Excellence Scholarship Program for Foreign Students (PBEEE).

The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid in Laval University (QC, Canada) are pleased to announce the launch of the 2022-2023 preselection competition for the Excellence Scholarship Program for Foreign Students (PBEEE). You need to contact Prof. Ahmad Saleh, at: ahmad.saleh@bcm.ulaval.ca before May 28, 2021 (our lab deadline). In addition, you have to fill the online form before May 28, 2021, by clicking on the “Apply Here" button.

Merit scholarship program for foreign students (PBEEE)
These scholarships are intended for foreign students and high-level foreign researchers, preselected by a Quebec university establishment, who wish to undertake or pursue doctoral and postdoctoral studies and for a short stay of research or development. These grants aim to support the internationalization of research activities in higher education institutions in Quebec in order to attract the best foreign students.

Click here to read about the details and conditions of the last PBEEE competition. This year’s competition will be very similar to the last years’s one. (details of the competition of this year will be published soon, but given the very limited time frame of this competition, we started ahead to give the chance for international applicants to prepare their files)

This program, administered by the Quebec Fund for Research on Nature and Technologies (FRQNT), is divided into three components:

Track 1 – Doctoral research grants
Doctoral scholarships valued at $ 25,000 per year for a maximum of three years with the possibility of an extension of up to 12 months.
Certain restrictions apply, e.g. co-supervision PhD programs are not permitted, and current doctoral students should apply within their first two doctoral years by October (click here, to read all restrictions).

Track 2 – Postdoctoral fellowships
Postdoctoral fellowships valued at $ 35,000 for one year, non-renewable.
Certain restrictions apply, e.g. Post-doctoral applicants should have obtained their PhD no earlier than 2 years ago by October of the application year or should be going to obtain their PhD no later than January of the year next to the application year (click here, to read all restrictions).

Track 3 – Short-term research grants
Scholarships for undergraduate university students or PhD holders valued at $ 3,000 per month for a maximum period of four months.
Certain restrictions apply, e.g. PhD holders should not have completed their PhD more than 5 years ago by the deadline (October of the application year). (click here, to read all restrictions).

In addition to the FRQNT’s eligibility criteria, and considering that this is a high competitive scholarship, Université Laval specifies certain eligibility criteria for Track 1 (doctorate). To be eligible to submit an application for the preselection competition, the student must (when submitting the application):

• Be already registered or have applied for admission to a PhD study program at Laval University;
• Have a minimum average of 4 out of 4.33 for the last MSc’s program, completed or not. (this means that you should have got 90% or above in your Master Degree courses, click here for more information on grade conversion). (Click here to download a calculator for your GPA). An explanation Word file can be found here to learn how to calculate your GPA;
• Students must have at least two (2) scientific articles published or accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

Laval University preselection procedures:

If you would like to undertake one of these scholarships in our lab, please contact Prof. Ahmad Saleh, and fill the online form as mentioned above as soon as possible (preferably before the end of May 2021): ahmad.saleh@bcm.ulaval.ca . This is because you will have to register for a PhD program in Microbiology or Biochemistry under supervision of Prof. Ahmad Saleh, or you need to receive an Invitation Letter by him for a postdoctoral training, so that you become admissible to present your application for preselection at the Laval University level before the institutional deadline.

Only the candidates preselected by the University will be invited by the FRQNT to participate in the 2022-2023 competition. Due to the quotas imposed for the number of shortlisted applications, only high-level applications will be recommended.

• The deadline for submitting an application for the preselection is June 21, 2021.
• Any incomplete file or received after the deadline will be automatically rejected.
• For the Excellence Scholarship Program for Foreign Students, Laval University can preselect four (4) applications for each track coming from all countries in addition to the specific quotas for certain designated countries.

For any additional information on these scholarship programs, we invite you to consult the program web page or contact the BBAF by email at pbeee@bbaf.ulaval.ca.

The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid
pbeee@bbaf.ulaval.ca