POSTDOCTORAL SCHOLARSHIP HOLDERS GUIDE (B3 and B5)
(version française)
Should any of the information contained in this document differ from the information in the Scholarship Program Rules and Regulations, the Rules and Regulations will take precedence over the Fellowship Holder’s Guide.
Updated : September 9, 2009
This Guide is for applicants to the regular postdoctoral fellowship program (B3) and to the research-creation postdoctoral fellowship program (B5). The information that applies exclusively to one or the other program is clearly indicated. This e-guide was designed to provide quick and complete access to the information contained in your file. With this document, the Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC) aims to reduce payment request processing time and application-related correspondence.
B3 postdoctoral scholarships
If the answers to your questions are not in this guide, please contact us via e-mail at bourspost@fqrsc.gouv.qc.ca. When requesting information, it is important to include your file number in the subject line and provide a telephone number at which a representative can reach you during the day between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
It is possible to contact Julien Chapdelaine, FQRSC program manager, at (418) 643-7582 ext. 3146, and you may also send documents via fax to (418) 644-5248. Please include your name and file number.
B5 postdoctoral scholarships
If the answers to your questions are not in this guide, please contact us via e-mail at bourspostcrea-sc@fqrsc.gouv.qc.ca. When requesting information, it is important to include your file number in the subject line and provide a telephone number at which a representative can reach you during the day between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
It is possible to contact Michelle Chiasson, FQRSC program manager, at (418) 643-7582 ext. 3161, and you may also send documents via fax to (418) 644-5248. Please include your name and file number.
If you have any suggestions or comments which might help us to improve customer service, please e-mail them to us at the following address : jean-luc.perrotte@fqrsc.gouv.qc.ca.
FOREWORD
1. ACCEPTING OR DECLINING THE FELLOWSHIP
1.1 Accepting the fellowship
1.2 Declining the fellowship
2. YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES AS A FELLOWSHIP HOLDER
2.1 Rules and regulations and agreement concluded with the applicant
2.2 Mailing address
2.3 Income tax
2.4 Request for payment
2.5 Confirmation of fellowship
2.6 Updating information in your file
2.7 Progress report
2.8 Final report
3. FELLOWSHIP REGULATIONS
3.1 Duration of financial support
3.2 Conditions of financial support
3.3 Value of your fellowship
3.4 Multiple scholarships of fellowships
3.5 Remunerated work
3.6 Fellowships Interruption
3.7 Paid parental leave
3.8 Withdrawing from your postdoctoral research
3.9 Convertibility of fellowship
3.10 Travel expenses
3.11 Supplement allowed for partnership
3.12 Production costs
4. CHANGES IN THE CONDITIONS OF YOUR FELLOWSHIP
4.1 Deferring the research starting date
4.2 Changing your research project
4.3 Changing your research supervisor or the location of tenure
5. EXCERPT OF THE FONDS’ ETHICS AND INTEGRITY POLICY
5.1 Basic principle
5.2 Guiding principle for researchers
5.3 Research involving human subjects, resulting in environmental hazards or requiring the use of animals
5.4 Dealing with allegations of non-compliance with research ehtics regulations
5.5 Sanctions for provindins false or misleading information
5.6 Liability of the Fonds
5.7 Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies and the protection of personnal information
Your Fellowship Holder's Guide details certain provisions that appear in the Program Rules and Regulations. It also contains essential information and the forms you will need to accept or decline the Fellowship, as well as installment request forms needed to obtain payment of your fellowship. You should neither fax nor mail in the forms which you submit by Internet. The Fonds Société et Culture receives annual credits from the Quebec Government to fund its Scholarships programs. It then undertakes annual commitments, conditional on the availability of funds. The Fonds reserves the right to change, without prior notice, the value of its scholarships and its program regulations. If necessary, you can find out the latest news by checking out the section «Quoi de neuf» in our «Dossier du boursier».
