A funding program that matches students or postdocs and their supervising professor with an industry partner is available at Brock University.

Mitacs, a national not-for-profit organization that offers research and training initiatives, has a program called Accelerate which helps students find paid internships for up to four years.

“Mitacs internships offer graduate students a valuable experience working with industry or community organizations,” says Brock Industry Liaison and Partnership Officer Iva Bruhova. “It is a chance to apply their research skills and gain employment-ready skills.”

The success rate for graduate students and postdocs applying for the Accelerate internship funding is around 95 per cent, Bruhova says.

“Faculty can use it as a recruitment tool to try and bring aboard new graduate students, or it can be used to supplement or give current graduate students industry-community experience,” says Blake Helka, Industry Liaison and Partnerships Officer.

One example of a Mitacs internship is Master of Sustainability Science and Society student Tasnuva Afreen, who completed an eight-month internship experience with the Canadian Urban Transit Research and Innovation Consortium researching information related to transit authorities’ transition to electric buses.

Helka and Bruhova have arranged for Mitacs representative Mike McCleary to come to Brock on Thursday, July 18 and Friday, July 19 to meet with students, postdocs and faculty about the Accelerate and other programs that Mitacs offers.

McCleary will be available to answer questions and give information. To book an appointment, contact Mike McCleary at mmccleary@mitacs.ca