CFDM Bursary Guidelines

• The Canadian Foundation for the Development of Microscopy (CFDM) will contribute towards travel expenses of university students to participate in conferences and workshops on microscopy or with significant microscopy content in Canada or abroad.

• Any student, undergraduate, master’s, doctoral or postdoctoral, full time or part-time, who is attending a Canadian university is eligible, but priority will be given to graduate students.

• The CFDM bursary can be combined with other travel awards, such as a travel assistance offered by a conference organizing committee, up to the total cost of event attendance. Merit awards can be accepted in addition to the travel awards.

• The application must be based upon original research of the applicant.
• Applicants should submit the following documents:
  • CFDM bursary application form completed on the MSC-SMC website;
  • Cover letter specifying eligibility for the bursary, significance of the research, applicant’s contributions to the project, and any other considerations relevant to the bursary (the cover letter should not exceed a length of two pages);
  • Abstract, including figures, written and formatted according to the conference requirements (conference applicants);
  • Explanation of how this activity will benefit the applicant’s research submitted on a separate page or included in the cover letter (workshop or other training applicants);
  • The cover letter and the abstract (conference applicants) or the explanation (workshop or other training applicants) in a single pdf file must be attached on the application form page;
  • A letter of reference from the applicant’s supervisor should be sent separately and should include comments on the involvement of the applicant in the research described in the application as well as the applicant’s potential as a future research professional. The letter should be submitted electronically before the application deadline to Dr. Zygmunt J. Jakubek, Chair of CFDM at the following e-mail address: Zygmunt.Jakubek@nrc.ca.
• Confirmation of receipt of the application package will be sent electronically.

• Scientific merit,
• Significance of the research,
• Creativity,
• The letter of reference.

• The travel expenses that can be reimbursed are registration, airfare, train tickets, public transportation, accommodation and meals (see Appendix for details).
• The amount of the bursary cannot exceed the real travel expenses and is limited to $1,000 in Canadian currency per recipient for travel within Canada and $1,500 in Canadian currency for international travels.
• Original receipts for the travel expenses must be submitted for award of the bursary.

• Spring competition – March 31^st (extended deadline of May 31^st applies in a year when the MSC-SMC meeting is jointly held with MSA and MAS as a part of the Microscopy & Microanalysis meeting). For the spring competition, priority will be given to participation in the MSC-SMC or jointly held M&M meeting.

• Fall competition – November 30^th.

In all cases, the bursary should be used within one year of the award.

The CFDM will announce the winners of the bursaries shortly after the application deadline on the MSC website and social media. The winners and their supervisors will also be notified by e-mail.