This Guide is for all FQRSC postdoctoral fellowship holders, no matter the year in which the fellowship offer was received. The Guide is updated every year, usually in the month of April. You must always comply with the most recently updated rules and regulations for the entire duration of the fellowship. Therefore, please read the most recent version of the Guide before requesting any changes to your file.
CHAPTER 1 - ACCEPTING OR DECLINING THE FELLOWSHIP
You must complete and send in through the Internet the «Acceptation ou refus de la bourse» form within 20 weekdays of receiving the Fellowship notification. If you wish to make changes relating to the conditions of your fellowship, you must request these changes in a delay of 20 weekdays, before accepting the fellowship. As soon as you send your electronic form «Demande de modification» (Request for changes), we will consider that you have respected the 20 weekdays allowed. Within 20 weekdays, the Fonds will confirm that your answer has been duly processed.
1.1 ACCEPTING THE FELLOWSHIP
You may accept the fellowship provided you meet the following conditions:
1.2 DECLINING THE FELLOWSHIP
In the following circumstances you must decline the fellowship:
CHAPTER 2 - YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES AS A FELLOWSHIP HOLDER
2.1 RULES AND REGULATIONS AND AGREEMENT CONCLUDED WITH THE APPLICANT
You must respect all the regulations pertaining to the Postdoctoral Research Program and those stated in this guide. You must also abide by the rules set out in the regulations on the Politique en matière d'éthique et d'intégrité en recherche.
2.2 MAILING ADDRESS
You are responsible for notifying the Fonds Société et Culture of any change in your banking information and your e-mail address or your mailing address. The Fonds must be able to reach you at these addresses at any times. A missing or incorrect address could delay your fellowship payments. Please note that the Fonds has some difficulties communicating through the "MSN Hotmail Service". Please provide a different e-mail address. Our rules prohibit using a post office box as the only address for correspondence. Your bank account number and branch address are essential for the Fonds Société et Culture to issue your payments. The e-mail address ensures that your payments are processed quickly.
2.3 INCOME TAX
Revenue Canada:
Master’s and Doctoral scholarships, postdoctoral fellowships, allowances for living expenses and travel allowances constitute taxable income. However, the full scholarship amount received by students for studies, furthering their studies or upgrading their studies for a program entitling them to an education bursary is not taxable.
Revenu Québec:
Travel allowances are considered taxable income. However, postdoctoral fellowships are not taxable.
Responsibility of the fellowship holder: You are responsible for paying all income tax due to Revenue Canada and, if required, to Revenue Quebec. Please note that the Fonds Société et Culture does not withhold taxes at source on payments made during the tax year. The date of deposit determines the year in which you must declare an installment as personal income for tax purposes. For this reason, the winter installment will be made in the first days of January. Revenue Canada T4A forms and Revenue Quebec tax statement 1 are sent to your mailing address in February of the year following the tax year in question. The information provided in this guide is as an indication only. The Fonds Société et Culture gets free of any responsibility as for the validity for the information provided with regard to the income tax. To learn more about income tax regulations applicable to your particular situation, consult the following internet links:
2.4 REQUEST FOR PAYMENT
Note: Payments issued for requests for payment of instalments intended for or made in April of each year will be deposited in the Fellowship holder’s bank account no earlier than the beginning of May.
To receive your fellowship installment, you must, at the beginning of each six months period:
2.5 CONFIRMATION OF FELLOWSHIP
After confirming your acceptance of the fellowship, the Fonds Société et Culture will give you access to your fellowship confirmation which you can print. The confirmation indicating the real amount of your fellowship will be available in either French or English under the «Dossier du boursier» section.
2.6 UPDATING INFORMATION IN YOUR FILE
If your situation changes after you have sent in your acceptance form or your requests for payment, you should update your personal file by completing the «Demande de modification ou de mise à jour du dossier» form.
2.7 PROGRESS REPORT
If you are eligible for more than two installments you must present a progress report at the time you are requesting your 3rd installment. You will find a copy of the progres report by clicking on your 3rd installment. Print out and complete the form, have it signed by your supervisor, sign it and send it by regular mail or by fax (418) 644-5248. The following information is required:
Continuation of your scholarship is contingent upon a satisfactory progress report.
