TAR Graduate Stipend Award GSA

The 2024 TAR GSA competition opens on May 13, submission deadline is July 3.

Eligible graduate students can apply for our competitive CIRTL TAR Graduate Stipend Award (GSA). In addition to becoming TAR Interns, successful applicants will become TAR Awardees and receive a stipend award. The funds will be paid in two installments, after receiving ethics approval and after submitting a midterm progress report. All funds will be transferred to the students’ graduate program to be applied directly to their graduate stipend.

Please note: GSA applications are adjudicated separately from TAR project applications and acceptance of a TAR project does not automatically include funding. If you are not eligible to apply for GSA, please apply here to become a TAR Intern. If your application to become a TAR Awardee is unsuccessful, you will still be able to pursue your TAR project as TAR Intern and you don’t need to submit a separate application.

The CIRTL UBC TAR GSA support projects that feature UBC STEAM disciplinary research projects in the undergraduate (or upper level high school) classroom or outreach project. The goal of these awards is to both improve student learning and to highlight UBC research in the community.

Eligibility

To be eligible for a TAR GSA, you must fulfill the requirements to become a TAR Intern and

  • You are a UBC graduate student (Master’s student in year 2 of your program, or PhD student in years 2-5) or Postdoc;
  • Your proposed TAR project either focuses on improving student learning in an undergraduate class at UBC, or featuring disciplinary research in an outreach project;
  • Your proposed TAR project has a clearly articulated research question and a high potential for impact on student learning;
  • You will participate in the final two sessions of our pre-TAR workshops scheduled for Summer 2021 (we strongly recommend participating in the first session to help you with your application)
  • Your proposed TAR project will undergo BREB approval;
  • You will present and/or publish your findings and add knowledge to the teaching and learning community (with this step, you will become a CIRTL Scholar).

Examples of impact include:

  • Has the potential to influence how students learn in large, introductory courses.
  • Integrate learning materials that highlight specific UBC research projects, as a vehicle to promote active learning in senior high school, college and university courses.
  • Link to community resources, such as non-profit organizations.
  • Integrate student experiential learning in the local, national, or international community.

Please note:

  • TAR GSA are non-renewable. If you have received the GSA for your TAR project previously, you cannot apply for a renewal, or a GSA for a new TAR project. You are still eligible to continue your project as a TAR Intern or pursue a second TAR internship.
  • If the time you spend on your TAR project is being paid for by a funded project or grant (such as a TLEF), you would still be able to compete for a TAR GSA. However, the stipend would be reduced.

Leadership opportunities

In Canada, students commit to an Arts or Science stream in the last two years of high school. Providing some of our TAR Interns with the opportunity to work with senior high school students, will create important role models for secondary students and will open leadership opportunities for TAR Interns. It will help engage young people with a diverse group of scholars, transcending stereotypes and promoting the CIRTL core idea of learning through diversity. In addition to TAR projects in high schools, the integration of UBC research into teaching and learning in colleges and university classrooms will get UBC research stories out in communities across the province/country. The goal is to celebrate knowledge discovery in our classrooms and communities.

Apply

If you are interested in becoming a TAR Awardee and meet the eligibility criteria, please fill out the application below.

Use the provided template for your TAR GSA project proposal. If you are new to educational research, this resource from Queen’s University is a great starting point with a good overview of different methodologies to help in the development of your project proposal.

Faculty Proposed Projects

We often have a several faculty-proposed projects that you are welcome to craft a proposal for as an alternative to creating your own project.  These projects can be found on the TAR proposed projects pages.