Professors - Host an Intern

Please visit the Mitacs GRI website for Faculty for complete information and application deadlines.

Updates for Summer 2026

Good news! Mitacs GRI program shared the intern list of matched participants and host professors with Canadian host institutions such as U of A in late February 2026.

The Internship Coordinator is happy to offer placement coordination and administrative supports to all stakeholders once provided the contact information to do so. Until the intern list is shared, Ashley and Gretchen at ISVS do not receive any indication of who has been matched, even as U of A host professors and the international students placed with them may be emailed by Mitacs starting in December or January. Thank you for your patience! We have now contacted placed students and their U of A host professors.

Please feel free to visit our FAQs page for answers to frequently asked questions about research internships, such as campus registration procedures. ISVS staff remain available to administratively coordinate the non-research aspects of the Mitacs GRI stays at U of A.  

Roles and responsibilities of the supervisor

Host professors must ensure the following is in place and ready to go for their Globalink research intern prior to the start of the internship:

  • Research supervision, including a documented plan communicated at the beginning for whom the intern should consult for directions or timely advice when you may be less available or away at any point
  • Reserved space in lab and/or office with appropriate access
    • Please follow any necessary internal department or faculty procedures to request a desk space or reserved seat in a lab, ideally initiated a few weeks ahead of intern's arrival
    • Ensure ONEcard access or key deposit procedure is clearly outlined and not overly onerous/expensive. It may be worth explaining to your work colleagues that it is for a short-term Mitacs-funded visiting international student from another institution who is only here for 12 weeks.
  • Dedicated electronic device with necessary software and/or hardware for research purposes, including email and internet access (a University of Alberta email address is established by staff at International Student + Visitor Services (ISVS) and provided to the research intern shortly before their arrival)
  • Any safety training or orientation information required for the project
    • Please take any transportation considerations into account for any in-person training, depending upon the accessibility of the location
    • Online courses should be booked or arranged for shortly after the start of the research internship
    • Since registering a participant in safety training often requires a CCID, ISVS staff endeavour to establish the intern's ID number, CCID, and University of Alberta email address at least 2 weeks before their arrival date, if not further in advance
      • Occasionally there may be late additions to the roster of interns, so if it is preventing registration procedures, please do not hesitate to contact the internship coordinator to expedite your request 

Globalink research interns are expected to work 40 hours per week on their research project.

Support from Mitacs and University of Alberta International Student + Visitor Services

Mitacs Award Letter = U of A Invitation Letter

One notable difference from other research internship programs coordinated by ISVS is that when it comes to immigration procedures, the Invitation Letter for Mitacs GRI participants is simply the Mitacs Award Letter issued directly by Mitacs, not by University of Alberta. To be clear, there is no separate Invitation Letter produced by ISVS or the U of A. Interns will be advised by both Mitacs and U of A ISVS staff to use the Mitacs Award Letter, along with instructions that can be accessed via our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), to proceed with their own immigration visa application to enter Canada for this program. University of Alberta ISVS does facilitate access for Mitacs interns to our qualified immigration personnel, such as student advisors with an Regulated Canadian Immigration Consultant (RCIC) designation, on an as-needed basis. 

Research Symposium

During the internship, Globalink Research interns will be invited by International Student + Visitor Services to attend and/or present at a mandatory summer research symposium. This is typically a 3-hour event that will take place on-campus during normal work hours sometime in the month(s) of July and/or August. It is normal for Mitacs GRI participants to be given permission to attend and/or present at this event, unless you explicitly say they are not allowed to, in which case they may be asked by ISVS staff to volunteer as an event assistant. Faculty members are also welcome and encouraged to come support their interns as they practice their academic presentation skills and share about the research project they are working on.

Mitacs Mentors help support your student GRI participant

Mitacs operates a Mentor program that University of Alberta is pleased to participate in again for Summer 2026. Please note, ISVS no longer substitutes our own student Program Assistants as a result of this change. Mitacs is responsible for hiring local students and matching them with your Mitacs GRI participant(s) for one to many peer support.

Administrative and campus registration procedures done by ISVS

Please review answers to Frequently Asked Questions for details regarding the types of supports provided to participants before, during, and after their research placements under your supervision at University of Alberta. These include CCID, ONEcard, academic visitor liability waiver form, guest POI, etc.

Professional development

Your Mitacs Globalink Research Internship student may also be invited to attend industry and/or government relations events, professional skills training courses, or conferences. Every attempt will be made by Mitacs to schedule these events outside of working hours, and interns should obtain their supervisor’s approval should they have to miss work to participate. 

Faculty project application eligibility criteria 

Please note, the Mitacs Globalink Research Internship (GRI) program is not accepting faculty host project submissions at this time. We anticipate they will reopen here in Spring 2026. 

In order to be eligible for hosting interns as part of the Globalink Research Internship program, you must: 

  1. Have one of the following statuses at an eligible institution: Full professor, Associate professor, Assistant professor, Adjunct professor, Emeritus professor
  2. Be able to supervise international students at your institution
  3. Be able to host any intern(s) within the stipulated dates of the GRI program: Internships must start between May 1 and July 31, and must be delivered over the course of 12 consecutive weeks.
  4. Be able to provide guidance and/or arrange supplementary supervision for 40 hours per week

On a case-by-case basis, Mitacs may allow shortened research internship durations of 10-11 weeks under your tutelage. This is outside of International Student + Visitor Services purview and is arranged between the student and yourself via Mitacs. No extensions beyond 12 weeks are possible for this program.

Matching process and evaluation criteria

  • Project proposals are submitted to Mitacs, reviewed, and upon acceptance, entered into an online database.
  • At the time of application, students must select a minimum of three and a maximum of seven research projects from the online database.
  • The Mitacs Research team scores each student application based on criteria including, but not limited to, CGPA, research experience, reference letter, funding constraints, etc. and ranks students based on their score.
  • A shortlist of students is generated for each project based on their selection and their score.
  • Faculty are invited to review shortlisted student applications and to contact students to conduct interviews. Faculty and students review and rank one another for a possible match.
  • Mitacs collects the feedback from faculty and students and determines suitable matches based on the student’s and professor’s rankings and other factors, including the student’s score.