APPLY NOW! Four Year Doctoral Fellowship (4YF) 2026
About the program
The Four Year Doctoral Fellowship (4YF) program will ensure UBC’s best PhD, DMA, and MDPhD students are provided with financial support of at least $18,200 per year plus tuition for up to four years of their doctoral studies. This program allows UBC to continue to attract and support outstanding domestic and international doctoral students, and provide those students with stable, base-level funding for their doctoral studies and research.
Eligibility
Four Year Fellowships may be held by domestic and international students. In general, the fellowships are offered to students beginning their first year of full time PhD, DMA, or MDPhD studies, but may be offered to continuing students. 4YF funding may be offered for up to four years, but the duration of funding may be less in some circumstances (please refer to the 4YF Guidelines for details). In all cases, funding is subject to satisfactory academic progress.
Students holding the following Tri-Agency awards automatically become 4YF designates: Vanier Scholarships, Doctoral Canada Graduate Scholarships (CGSD), CIHR Doctoral Research Awards, NSERC Doctoral Postgraduate Scholarships (PGSD), and SSHRC Doctoral Fellowships. Doctoral students who obtain Tri-Agency scholarships may be eligible for 4YF tuition coverage and will receive 4YF stipend and tuition support once their external scholarship funding ends, until four years after the external award start date or until the end of their 5th year in Doctoral program, whichever comes first.
Other major external scholarship winners who are selected as 4YF designates may be eligible for 4YF tuition coverage and will receive 4YF stipend and tuition support once their external scholarship funding ends, until four years after the 4YF start date or until the end of their 5th year in Doctoral program, whichever comes first.
Evaluation Criteria
Selection based on academic excellence, upon the recommendation of the graduate program.
Application Procedures
To be considered for Four Year Fellowship funding, students submit an application for admission to the appropriate graduate program at UBC. For information about admission procedures and requirements visit the Application & Admission page. All PhD, DMA, and MDPhD applicants offered admission are automatically considered for 4YF funding.
Nomination Procedures
Each graduate program is allocated a number of Four Year Fellowships each year. Graduate programs review their incoming and continuing students and offer Four Year Fellowships to their very best students, with priority given to incoming students.
Graduate programs notify Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies which students have been chosen to receive a Four Year Fellowship by submitting a signed University Award Recommendation Form, listing award number 6456. It is not necessary to list an award amount. Recommendation forms should be submitted at least eight weeks before the requested 4YF start date.
Adjudication Procedures
4YF holders are required to apply for other funding to maintain their eligibility for 4YF funding.
(a) 4YF holders who are Canadian citizens or permanent residents are required to apply each year for Tri-Agency funding, if they are eligible. If they do not, they will forfeit their remaining 4YF funding.
(b) 4YF recipients who are international students are not required to submit an application to the annual Affiliated Fellowship competition (held each fall), but they are eligible to do so if they wish to compete for Affiliated Fellowships with higher stipends (such as the Killam Doctoral Fellowship).
 Value
Citizenship
Further Information
4YF Interruption Form – 4YF payments may be interrupted for non-academic reasons (such as for relevant work experience or paid internships). This form is intended for 4YF recipients who do not intend to apply for a corresponding (professional) leave of absence from UBC.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: December 2025
