Undergraduate Student Research Awards (Summer 2025)

Tuesday, November 26, 2024

Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRAs) are meant to nurture your interest and fully develop your potential for a research career in health, natural sciences, engineering, social sciences or humanities. These awards are also meant to encourage you to undertake graduate studies by providing research experience that complements your studies in an academic setting.

Award Duration & Value: University of Lethbridge offers a 16-week USRA program where undergraduate students make a full-time commitment to their research for 16 consecutive weeks with a faculty member. Each agency, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), provide a stipend of $6,000 to awardees. The supervising faculty member provides a top-up at a minimum of $2,730 in addition to the agencies’ portion.

Opportunities for Black and Indigenous Scholars: To reduce racial inequities in research opportunities, CIHR and SSHRC implemented a new USRA program in 2023 to support Black scholars working on research projects in health, social sciences, and humanities. NSERC also announced additional federal government funding to support Black undergraduate scholars in summer research projects. All applications from students of Indigenous and/or Black heritage who meet the eligibility requirements will be put forward to NSERC for funding.

Important Timelines