Funding

Fully Funded · Partial / Stipend

Program dates

Jun 15, 2026 – Jun 26, 2026

Summer School•Canada · Waterloo

Perimeter Institute Undergraduate Summer Programs (PSI Start)

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics

Application Deadline

Closed · January 18, 2026

Reopens ~Jan 2027

Official Page

Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics runs its Undergraduate Summer Programs, branded PSI Start, at its campus in Waterloo, Ontario. Around 30 students are selected for a two-week on-site summer school built from eight short courses on modern topics in theoretical physics, taught by researchers from Perimeter and Canadian universities. Summer school applicants may also apply for an in-person paid research internship of up to 15 weeks, working on a project alongside a Perimeter researcher, with the possibility of publishing the result. Interns take part in the June summer school as part of their internship. The programs are aimed at undergraduates who plan to apply to a physics graduate program starting in 2027 or later, and students from anywhere in the world may apply. In the 2026 edition the school ran 15–26 June and the internship window ran 4 May to 14 August.

Benefits & funding

  • No fee to apply and no fee to attend the summer school.
  • Summer school participants receive travel support, accommodation, and meal credit at Perimeter’s on-site Black Hole Bistro on program days.
  • Research interns receive a Research Award payment, prorated to the length of the internship.
  • Interns also receive travel support for roundtrip economy airfare and ground transportation, help arranging housing at a group rate, and the same bistro credit.
  • Eight short courses spanning particle physics, quantum fields and strings, cosmology, quantum matter, quantum gravity, and quantum foundations, plus keynote lectures and panel discussions on graduate study and academic careers.
  • Internship projects run inside Perimeter’s research groups and can lead to published work.

Eligibility

  • Open to undergraduate students worldwide; no nationality or residency restriction is stated.
  • Applicants must plan to apply to a graduate program in physics that starts in 2027 or later.
  • Applicants need the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalism of classical mechanics, some quantum mechanics (Hilbert space, bras and kets), and familiarity with linear algebra before the school starts.
  • Students who will cover that material after the application deadline but before the school begins may still apply.
  • Internship applicants must also be summer school applicants; selected interns attend the June school.
  • The summer school and PSI Bridge cannot be applied to in the same cycle, and a candidate will not be accepted to both the undergraduate programs and the PSI master’s program in the same year.
  • Participants travelling to Canada need a visitor visa and/or an eTA.
  • The internship asks for a minimum commitment of 12 weeks on site; up to two weeks may be done online.

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Application process

  1. 1
    Watch for the application to open, which happened in mid-December for the 2026 edition.
  2. 2
    Prepare transcripts (unofficial accepted, with an English translation where needed), a curriculum vitae, and a statement of interest of at most two pages.
  3. 3
    Line up two to three referees, who receive instructions automatically from AJO, Perimeter’s application tool, and cannot view the application itself.
  4. 4
    Declare an English proficiency level; an interview may be requested.
  5. 5
    Submit the online application by the January deadline, indicating whether the paid research internship is also of interest.
  6. 6
    Make sure reference letters arrive by the letter deadline, then wait for decisions at the end of February.

Program timeline

  1. Mid-December 2025

    Applications open for the 2026 edition

  2. Application deadline (summer school extended to Feb 1, 2026)

    Jan 18, 2026

  3. Reference letter deadline (summer school extended to Feb 8, 2026)

    Jan 30, 2026

  4. Selection decisions, including internship offers

    End of February 2026

  5. Internship window opens

    May 4, 2026

  6. Summer school begins

    Jun 15, 2026

  7. Summer school ends

    Jun 26, 2026

  8. Internship window closes

    Aug 14, 2026

  9. End of 2026

    Applications open for the 2027 edition