University of British Columbia Trudeau Foundation Doctoral Scholarship 2026/27

The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholarship Program offers a three-year program designed to train engaged leaders with the skills required to turn their ideas into actions and contribute concretely to addressing the challenges of their communities, Canada, and the world.

While the Foundation continues to seek scholars with the greatest intellectual capacity and a track record of academic achievement, they are also looking for those demonstrating a willingness to engage with a plurality of perspectives, people, cultures, and ideologies, and who are committed to deep listening, profound curiosity, and exploring grey areas.

The Foundation welcomes applications from candidates across a wide range of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, in business schools, public health and law. Candidates’ research must be related to one or more of the four founding themes: Human Rights and Dignity; Responsible Citizenship; Canada and the World; and, People and their Natural Environment.

Table of Content

• Summary
• Benefits
• Requirements
• Application Deadline
• How To Apply

Summary

• Application DeadlineNovember 6, 2026
• Study LevelPhD
• SponsorUniversity of British Columbia
• City to studyVancouver
• School to studyUniversity of British Columbia
• Course to studyHumanities & Social Sciences
• Eligible CountryCanada , United States

Benefits

Up to $50,000 stipend plus up to $20,000 research and travel allowance per year for three years.

Requirements

Your field of study must be broadly related to the humanities or social sciences and address issues that are relevant to Canada’s future. Your PhD research must align with at least one of the Foundation’s four themes:

• Human Rights and Dignity
• Responsible Citizenship
• Canada and the World
• People and their Natural Environment

To be eligible, you must be one of the following:

• A Canadian student enrolled at a Canadian university;
• A Canadian student enrolled at a university outside Canada; or
• An international student enrolled at a Canadian university.

International students residing outside Canada or enrolled at a university outside Canada are not eligible.

Application Deadline

How To Apply

The 2027 application process consists of two steps. The application process will begin on September 1, 2026, with the opening of the eligibility verification form. The key dates to remember are:

• September 1, 2026: Eligibility verification form opens;
• October 2, 2026: Deadline to submit an eligibility verification request;
• October 30, 2026, at 9 a.m. ET: Deadline for references to be received;
• November 6, 2026, at 4 p.m. ET: Deadline to submit the complete application.

Complete application procedures can be viewed here: https://www.trudeaufoundation.ca/2027-applications/

Interested applicants apply directly to the Trudeau Foundation to be considered in the national competition; all interested and eligible applicants may apply.  As of 2020 the University of British Columbia no longer nominates a subset of applicants to the national competition (there is no earlier department or university deadline).

Regarding transcripts:

• Please note that the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies does not provide transcripts for any scholarship competitions.
• Your UBC graduate program may have some of your transcripts on file.  If so, well in advance of the application deadline, confirm with your UBC graduate program which transcripts the program has on file and can provide to support your Trudeau application, and which transcripts you must still order from prior institutions.
• It remains the applicant's responsibility to ensure that they submit a complete transcript package to the Trudeau Foundation, even if some of the transcripts were obtained from their UBC graduate program.
  
  For more information, visit University of British Columbia scholarship webpage.