Grants and Writing Resources for University of Prince Edward Island

On March 20, 2026, UPEI graduate students took turns explaining their theses with three minutes and a single slide at the Fox & Crow in the W.A. Murphy Student Centre. A student in the Master of Applied Health Services Research won the 2026 Three Minute Thesis competition, ahead of a master's student in sustainable design engineering and a PhD candidate in molecular and macromolecular sciences, and was named to represent UPEI at the regional final at Saint Mary's University in Halifax.

Writing Prizes

The MacLauchlan Prizes for Effective Writing were set up in 2011 and give out up to $30,000 a year. At the 14th annual prizes in December 2025, 35 students won, most of them in the Course Work category, with writers from Science, Arts, Education, Sustainable Design Engineering, Nursing and the McDougall Faculty of Business. There's also a Community category. At the ceremony the guest speaker encouraged writing that is creative as well as evidence-based, and two winners read excerpts from their award-winning submissions.

Presenting Research

The Faculty of Graduate Studies runs the Three Minute Thesis each spring for thesis-based master's and PhD students, including those who have defended but not yet graduated. Three optional workshops beforehand cover planning the talk, designing the slide and delivery.

Undergraduates get a stage in summer. The Student Program for Research Engagement and Excellence (SPREE, formerly SPUR) brings together students doing supervised summer research for weekly lunch-and-learn workshops and ends with a poster competition with cash prizes; the 2025 round added a People's Choice award.

Graduate Funding

In July 2024 the Faculty of Graduate Studies announced a fellowship program for incoming and continuing students in research thesis-based graduate programs, in amounts set by their home faculty. Graduate students presenting at a national or international conference can apply for one of up to three Colleen MacDougall Graduate Student Travel Awards a year, named for a 2009 biology MSc graduate.

The graduate scholarships directory, linked from Financing Graduate Studies, lists the rest with their amounts. A few are tied to the thesis itself. The Jacob G. Schurman Memorial Graduate Studies Award (up to $1,000) goes to a master's or PhD student whose thesis is judged superior, and the two Erwin & Joyce Andrew Memorial Scholarships (up to $4,150 each) support MAIS research on Canadian or international islands, with preference for thesis-based students.

Where Theses Are Published

Graduate theses go into IslandScholar, the Robertson Library's institutional database for scholarly publications by the UPEI community. Students don't send files themselves: the academic department coordinates with the Library, as the theses and projects page explains. Honours theses and projects can go in too, under Undergraduate Works, if the student or program wants them there. The Library's graduate services page also points to discounts on open access article charges and individual consultations with subject librarians.

Help With Writing

The UPEI Writing Centre offers one-on-one appointments of up to 45 minutes, in person or online, to students, faculty and staff in any discipline. Consultants help with understanding an assignment, drafting a thesis statement, organizing ideas and handling citations. They don't proofread.

When a paper, thesis, or dissertation is ready for a final edit, our editors can help. See our University of Prince Edward Island dissertation and thesis editing and University of Prince Edward Island essay editing pages, or write to editors@editorsforstudents.com.

From Our Writing Guides

• Writing the Abstract and Title: First Impressions Matter
• How to Write an Expository Essay: Reveal the Proof
• The Dissertation Conclusion: Closing the Logical Loop