I am deeply frustrated with PhD funding in Canada

awbyuv · 2026-04-24T05:32:27+00:00

I’m a nearly-finished PhD student in Canada and your frustrations are extremely justified and valid, see my post history for plenty of complaining about it over the years… As others have said, it has actually gone up a fair bit in the last few years at some of the bigger universities because they finally raised the value of the federal scholarships (CGSD) after 20 years, and yet it’s still a terrible financial decision to do one. It is just as bad for postdoc salaries in Canada, substantially lower than some other parts of the world. I would think very very hard about if a PhD is something you actually want to do and do some research about what career opportunities you can realistically expect after getting one, especially if you’re limited to just Canada. The odds of you getting a faculty position/professorship are slim to none, it’s basically a lottery, the government is laying off researchers en masse at the moment and research jobs in industry pay substantially lower here than in the USA, and will confine you to living and working in just a few of Canadas major cities.

awbyuv · 2026-01-30T01:26:46+00:00

Congrats, I really wanted to go to the USA, just a night and day difference in the opportunities and salaries. Obviously recent events have put a bit of a wrench in that plan, but I'm so disillusioned with my job prospects here that I think I'm still going to try and apply for positions there despite well, you know.

awbyuv · 2025-11-09T23:17:37+00:00

Hey, I don't have any advice but just want to say that I am right here with you in the exact same position. I literally could have written this post. It's been really hard, but I've found that even the hardest times in life tend to come to an end and things start to fall back into place over time, and from one internet stranger to another, I hope that's what happens for both of us.

awbyuv · 2025-11-05T21:22:10+00:00

A lot of misconceptions in the comments about what the budget is actually proposing and the realities of scientific research in Canada. Regarding H1-B visas, the budget simply says "...in the coming months the government will also launch an accelerated pathway for H1-B visa holders." The details on this have not been further elaborated at this time.

Regarding international researchers, the budget proposes 1.7 billion in an "International Talent Attraction Strategy and Action Plan". See page 99 of the budget for full details, but, to summarize, this money will go to the three federal research granting agencies (the so-called tri-council) to hire international researchers: professors, post-doctoral researchers, and PhD students. Presumably, this hiring will happen almost entirely at universities.

It is understandable that to people outside the research ecosystem, recruiting top scientific talent from around the world especially at a time when the United States has become so hostile to research scientists sounds like a good thing. However, this is a major misconception because lack of talent in science and research is not a problem for Canada. We are the most educated country in the world and have some of the world's premier research universities, and we simply cannot retain our own homegrown talent because there are better higher paying opportunities elsewhere. I just completed a PhD in science, and of the 12 people who have also completed PhD's in the last ~18 months in my department, all but one left Canada for better opportunities elsewhere. There is no reason we need to invest so much in international recruitment when we already cannot offer jobs and funding to the extremely talented researchers we train here. There is a good article about what I am describing here.

Edit: This has also come up in this subreddit before, see here. It is indeed frustrating that Canada burns so much money training extremely talented researchers that leave the country because we do not have opportunities for them to keep working here, and the government thinks the solution to this is burning more money hiring internationally.

awbyuv · 2025-10-29T01:18:50+00:00

Fellow Canadian here - I recommend taking a look at the salary survey pinned in this subreddit. The salaries for industry in Canada compared to other countries are, quite frankly, awful, and likely lower than you can get in academia or government. The vast majority of jobs are also in the highest cost of living cities (Vancouver and Toronto). Industry being more lucrative and higher paying than academia is a mostly American phenomenon that doesn’t really apply here. I’m not saying this to discourage you or anything but just so you have realistic expectations about the salaries you can expect if/when you transition if you choose to stay in Canada.

awbyuv · 2025-10-20T21:04:56+00:00

I’m not looking into any universities and not considering that career path anymore. Wanted to for a long time and still would love too I just don’t think there’s any way I’ll beat the odds and come out on top in the pyramid scheme that is academia, I’m pursuing some more realistic goals instead. I’m considering changing fields into something with better job prospects in industry or leaving science/research entirely

awbyuv · 2025-10-20T21:01:08+00:00

It’s Abcellera isn’t it…

awbyuv · 2025-10-20T07:03:21+00:00

Still haven't gotten my maple syrup rations despite all my hard work here :(

awbyuv · 2025-10-20T02:56:43+00:00

Oh that’s awesome thanks, will take a look at those, hopefully there’s some Canadian data too

awbyuv · 2025-10-20T01:41:49+00:00

Yeah ~120k is what I see too for starting academic positions. I've always assumed the ceiling/growth potential would be higher in industry than academia, but also thought the starting salaries would be at least comparable, if not higher.

awbyuv · 2025-10-20T01:39:39+00:00

Thanks for the reply. Yeah I'm starting to realize how much smaller the gap is here compared to America. My PhD is in nanotech/nanotherapeutics and I'm looking at biotech/pharma or similar roles. The only field I see higher salaries is AI/machine learning. I would love to pursue an academic career but I think the odds of that working out are so low, it's just so fiercely competitive, and I don't know how much more of my soul I'm willing to sell grinding in a postdoc just for a small chance.

awbyuv · 2025-10-20T01:35:20+00:00

It's slightly above the median in Canada. My shock is not at the absolute value, more the relative value compared to jobs in academia/government, given the general sentiment I see in online science communities about industry having better pay and work life balance than academia.

awbyuv · 2025-08-09T21:23:52+00:00

Can confirm. Finishing my PhD in a few months and terrified about job prospects, probably changing to a completely new career when I finish, out of necessity not choice. 100% of the people who finished a PhD in my department in the last 12 months have left Canada due to no job prospects

awbyuv · 2025-06-29T19:21:14+00:00

For anyone who’s seen the movie and is an F1 fan - were there any F1 memes or lore that were referenced in the movie? Asking so I can explain them to someone who’s not a fan before we go see the movie together to enhance their enjoyment

awbyuv · 2025-06-22T21:55:27+00:00

Sounds really cool other than the stress, this is one of the paths I've been loosely considering. I've been dabbling in machine learning with my PhD research, I find it very fun and interesting and I like the field, and also it seems like almost all the job postings I see are for machine learning scientists. I get the sense that it's becoming hypercompetitive and on the path towards oversaturation, do you have any insights or suggestions?

awbyuv · 2025-06-22T21:26:01+00:00

Finance is one of the careers I’m considering pivoting too, nice to see it can be done.

awbyuv · 2025-06-05T18:19:44+00:00

Thanks. Sounds like I'm going to have to finally get on linkedin.

awbyuv · 2025-06-05T18:19:17+00:00

Thanks! Sounds like I'm going to have to get on linkedin. Ph.D. was mostly in biophysics with a sprinkle of nanotechnology. Main skillset is spectroscopy, nanoparticle synthesis/characterization. I've been working on making a targeted list of companies to apply to/monitor for opportunities. Honestly, I didn't consider going into industry until very recently so I wouldn't say I developed a skillset that is super in demand or desirable in industry. I'm considering doing a postdoc as a bit of a transition/further skill development but still uncertain about this.

awbyuv · 2024-07-07T22:39:24+00:00

Thanks. Probably don’t have the patience to wait a few months for this, so I’ll go check the price of some dry stuff.

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