Who is eligible to apply?

This page is intended only for students who have completed the previous Expression of Interest stage and whom have received emailed confirmation from the University that they have been approved by Mitacs to apply. If you have not completed this previous stage or if your Expression of Interest was not approved, you are politely requested not to proceed with an application since it will be rejected and you will be wasting time and creating extra workload for yourself, Durham University and the Mitacs/UUKi teams.

What happens next?

• By 7 August 2024 - Durham University will inform students whether or not they have been nominated to UUKi for the next stage of screening. During this next stage UUKi will conduct checks on Mitacs eligibility criteria.
• If you have received an e-mail from us confirming you have been nominated, you can start to prepare your application. See Mitacs’s guidance on what to prepare.
• 7 August 2024 - Durham University will communicate to nominated students if they have met the eligibility criteria set by Mitacs to participate in the scheme.
• 7 August 2024 - Once you have received confirmation from us that you can participate in the scheme, you will be able to start to apply to the call through the Mitacs application portal. For any general enquiries about applications, please contact the Mitacs helpdesk (helpdesk@mitacs.ca)
• 17 September 2024 @ 1pm PT (Pacific Time Zone) - Deadline for students to submit Globalink Research Internship applications.
• October 2024 - Vetting of eligibility by Mitacs.
• Between November 2024 to February 2025 - Shortlisted applicants may be contacted for an interview.
• February 2025 - final results announced.

Where do I start?

Mitacs encourages you not to delay preparing applications:

1. Confirm that your passport issued by your home country is valid until at least January 2026. (You are welcome to submit an application if you don’t currently have a valid passport. However, you will need to provide valid passport information if your application is approved).

2. Obtain a reference letter from a professor. Please download the reference letter instructions from this webpage. All reference letters must follow the instructions provided.

3. Update your CV: You can submit your own CV or download the Mitacs template.

4. Obtain your academic transcripts (in either English or French). If your university or institution cannot provide transcripts in either language, you are responsible for getting them translated and notarized. Transcripts must be included in your application. Only university transcripts will be considered. Please do not submit your high school transcripts. 

5. English or French language proficiency tests may be required for some countries. Please check your country’s details for more information.

In the application, you will also be asked about:

• Your academic discipline, program, and other educational information
• Your research interests, skills, and achievements
• Your reasons for pursuing research in Canada 

Research experience

Some students have raised concern that the Mitacs application process is quite focused on research experience but UUKi has been assured by Mitacs that a student does not necessarily have to have prior research or even industry experience to participate in this programme. The Mitacs application team will assess each application holistically and are generally interested in the student’s entire profile, taking into consideration anything that the student feels makes them stand out for the experience, as well as the student’s motivation for completing the internship. The student may be motivated to complete this internship precisely because they would like to develop research experience for their future career or to continue to develop pre-existing research skills they may have only touched upon during their course so far. It is worth noting, however, that each project that a student applies for as part of the application may have varying degrees of prior research experience required so applicants with little to no research experience are advised to read the ‘required skills’ for each project they intend to apply to. It may be that students have had little research experience but have appropriate skills and background to make them a suitable candidate.

The scope of ‘research experience’ here is also broad and can even include projects such as the EPQ (Extended Project Qualification), as well as any other experience the applicant feels is relevant (i.e. developing research and analysis skills from completing formative or summative essays, for example, or taking a module in research design methods even if these methods have not been put into practise yet). Applicants may also list any skills that they have developed during their degree to far (e.g. proficiency with certain journals, source analysis, experience with specific lab techniques ect) or any upcoming modules that will involve research skills. When searching for a project, applicants should read the ‘required skills’ tab as mentioned above which will give them a better idea of some of the relevant skills and any background knowledge they might like to highlight on their application.

Academic referee

The professor who writes your reference letter should:

• Have supervised or co-supervised your work
• Be able to speak on behalf of your academic and research experience
• Provide a signed letter on university letterhead

Please download the reference letter instructions. All reference letters must follow the instructions provided.

Further information

If you have any questions regarding the Mitacs application please contact the Partnerships team, UUKi at mitacs@international.ac.uk or the Mitacs helpdesk: helpdesk@mitacs.ca