2.8 FINAL REPORT
You must submit a final report to the Fonds Société et Culture. You will receive an e-mail when the final report form is available in your «Dossier du boursier» (about a month following the last academic term for which you received funding). Complete the report and e-mail it. Any future financial support in another program will be conditional on receipt of your final report..
CHAPTER 3 - FELLOWSHIP REGULATIONS
3.1 DURATION OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT
The research work for which you receive the fellowship must begin between April of the present year and before March 31, of the next year. Exceptionally, the fellowship may be transferred from one year to the next with proper justifications. The fellowship is not retroactive and you are not eligible for financial support, prior to April, if you have already started your research project. Each installment covers six months of full-time work and is equal to half of the annual value of the fellowship. Your postdoctoral research must last for a minimum of six months and a maximum of 24 months.
3.2 CONDITIONS OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT
You must work full-time on your postdoctoral research for the entire period of financial support. Your presence to your work place is mandatory. The fellowship is given for a maximum of 24 months, conditional on presentation of a satisfactory progress report. You agree to maintain Canadian citizenship (or permanent residence) throughout the period you hold your fellowship, and to remain a permanent resident of Quebec in accordance with the law governing Quebec Health Insurance and the law governing Quebec income tax. If you are not a Canadian citizen, you may not use the fellowship for a research project outside Canada.
3.3 VALUE OF YOUR FELLOWSHIP
The annual value of the postdoctoral research fellowship is $30 000, i.e. $15 000 per installment for six months of work. As a postdoctoral research fellowship holder, you are also eligible to the reimbursement of travel expenses if they are not reimbursed by other organisations. If the information in your personal file contains errors, you may request a correction by completing the «Demande de modification» form.
3.4 MULTIPLE SCHOLARSHIPS OR FELLOWSHIPS
If you receive another scholarship or fellowship, you should consult the following table :
TABLE OF CONCURRENT SCHOLARSHIPS OR FELLOWSHIPS
Type of scholarship / scholarship program
Fonds Société et Culture / Postdoctoral research fellowship
A- Scholarship or fellowship given out by federal government granting agencies such as the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Canada Council for the Arts (CCA).
not allowed
B- Scholarship or fellowship given out by the Fonds Société et Culture and On-the-Job scholarships.
C- Scholarship or fellowship given out by granting agencies under the Quebec Government such as the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec (FRSQ), the Conseil québécois de la recherche sociale (CQRS), the Conseil de recherche en pêche et agro-alimentaire du Québec (CORPAQ) and Conseil des Arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ).
E- Scholarship or fellowship given out by ministries and agencies of the Quebec or Canadian Government other than those mentioned above.
allowed
F- Scholarship or fellowship given by the private sector or universities.
If you receive another scholarship which can be held concurrently with the Fonds Société et Culture fellowship, you should verify whether the other granting agency allows you to accept, either in whole or in part, the Fonds fellowship. If a partial concurrent tenure is permitted, in addition to your acceptance form you must e-mail us stating the annual value allowed and the internet address of the other organisation concerned where we can obtain the information. If that organisation does not have a Web site, ask them to send us a letter stating the total amount allowed.
3.5 REMUNERATED WORK
You must work full-time on your research project. However, you may accept employment not to exceed 250 hours per six month period, provided your research supervisor does not object and your employment does not interfere with your research activities. For the purposes of this regulation, teaching one 45-hour course is deemed equivalent to 150 hours of employment. A teaching course represents a course given to a same group of students. The salary you receive to work solely on your project is considered to be a scholarship, the cumulated value of which is allowed. It must be indicated in the «Déclaration de revenus d'emploi» section of your payment request forms. Select «Salaire pour mon projet de recherche» in the pull-down menu. In such a case, your supervisor must mail or e-mail a letter to the Fonds confirming that you are being remunerated solely for your work on your research project..
