AV俱乐部

STIPENDS

All graduate students in the School of Biomedical Engineering receive funding to support their studies. A stipend is the annual total amount of funding a student receives before tuition and fees are deducted. This is a combination of funding from the department, from your supervisor*, and from external awards and scholarships.

Stipends are intended to offset some of the expenses incurred in pursuing graduate studies. Additional funds are often needed to cover all the costs related to living in Halifax while completing your degree.听It is your responsibility to explore the full cost of tuition, fees, and living expenses and to discuss your resources and expectations for time to completion with your supervisor before accepting your admission offer.

Conditional on academic standing, students will receive a minimum guaranteed take-home pay听of $16,000-17,000/year (years 1-2 for MASc students, years 1-5 for PhD students) after accounting for the cost of tuition and fees. However, most students receive stipends that exceed this minimum due to additional support from their supervisors* and scholarships.

*Note that Supervisor funding is derived from their research funds and is conditional upon your supervisor鈥檚 ability to secure continued research funding in the later years of your program.

TUITION & FEES

Tuition and fees are set by the university and are subject to change year by year. To find more information about tuition and fees, please visit听AV俱乐部's Money Matters page.

TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS

Teaching assistantships provide graduate students with the ability to earn income in addition to their stipend outlined above. These positions are for a maximum of 13 weeks per semester for 5-10 hours a week*.听Although the School of Biomedical Engineering does not offer an undergraduate program, we encourage you to serve as demonstrators or teaching assistants in any AV俱乐部 undergraduate department. To apply for such a position, you can connect with the undergraduate department directly or check the .

*Note: some scholarships limit the amount of work a student is allowed to take on to less than 16 hrs/week.听You should discuss the possibility of a teaching assistantship with your supervisor before applying.

SBME Scholarship Competition听

Applications open:听January 6, 2025
Application deadline:听February 27, 2026 @ 5:00pm AST

The School of Biomedical Engineering offers several scholarships aimed at supporting students with strong research potential.

The following scholarships will be awarded by SBME in the current academic year. Please visit the Faculty of Graduate Studies webpage for additional information about eligibility and a complete list of current and upcoming scholarships.

• Applications for all SBME scholarships are via a harmonized, single application process
• All applications are ranked by the SBME Awards Committee and eligibility is assessed.
• Scholarships will be distributed to the highest ranked applications meeting all eligibility requirements in order of scholarship value
• Students may only hold one SBME scholarship
• Students and supervisors will be notified of results no later than March 31^st, 2026.

MASc

PhD

Application Submission: Application packages are to be submitted as a single PDF file to bme@dal.ca before the deadline听. The reference letter should be sent separately by the referee, also to bme@dal.ca.听 Please use the following format in the subject line: SBME 2025 Scholarship Application 鈥� Student鈥檚 Name; SBME 2025 Scholarship Reference 鈥� Student鈥檚 Name.

Application Requirements

• A complete application consists of:
  • A one-page research proposal (1鈥� margins, 12pt font, Times New Roman, single spaced).听 References may be included on additional pages using as many pages as necessary.听 Graphical figures may be included within the proposal but count toward the one-page limit.
  • Applicant鈥檚 CV -听听or the听
  • Copy of undergraduate and graduate transcripts
  • A Candidate鈥檚 Statement (Max 300 words).听 The statement describes your motivation for pursuing a degree in SBME and highlights any unique or non-traditional contributions or achievements that may not be reflected elsewhere in the application. You may also include any career interruptions or barriers you have overcome that have shaped your academic or professional journey.
• Supervisors must provide a current CV (听or the听
• One letter of reference
  • The applicant must provide a letter of reference from an individual qualified to speak to the applicant鈥檚 research potential, preferably a faculty member.听 The referee may be a current or potential supervisor, but this not required.听Referees are asked to provide an evaluation of the candidate鈥檚 academic leadership, skills and contributions to research, ideally illustrated with concrete examples.

Eligibility

• At the time of award commencement, candidates must be a full-time registered student in the School of Biomedical Engineering
• Award recipients must maintain full-time enrollment in an SBME program to continue to receive funding
• Applicants cannot hold SBME scholarships concurrently with Faculty of Medicine Graduate Studentships or tri-agency funding.

Terms of Award

• SBME scholarship support may be reduced if total scholarship support exceeds $40,000/year.听Funding from industry internships such as through the Mitacs Accelerate program does not count towards this total.
• For multi-year awards, students must maintain registration and good standing in their program for the second year of funding to be released.
• The funding start date will be September 1st of the year when the award is accepted.
• Awards must be accepted within 5 working days from the date of offer, or the award will be offered to the next fundable applicant.
• Any awarded external scholarships must be accepted by the student.
• It is the responsibility of the applicant to inform SBME if they receive scholarship funding from other sources that exceeds a total funding of $40,000 per year.听Funding from industry internships such as through the Mitacs Accelerate program does not count towards this total.听

Criteria for evaluation
Applications will be assessed by the SBME Awards Committee for:

• [30%] Academic excellence (e.g., references, transcripts, awards, academic leadership)
• [30%] Candidate鈥檚 abilities (e.g., skills, contributions to research, etc.)
• [20%] Quality of the proposed research (e.g., scope, clarity, and feasibility of the proposal?)
• [20%] Quality of the research environment (e.g., supervisor鈥檚 productivity, availability of research funding, technical support, potential for collaborations)