The paid research placements for Alberta high school students want you in Grade 11 and close in March. This is the map: who takes you, what they ask for, and what to do if you have already missed the window.
The paid ones, and which campus you apply to
Alberta Innovates runs the High School Youth Researcher Summer program, known as HYRS. You spend about six weeks over July and August working in a real university lab, and you are paid for it.
HYRS runs as three separate intakes, and where you live decides which one you apply to:
- North of Red Deer → HYRS at the University of Alberta, in Edmonton.
- South of Red Deer, down to north of Claresholm → HYRS at the University of Calgary.
- Claresholm and south → HYRS at the University of Lethbridge.
Apply to the wrong campus and you have filled in the wrong form. Check the line your town falls on before you start writing.
The bar is specific and published: Grade 11, with at least 85% in Math 20-1 or 20-2, Biology 20, and one other Grade 11 science. Alberta Innovates does note that a strong equity justification can be considered, so if your marks are close and your circumstances explain the gap, it is worth asking rather than assuming. Each campus sets its own deadline and posts it on its own page, and in practice they land in March for a July start.
The other paid Edmonton option is the WISEST Summer Research Program at the University of Alberta, also six weeks, also Grade 11, and also a paid research assistantship. WISEST is built around students underrepresented in STEM and is open to all genders. If you are a Grade 11 student in the Edmonton area, apply to both.
Grade 11 on this timeline
Working backwards from a July start:
- Fall of Grade 11. Make sure Biology 20 and a second Grade 11 science are on your timetable. By March it cannot be fixed.
- January and February. Ask the teacher who will write your reference. Marks are the requirement; the reference is the part you can still improve.
- March. Applications close. Check your campus page for the exact date rather than trusting a date you read somewhere in the fall.
- July and August. Six weeks in the lab, ending in a poster symposium at every campus.
Our Grade 11 timeline covers the scholarship side of the same year, and the two overlap: the teacher writing your HYRS reference is usually the right person to ask again in Grade 12.
If you are not in Grade 11, or the marks are not there
- Youreka Canada takes Grades 9 to 12 and pairs you with an undergraduate mentor for a ten-week citizen-science project ending at a symposium. There is no marks gate. If you want a research project on your record and you are in Grade 9 or 10, start here.
- Heritage Fairs are the humanities equivalent, and they run through Grade 12, not only junior high.
- ISSYP at Perimeter Institute takes Grade 11 and 12 students for two fully funded weeks, travel and meals included. It is competitive, and it costs you nothing.
- SHAD runs a month on a university campus for Grades 10 and 11, with financial aid available. It is enrichment rather than a lab placement, but it is the closest thing to a research summer that Grade 10 students can get into.
A word about the ones you pay for
Polygence and Pioneer Academics are real, and both will pair you with an academic mentor for a project you can point at. Both are also tuition-based, with need-based aid available. HYRS pays you to work in a lab; Polygence and Pioneer charge you for mentorship. Both are legitimate, and only HYRS is a job.
If money is the constraint, exhaust the paid and free list above before you look at the tuition list.
What a placement shows on an application
A research placement shows six weeks of showing up, a supervisor who can speak to your work, and usually a poster with your name on it. Bring it to the awards in our STEM scholarships list.
The full list, with what each one pays and who it takes, is on the research programs page. Build my combo narrows it to the ones open to your grade and region.