The TRIUMF Graduate Student Policy (Document-169622) concerns those graduate students that have an epmployment agreement with TRIUMF or are users stationed at TRIUMF typically for more than 120 days. In most cases, they have a permanent or semi-permanent presence at the laboratory, distinct from regular users who only come for short intervals. These Graduate Students are eligible for financial assistance to support their TRIUMF residency at level which will safeguard their local total cost of living, taking into account the economic conditions in Metro Vancouver.
There are two types of such Graduate Students resident at TRIUMF, each with their own framework for financial assistance:
Graduate Student Research Assistants (GSRAs)
GSRAs are students whose stipends are managed through TRIUMF payroll, sourced either through a TRIUMF grant or through the main TRIUMF salary account. They are managed and treated like TRIUMF employees, and as such are subject to a prescribed payment framework, in their case a minimum stipend amount from all sources for living support as detailed in the Graduate Student Program Procedures (Document-171510). These are (current to Autumn 2024):
- Masters students (or equivalent): $27,000 per annum
- Doctoral students (or equivalent): $32,000 per annum
In addition, GSRAs may request in writing from their local TRIUMF supervisor support for Extraordinary Financial Conditions (per Document-171510). Such a request must be made annually.
Long-term Graduate Student Visitors (GSVs)
GSVs are students whose stipends are not managed through TRIUMF but, in most cases, through their home university. In some instances TRIUMF grant holders transfer funds to the GSVs home university to support the stipend. GSVs are viewed analogously to faculty sabbatical visitors, as they are at TRIUMF for an extended period to further their research goals. As such, they are eligible for analogous financial assistance to support their TRIUMF residency.
GSVs request their residency through a procedure similar to faculty sabbatical visitors: they submit a letter/form to their local TRIUMF supervisor/contact requesting a long-term stay at TRIUMF and financial assistance to support that stay. The agreed-upon residency and support level will be detailed in a letter from the local TRIUMF supervisor to the GSV. Any financial assistance will be transfered directly to the GSV from TRIUMF, and not through the GSVs home university.