Mitacs Elevate Postdoctoral Fellowship

Build your career through this competitive annual fellowship for up to two years. Elevate includes a research management training program and a postdoctoral fellowship. Your partner organization’s financial contribution starts at  $30,000 (Standard Elevate) per year or $40, 000 (Thematic Elevate) per year. 

Mitacs Elevate is a two-year training program for postdoctoral fellows, in which participants lead and undertake an industrially relevant research project in any discipline. During this time, Fellows receive experiential training in R&D directly through their industry-academic research collaboration and leadership training and business acumen through the program’s training curriculum. 

Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit organization that has designed and delivered research and training programs in Canada for 20 years. Working with 60 universities, 4,000 companies, and both federal and provincial governments, we build partnerships that support industrial and social innovation in Canada.

From aerospace systems to childhood literacy rates, Mitacs-funded research helps to strengthen connections, improve economic performance, and create jobs

Postdoctoral fellow eligibility: 

• They are Canadian citizens, permanent residents or international applicants
• They are based at an academic institution located in Canada for the duration of the fellowship
• Their date of graduation from a PhD program is less than five years to proposed start date of the Elevate project, unless:
  • Fellows who have had a break in their career due to military service, illness, or family leave may be considered exceptions and must be approved in advance of application
  • If this situation applies to you or you have any questions, please contact Mitacs at elevate(at)mitacs.ca
• ​They have fulfilled all PhD degree requirements (e.g., successful defence, final deposit, and sign-off of the dissertation), meet the postdoctoral fellow eligibility criteria at their home academic institution, hold a postdoctoral fellow status for the entire duration of their Mitacs Elevate fellowship
• They can commit to the two-year Mitacs Elevate fellowship, including the exclusive professional development curriculum. Replacement or substitute fellows are not allowed
• Fellows who have held a Mitacs Accelerate award as a Master's or PhD student are eligible as long as they have not completed more than one year (three internship units equivalent) of Mitacs Accelerate at postdoctoral level. This must be completed before the start of the Mitacs Elevate fellowship
• Fellows cannot apply to multiple Mitacs programs for the same period of time.

Fellows are ineligible if they have: 

• Been employed for more than six months in an R&D position outside the academic institution after receipt of their doctoral degree
• Received an offer of employment from the proposed partner organization except an offer of this fellowship or short-term employment of up to six months while awaiting a decision on the Mitacs Elevate fellowship
• Completed more than one year (three internship units equivalent) of Mitacs Accelerate at the postdoctoral level before the start of the Elevate fellowship; and
• Previously held a Mitacs Elevate award. Fellows who have completed Mitacs Elevate are also ineligible for Mitacs Accelerate
• If the application is not recommended for an award, fellows may not be eligible to apply again if they have accumulated more than six months of industrial or partner organization work. It is recommended that fellows accept a temporary contract only if necessary and that the period is kept as short as possible. 

Questions about Mitacs Elevate eligibility? Contact a Mitacs representative.