A new scholarship programme is sending researchers between Canada and Ireland for short, funded visits, as the two countries look to deepen their academic ties. The De Chastelain Scholarship Programme, launched this year by the Ireland Canada University Foundation, will fund more than 50 research visits over three years, divided equally between Canadian and Irish scholars.
Each award pays for a stay of three to six weeks at a university or research institution in the other country. The total is worth up to CAD 16,500 (about €10,275), made up of CAD 3,000 towards travel and CAD 2,250 a week for accommodation, meals and other costs, according to the University of Calgary’s research office. The money comes jointly from Global Affairs Canada and Ireland’s Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, with support from private partners.
The programme is named after General John de Chastelain, the Canadian soldier and diplomat who chaired the international commission that oversaw the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons in Northern Ireland after the peace process of the 1990s.
That history is reflected in some of the first projects. Fannie Lafontaine, a law professor at Université Laval in Quebec, is spending her visit at Queen’s University Belfast, studying how universities can help document human rights violations. “Justice is often central to reconciliation and peacebuilding efforts,” she told University Affairs.
Philippe Van Cappellen, an environmental scientist at the University of Waterloo, is working with David O’Connell at Trinity College Dublin on “blue carbon”, the carbon stored in coastal and marine ecosystems. “There’s no substitute for being in the same room together,” he said.
The foundation was set up in 1993 to connect academics in the two countries. Its executive director, James Kelly, said the aim of the new programme was to “connect leading thinkers from Canada and Ireland”.
The awards are aimed at researchers rather than students. Applicants normally need a PhD, or a research record of equivalent standing, and a post at a university, a publicly funded research centre or a similar non-profit institution, according to the Government of Canada’s EduCanada service. Up to half of the awards each year are reserved for emerging scholars who completed their PhD within the past seven years, which makes the scheme particularly relevant to postdoctoral researchers and early-career academics.
There are residency conditions. Canadian applicants must be citizens or permanent residents, and Irish applicants must have lived lawfully on the island of Ireland for three consecutive years before the deadline. Because the Irish rule is based on residence rather than nationality, researchers from other countries who have built their careers in Ireland can also apply. Previous holders of a foundation scholarship or fellowship since 2021 are not eligible.
The first round closed on 11 May 2026. The foundation has not yet announced dates for the next round, but if it follows this year’s pattern, applications would open in the early months of 2027. Researchers interested in applying should check the Ireland Canada University Foundation website and their own institution’s research office for updates.
The scheme is small, but it is part of a wider pattern. Canada recently opened talks with the European Union on a bigger role in Erasmus+, and short research visits of this kind are often how lasting international collaborations, and later job offers, begin.
Sources: University Affairs, 4 November 2026; EduCanada, Government of Canada, 20 March 2026; University of Calgary Research Services; Ireland Canada University Foundation. Checked on 6 November 2026.