Quebec Government 2025 Climate Action Scholarship Program for Doctoral Students

The Advisory Committee on Climate Change (hereinafter “the Committee”) and the Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ) are launching, for a second year, the Climate Action Scholarship Program, aimed at developing and implementing public policies to combat climate change in Québec. This program is intended for doctoral students who wish to explore new ways of increasing the impact of their research through science advice.

The Committee is a public body that acts independently to fulfil its mission. This mission consists of advising the minister responsible for the fight against climate change on orientations, programs, policies and strategies to tackle climate change. The Committee publishes the opinions it produces for the Minister. In carrying out its mandate, the Committee takes into account the evolution of scientific and technological knowledge as well as scientific consensuses.

Table of Content

• Summary
• Benefits
• Requirements
• Interview Process
• Application Documents
• Application Deadline
• How To Apply

Summary

• Application DeadlineOctober 15, 2024
• Value$12,000
• Study LevelPhD
• SponsorQuebec Government
• Eligible CountryCanada

Benefits

The scholarship has a value of $12,000. This scholarship may be held concurrently with other funding, as its amount and duration are equivalent to a scholarship supplement. A first payment of $6,000 is made at the start of the period referred to in the scholarship announcement and a second payment of $6,000 is made after approval of the final deliverable by the Committee.

Requirements

The following are eligible for this competition:

• Students enrolled in a doctoral program at a Québec university at the competition closing date.
• To be eligible, students must also have the support of their research director, who must give consent via their FRQnet portal certifying that:
• The proposed project integrates well with the applicant’s workload and that it can realistically be completed in 4 to 6 months (e.g., compatible with their other tasks, complementary to their thesis work);
• The student is enrolled at a Québec university at the competition closing date.

Selection Process

Applications are evaluated in two phases.

Phase 1 – Preselection: A preselection process is applied to all eligible applications by a panel composed of members of the Advisory Committee on Climate Change, or any other person appointed by the Committee or suggested by the FRQ according to the rules in force at the FRQ, to select the projects that meet the Committee’s needs, with a focus on the themes of the competition. An employee of the FRQ participates as an observer in this initial selection phase.

Preselection criteria:

Quality of the academic record: 25%

• Relevance of the applicant’s academic background in relation to this scholarship program and the chosen theme;
• Level of excellence of the applicant’s academic background in terms of grades, scholarships and awards.

Project relevance: 50%

• Project’s potential contribution to the achievement of the Committee’s objectives;
• Alignment with the theme or themes of the competition;
• Integrated knowledge of the climate issue addressed in the project in its various dimensions;
• Capacity to translate the expected research results into concrete proposals, solutions, recommendations or public initiatives.

Potential feasibility of the project and of the production of the deliverable by the applicant: 25%

• Realistic nature of the proposed timeline;
• Knowledge of the issues and challenges related to public decision-making and public policy implementation and interest in such issues and policies;
• Stage in the doctoral program.

Phase 2 – Scientific evaluation: A limited number of applications that passed the preselection phase then undergo scientific evaluation by an intersectoral panel composed of individuals known for their climate change expertise and selected according to the rules in force at the FRQ and in light of the program’s evaluation criteria. An employee of the Committee participates as an observer in this second selection phase.

Scientific evaluation criteria:

Quality of the academic record: 35%

• Research ability (scientific experience and achievements);
• Level of excellence of the applicant’s academic background in terms of grades, scholarships and awards.

Scientific quality of the project: 50%

• Clarity and coherence of the perspective, research problem, methodology and objectives;
• Scientific quality and rigour of the proposed deliverable.

Potential for integration of the scholarship project into the applicant’s academic and personal career path in conjunction with the completion of the applicant’s degree: 15%

To be recommended for funding, the application must: 1) include all required documents; 2) be deemed relevant to the themes of the competition; 3) obtain a minimum overall score of 70% in the scientific evaluation.

Application Documents

The electronic form with the following sections completed:

• Project summary (max. 500 words);
• Project description (max. three pages) and bibliography (max. one page) with the following elements:
  • Research problem, perspective, methodology and objectives;
  • Relationship of the research project to the chosen theme;
  • Nature and contents of the final deliverable;
  • Contribution of the project and the deliverable to the Committee’s mandate and Québec climate policy;
  • Implementation plan with timeline.
• Academic background: study programs and training environments;
• Integrated presentation of the applicant’s background explaining why the chosen theme and the scholarship program are consistent with the applicant’s academic and personal career path. Include a section that describes the degree of advancement in the doctoral program;
• Relevant experience and scientific achievements;
• Recognitions: scholarships, awards, etc.

Official transcripts (see notes in Section 5.2 for details)

Where applicable, the following documents must be included in the “Other documents” section of the form:

• Submitted, in press and accepted articles: All submitted articles must be accompanied by a letter of acknowledgement from the publisher. Articles accepted for publication or in press must be accompanied by a notification from the publisher. The applicant must be identified by name, or the article in question will not be considered in the application evaluation.
• Applicants seeking to avail themselves of an exception:
  • Official document attesting to the duration of parental leave or sick leave, such as a medical certificate or copy of the child’s birth certificate;
  • In the case of a major family obligation or a person with a disability, provide documents attestant to the situation.

Check also:
Shopify Dev Degree Program 2026 (Fully Funded)
York University President's International Scholarship of Excellence 2026

Application Deadline

October 15, 2024

How To Apply

Are you qualified and interested in this opportunity? Kindly go to Quebec Government on frq.gouv.qc.ca to apply

For more details, visit Quebec Government 2025 Climate Action Scholarship Program for Doctoral Students webpage