportunity to apply for funding to attend a sustainability-related conference.

To apply, you must identify your chosen conference and complete an application form, indicating expected expenses and your interest in attending the conference. Funding up to $500 will primarily support the conference fee, but you may also request other conference-related expenses.

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