2025 Mitacs Accelerate Industry Postdoc Limited Time Offer

Eligibility

This offer is open to postdoctoral fellows registered at Canadian academic institutions who are pursuing applied research in partnership with a company, not for-profit organization, municipality, or hospital in Canada.

Summary

Mitacs Accelerate creates dynamic collaborations that partner for-profit and not-for-profit organizations with Canada’s brightest academic minds. This research award provides leveraged funding of $15,000 CAD per four- or six-month internship, where interns will work collaboratively with their academic supervisor and partner organization on a research project.

The Accelerate program aims to:

• Help businesses optimize their budgets, grow their R&D and tap into the expertise of highly skilled students, graduate students, recent grads and post-docs to solve your research challenges.
• Help students broaden their professional networks, tap into funding opportunities, and gain invaluable hands-on experience at for-profit and not-for-profit partner organizations seeking skilled research talent.
• Help professors build game-changing research partnerships with industry leaders, tap into flexible funding, and help drive the innovation of tomorrow.

How to apply

1. Review the following information when you begin writing your proposal:

• Mitacs Responsible Conduct of Research Policy ( found on “Mitacs Terms, Conditions & Policies”, including information on eligible research)
• Adjudication criteria (see at the bottom of this page under “Program Administration”)
• Writing Your Proposal guide (under “Application”)
• Mitacs’s other relevant policies (including Mitacs Indigenous Research Policy, Research Security Plan, etc), all findable on “Mitacs Terms, Conditions & Policies”.

2. Reach out to one of our UCalgary Mitacs Advisors:

a. Angelo Nwigwe, MBT Director, Business Development – Calgary/Lethbridge M: 403.836.6708, anwigwe@mitacs.ca

b. Annie Hoang, MSc, Business Development Specialist, Calgary, Ph: 403-462-7550 ahoang@mitacs.ca

3. Determine the right application process for your project (information below)

Option 1: Our Digital Application Process:

In 2024, Mitacs launched a new digital application portal as a first step towards digitizing our entire application process, leveraging digital tools to further enhance your application experience.

To be eligible for the new digital process, your project must:

• Use one, or a combination of the following Award values:
  • $10,000 Standard Award (1:1)
  • $15,000 Standard Award (1:1)
  • $13,333 Cluster Funding (1:1.2) – Requires 3+ unique interns, 6+ internship units
• Not jointly funded with another funder such as NSERC, SSHRC, Genome Canada, etc.
• No known COIs at the point of application
• Please note our digital platform cannot currently accommodate applications to our Indigenous Pathways program or post-doctoral fellowship funding models. We are striving to enable these as soon as possible.

We are striving to enable the above exclusions in our digital application as soon as possible.

Steps to apply using our digital process (RAP):

1. Click here to download the Accelerate application for the digital process.
2. Apply on the Accelerate Registration and Application Portal (RAP).

Option 2: Our Non-Digital Process

Mitacs Accelerate is incrementally transitioning to a digital application process.

To see if your project is a good fit for the digital process, please review the Accelerate Digital Application Process option.

All applications eligible to be submitted via our digital process will be asked to do so. For applications that cannot yet be accommodated in our online portal, the below non-digital option remains open.

Steps to Apply:

1. Download the Accelerate application for the non-digital process. These can be downloaded in the “Application” section below.
2. Collect all required signatures: intern(s), professor(s), partner contact, and university Office of Research Services or equivalent.
3. Email your proposal package to your Mitacs Advisor for submission.

Proposal Package Requirements:

• Accelerate proposal (under Applications). Please note that only the latest version of the Mitacs Accelerate template proposal will be accepted.
• Intern CV located under Applications (interns may use Mitacs’s optional template).

Application deadlines

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator
• Department Head
• Faculty ADR/Dean
• Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.

RESOURCES

Reminder: The sooner the researcher engages with Research Services, the more help we can be!

Contact the following Research Service units for support with:

Projects Involving Indigenous Research:

Support with incorporating wise practices in Indigenous research, community engagement, and Indigenous data management is available through the Indigenous Research Support Team (IRST).

Applicants can reach out by email to IRST at IRST@ucalgary.ca in advance of the RSO internal deadline. For more information about IRST, please visit the IRST webpage.

Knowledge Mobilization, Research Impact Assessment, DORA:

Support for knowledge mobilization/engagement/translation, community partnerships, research impact, responsible research assessment (DORA), and open science, is available through the Knowledge to Impact team.

Applicants can reach out by email to the KI team at knowledge.impact@ucalgary.ca.

For more information and access to resource archives, please visit the KI team webpage.

Research Data Management:

For information on research data management plans, processes, or best practices for your research program, please contact research.data@ucalgary.ca.

EDI in Research:

RSO can provide resources and support to research teams on the integration of equitable and inclusive practices in research design and research practice.

Contact edi.rso@ucalgary.ca for more information.

Research Security:

The Research Security Division is available to ensure researchers adhere to research security guidelines and policies, including the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships (NSGRP) and the policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern (STRAC).

Visit the Research Security website to learn more or contact researchsecurity@ucalgary.ca.

Pre-Award Submissions:

RMS: Creating a Pre-Award LOI
RMS: Creating a Pre-Award Application