3.6 FELLOWSHIP INTERRUPTION
Exceptions to the regulations relating to the duration of your financial support will only be made under exceptional circumstances beyond your control, such as a serious illness which forces you to defer your training program. In such exceptional circumstances you must submit a «Demande de modification ou de mise à jour du dossier» form indicating the date and the reason for the interruption request and attach a medical certificate. The Fonds Société et Culture reserves the right to reject any request it deems insufficiently justified.
3.7 PARENTAL LEAVE
If you interrupt your studies for the birth or adoption of a child, you may request parental leave. The Fonds authorizes parental leave if your university allows it and your director is duly informed.
You must apply for parental leave by completing the «Demande de modification ou de mise à jour du dossier» form and provide a copy of the medical certificate attesting to the pregnancy and, in due time, your child’s birth or adoption certificate, as well as proof of interruption of enrolment in your university. Furthermore, you can not accept any employment during all the duration of your parental leave.
Parental leave may not exceed twelve months. It may begin during the term the birth is expected and end no later than one year after the child’s birth.
Note that only one parental leave is granted per child, even if both parents are Fonds scholarship holders. The parents may arrange and share the leave at their discretion.
Paid parental leave
During your parental leave, an added instalment is available for four months.
To take advantage of this term of paid parental leave, you should have received at least one instalment.
Note that only one term of paid parental leave is granted per child, even if both parents are Fonds scholarship holders.
To be eligible for this benefit, you must not be enrolled in a study program or be gainfully employed. Furthermore, in the case of a complementary scholarship, the paid parental leave term from the Fonds cannot be granted to NSERC or SSHRC scholarship holders who receive an allowance for parental leave from either of these agencies. These scholarship holders must take the paid leave offered by the federal agency. You may extend parental leave by an additional eight months without pay if your university permits it.
Paid parental leave amounts may be combined with the benefits granted under the new Québec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP). Information about the Plan is available at http://www.rqap.gouv.qc.ca/Index_en.asp.
*Note that Fonds Fellowship amounts are not considered taxable income within the meaning of the QPIP. This means that you are not eligible for QPIP benefits if the Fonds Fellowship is your only source of income.
3.8 WITHDRAWING FROM YOUR POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH
If you abandon your research or if you decide to pursue part-time, your are no longer eligible to the fellowship and you must reimburse all or part of the installment depending on the number of months of full-time work completed.
3.9 CONVERTIBILITY OF FELLOWSHIP
If you obtain regular employment as a professor in a Quebec university, you may, after having completed one full year of postdoctoral research, request permission to use part of the fellowship as a start-up subsidy. An amount of $15 000 may be converted into a subsidy. The rules governing the use of this subsidy will be the same as those governing the program «Etablissement de nouveaux professeurs-chercheurs». These rules are available on our web site. You must advise the Fonds as to when you will terminate your postdoctoral training. You must also submit a copy of a letter of appointment from the university. You don't have to submit any information regarding your salary at the university. Do not forget to update your file (e-mail, address, phone and fax numbers). The Fonds reserves the right to refuse any applications that do not meet Fonds requirements.
3.10 TRAVEL EXPENSES
Travel expenses to your location of tenure will be reimbursed upon presentation of a copy of your ticket along with a detailed invoice from the travel agency, if they are not reimbursed by other agencies. The maximum amount payable for one trip is equal to the price of an economy ticket when travelling by plane. The Fonds expects that you will purchase the least expensive ticket between a round trip ticket and a one way ticket. However, in the event of the purchase of an onward ticket - one way or the other - if this option represents the most economic choice, upon demonstration only that the round-trip ticket was the most advantageous choice and with presentation of the supporting documents, the Fonds will reimburse this expense.
Example (with supporting documents):
Companies
One way ticket
Round-trip ticket
A
3 500 $
1 600 $
B
3 200 $
1 400 $
C
3 150 $
1 100 $
In this example, the round-trip ticket of the C company is the most advantageous choice. The same demonstration must be done for the return.
