Research Admin Offices:

• ROADS|HRS

Value:

Up to $18,000 with no contribution or co-funding agreement required from a Canadian University for 24 to 48 weeks,

Disciplines:

• Health Sciences
• Natural Sciences and Engineering
• Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities

Sponsors:

• Mitacs

Deadlines:

Description:

Mitacs has partnered with Canada’s National Research Council (NRC) and RWTH Aachen University in Germany to offer German master’s and PhD researchers the opportunity to conduct international research collaborations at NRC collaboration centres and Canadian universities. NRC researchers are responsible for generating eligible research projects in conjunction with a Canadian university researcher as co-supervisor.

Starting in 2021, this program allows 25 students per year from RWTH to conduct combined research stays at a Canadian partner university participating in the program.

The placements are jointly funded by the NRC, Mitacs and RWTH and can be from six to twelve months in duration. The goals of the program are to strengthen and intensify relations between RWTH, the NRC, and participating Canadian universities; develop international networks; establish joint research and industry projects; prepare joint publications; enhance researcher training; and foster other forms of collaboration.

Additional Program Information:

Deadline

*There is no application deadline; applications can be submitted at any time when projects become available on the RWTH Aachen University website. Please note, however, that due to administrative considerations, submission is recommended approximately six months before the intended start of the research stay.

Eligibility:

Who Can Apply?

The program is open to RWTH Master’s students and doctoral candidates who wish to conduct a combined research stay at one of the participating Canadian universities in collaboration with the NRC, working under the joint supervision of an RWTH Aachen professor, a university professor at the Canadian host university, and an NRC researcher.

Application/Nomination Process:

Application Process

• Step 1: NRC researchers propose projects in collaboration with a Canadian university and complete the “NRC-Mitacs Internship Identification Form” for each of the proposed projects. The projects are required to come under an NRC Challenge or Supercluster Program.
• Step 2: The “NRC-Mitacs Internship Identification Form” is submitted by the NRC researcher to the Program Director and Challenge Officer for approval. Once the document is approved by the Challenge Officer it will be sent back to the Program Director cc’ing Globalink@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
  The following criteria should be included in the Identification Form:
  • Title and short description of the project (150 words)
  • Duration and preferred start/end dates (of the student’s project)
  • Preferred target group: Master’s and/or PhD students
  • Location and Canadian partner university
  • Pre-requisites for the student researcher, for example completed courses, prior work experience, knowledge of programming languages, et cetera.
• Step 3: Once approved by the NRC National Program Office (NPO), the internship identification forms are posted on the RWTH website. NRC-NPO will provide a tracking number (GBL-001, GBL-002,…) for each project such that this number can be used to track the application process. Mitacs will provide its own project ID number but only upon submission of the application. The NRC-NPO tracking number will appear on the Mitacs Internship Identification Form.
• Step 4: Student researchers consult the project platform on the RWTH website and contact their RWTH supervisor for their endorsement.
• Step 5: Student researchers indicate interest in a project by forwarding their CV, Letter of Interest (describing their motivation / suitability), and transcripts by email.
• Step 6: Student Letters of Interest are reviewed by NRC and RWTH (NRC DocZone link will be provided to NRC researchers by International Relations Office (IRO)).
• Step 7: NRC researcher/supervisor and the Canadian university supervisors review the submissions and launch discussion with potential student researchers. NRC researcher, Canadian university supervisor, RWTH supervisor and student researcher specify project details and timelines.
• Step 8: A letter of support is written jointly by the NRC researcher and the supervisor of the Canadian university for the selected student researcher; the RWTH supervisor writes a recommendation letter.
• Step 9: The Student researcher requests the Mitacs application package by email from the RWTH contact.
• Step 10: The student researcher and the host researchers complete the application documents.
• Step 11: The Student researcher submits all documents, including the signed “NRC-Mitacs Internship Identification Form” to RWTH contact by email.
• Step 12: Mitacs provides information on the outcome of the application (student researcher, RWTH Aachen, NRC International Office) and outlines the next steps.

Resources:

• Program Website

Contact:

For support, please contact Miky Dumitrescu, ROADS.