If you defend your thesis during your postdoctoral training, an additional return ticket may be reimbursed. If you travel by train or bus, your expenses will be payable upon presentation of the supporting documentation. If you travel by car, the amount payable is $0.43 per kilometre to a maximum equal to the price of a return economy airline ticket. Car expenses will be payable upon presentation of two service station receipts, one issued at the start of the trip and the other at your destination, stating the kilometre reading on the odometer. No additional allowance will be allocated to cover other expenses such as travel expenses for a spouse or other dependants, moving of personal effects or transportation of research material.
3.11 SUPPLEMENT ALLOWED FOR PARTNERSHIP (B3 only)
The expenses incurred for research activities conducted in partnership with a workplace are refunded on presentation of the appropriate receipts. This supplement aims at covering expenses related to partnership, transfer and research result dissemination activities. The supplement is available only if requested when the candidate applies for the Postdoctoral Fellowship competition.
Please send the supporting documents (receipts) along with a short explanation of your partnership fees to mathieu.archambault@fqrsc.gouv.qc.ca.
3.12 PRODUCTION COSTS (B5 only)
Research-creation project production costs, promotional costs and dissemination costs
Supplemental research-creation project production costs will be reimbursed upon the presentation of receipts. The supplement covers the production, promotion and dissemination costs of the project and the fees incurred by non-academic research-creation project hosts. The supplement is only granted to fellowship holders who requested it in their applications to the postdoctoral fellowship competition.
Please send all supporting documents (receipts) along with a short explanation of the fees to mathieu.archambault@fqrsc.gouv.qc.ca.
CHAPTER 4 - CHANGES IN THE CONDITIONS OF YOUR FELLOWSHIP
To make any changes in the conditions of your fellowship, you must first submit a request to the Fonds Société et Culture on the designated form. To ensure fairness, prior to authorising any change, the Fonds must ensure that such a change does not affect the evaluation you received or your eligibility to the program. If your request for a change is refused, the fellowship will be cancelled from the moment the change occurs. The following situations are the most frequent:
4.1 DEFERRING YOUR POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH STARTING DATE
Postdoctoral research must start before March 31 of the year after the Fellowship offer without having an impact on the total amount of your Fellowship. Financial support cannot begin until you are working full time on your research. Certain exceptions may be made under exceptional circumstances beyond your control, such as serious illness. In such a case, you must submit a «Demande de modification ou de mise à jour du dossier» form indicating the length of and the reason for your request, along with a medical certificate. The Fonds Société et Culture reserves the right to refuse any request that does not include the required supporting documents.
4.2 CHANGING YOUR RESEARCH PROJECT
You must submit a new research proposal and show that its scientific value is equivalent to your initial proposal. Before making a decision, the Fonds Société et Culture must ascertain that the change will not affect the evaluation you received. It is important to specify whether you will remain in the same field, with the same supervisor and at the same place. If one or more of these elements change, you must justify your change using a «Demande de modification» form.
4.3 CHANGING YOUR RESEARCH SUPERVISOR OR THE LOCATION OF TENURE
As for any change in your project, Fonds Société et Culture must make sure that the requested change does not affect the evaluation you received. You must therefore show that the quality of your new situation is equivalent to that of your initial proposal and forward a new letter of acceptance from your supervisor. Furthermore, the new location must respect program regulations relating to the location of tenure.
CHAPTER 5 - EXCERPT OF THE FONDS’ ETHICS AND INTEGRITY POLICY
5.1 BASIC PRINCIPLE
While believing that research is essential to ensuring the development of our society, the Fonds recognizes that advancing current knowledge must never take precedence over the wellbeing and integrity of an individual or society.
5.2 GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR RESEARCHERS
The following principles must be interpreted on the basis that any research can lead to involuntary errors, contradictory data or differences stemming from experimental protocol or methodology choices or individual interpretations of the results. The researchers, research staff members and students who benefit from the financial support of the Fonds must respect these principles:
5.3 RESEARCH INVOLVING HUMAN SUBJECTS, RESULTING IN ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARDS OR REQUIRING THE USE OF ANIMALS
The Fonds asks that the students who have received a scholarship read the documents listed below and comply with the following guidelines: Research involving human subjects or which may result in environmental hazards :
Research involving radioactive material :
Research involving hazardous substances :
Research involving animals :
The institution must comply with the CCAC guidelines for the installation of adequate infrastructure to house and care for animals and establish a local animal protection committee to assess and monitor the research activities that involve animals. Should it be informed of any type of non-compliance with these regulations, the Fonds reserves the right to suspend payments to the researchers and students in question until the necessary adjustments are made.
5.4 DEALING WITH ALLEGATIONS OF NON-COMPLIANCE WITH RESEARCH ETHICS REGULATIONS
The Fonds is of the opinion that the research institutions are responsible for investigating cases in which a researcher or student is believed to have breached the ethical or integrity regulations. However, the Fonds reserves the right to carry out investigations into the use of its grants and fellowships should any complaints arise. If a researcher or student who receives support from the Fonds is found guilty, the institution must inform the Fonds as soon as possible. The Fonds will then carry out the verifications necessary in order to ensure that the accusations do not bring the approval or use of the grant/fellowship into question. If a researcher or student is found guilty by his/her institution of breaching the ethical regulations, the Fonds reserves the right to apply the sanctions that have been set out. To rescind the sanctions, the Fonds must receive satisfactory proof that the necessary changes were made. Allegations that pertain only to the approval or use of a grant or fellowship may be sent directly to the Fonds. The Fonds will only consider written and signed allegations. In cases in which the financial support program rules or provisions are breached, the Fonds may suspend or cancel the payments in whole or in part and recover, if necessary, any sums that have already been paid out.
5.5 SANCTIONS FOR PROVIDING FALSE OR MISLEADING INFORMATION
Applicants, administrators and corporations who are involved in grant/fellowship applications are subject to the Act to promote the advancement of science and technology in Québec. The relevant articles are listed below.
(98)
Every person who gives false or misleading information in view of obtaining or procuring financial support provided for by this Act is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine of not more than $5 000.
(99)
Where a corporation commits an offence against section 98, every director or representative of that corporation who was aware of the offence is deemed to be a party to the offence and is liable to a fine of not more than $5 000 unless he proves to the satisfaction of the court that he did not acquiesce to the commission of the offence.
(100)
No person found guilty of an offence against section 98 or 99, or against section 380 of the Criminal Code (Revised Statutes of Canada, 1985, chapter C-46) in connection with financial support contemplated under this Act, may, unless he has been pardoned, obtain financial support under this Act for a period of two years from the conviction.
5.6 LIABILITY OF THE FONDS
The Fonds Société et Culture is not responsible for any direct or indirect damages resulting from the processing of any application with regards to any fellowship, funding or any other type of request. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the Fonds Société et Culture is not responsible for any direct or indirect damages resulting from the unauthorized disclosure of any information contained in an application. Despite all of the precautions that the Fonds Société et Culture takes to preserve the confidentiality of all information that must remain as such, it is possible that certain countries to which the information is communicated do not follow the same protection processes (e.g.: asymmetric cryptography, enciphering, etc.). The Fonds has no obligations or responsibilities other than ensuring that grant/fellowship payments are made and its regulations are respected.
5.7 ACT RESPECTING ACCESS TO DOCUMENTS HELD BY PUBLIC BODIES AND THE PROTECTION OF PERSONAL INFORMATION
The Fonds Société et Culture, the Fonds Nature et Technologies and the Fonds de recherche en santé are subject to the Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies and the protection of personal information (R.S.Q., chapter A-2.1), which is made up of two components. The first pertains to document access and establishes that any person who so requests may access the documents of a public agency. The second pertains to the protection of personal information and establishes that personal information is confidential unless the person to whom the information pertains authorizes its disclosure. Within the context of the Fonds’ activities, it is important to note that :
Applicants may obtain more complete information on access procedures, personal information protection and their legal rights of recourse by sending a duly signed letter or directly contacting the person in charge of the Act respecting access to documents held by public bodies and the protection of personal information at each of the Fonds.