In 2025, the Lotte & John Hecht Memorial Foundation will hold two rounds of competitions for proof-of-principle basic science/preclinical proposals in the field of cancer research. The Foundation is looking to support non-mainstream hypotheses and non-conservative projects which do not fit traditional funding mechanisms and have not received previous grants/awards. This opportunity is intended to attract emerging ideas which are high risk/-high reward and for which preliminary data is not required. Accordingly, proposal hypotheses must be based on extensive literature review and logical substantiation.  

Proposals may originate from young or established researchers within their field of expertise or may be inspired by innovations and discoveries from adjacent or non-related areas, including further exploration of collateral findings discovered ‘by accident’, and/or other methods.  For illustration purposes, consider well known projects such as the ‘grapefruit effect’ (Dr. David Bailey), H. pylori and gastritis & peptic ulcer (Dr. Robin Warren), mRNA-based gene therapy (Dr. Katalin Kariko), and the discovery of an RNA catalytic function (Dr. Thomas Cech) as examples of novel discovery.  

We invite applications from Canadian qualified donees, including both single- and multi-investigator teams. Proposals will be evaluated based on novelty and feasibility. 

This award will cover up to $450,000 per project over three years, with the possibility of extension and renewals.

The call will fund projects that support the delivery of basic needs services to Afghans, especially women and girls, in one or more of the following three programming areas:

1. Quality, accessible, gender-responsive health services for the most marginalized (including women and girls in all their diversity, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities, older persons, and other marginalized groups).
2. Demand-driven skills training, particularly for women and girls in all their diversity, in areas such as literacy and numeracy, digital skills, life skills, business skills, and other relevant technical and vocational skill areas.
3. Inclusive services that protect and advance the rights and empowerment of all Afghans, with a focus on gender, ethnic and religious minorities, underserviced populations including those impacted by disability, and support to women-led groups.

Innovations for Gram-Negative Antibiotic Discovery

Given the highly competitive nature of the NSERC CREATE program and the requirement for institutional support, Principal Investigators will be required to work closely with assigned research facilitators from the conceptualization of the project proposal to final submission (this includes seeking support from co-applicant institutions). Please note that the NSERC CREATE guidelines and LOI form have not yet been updated by NSERC.  This is expected to happen by Mid March.

The Petroleum Research Fund is an endowed fund, managed by the American Chemical Society that supports fundamental research directly related to petroleum or fossil fuels at nonprofit institutions (generally colleges and universities) in the United States and other countries.

ACS Petroleum Research Fund (ACS PRF) grants are intended as seed money, to enable an investigator to initiate a new research direction. The investigator should not have published or received financial support from another funding agency for the proposed research. Also, proposals that the ACS PRF Committee feels are a logical extension of an investigator’s previous research may be denied as “not a new direction.”

Scope of the Fund

Proposals must be for fundamental research in “the petroleum field,” which is defined in our founding document as “petroleum, natural gas, coal, shale, tar sands and like materials.” Fundamental research encompasses the properties of these materials, whereas the petroleum industry undertakes “applied research,” which is outside the scope of ACS PRF. However, please note that while the PRF Trust imposes certain restrictions, PRF currently funds many topics of current interest in sustainability and green chemistry. These include, for example, new catalysts and upgrading/utilization of methane and carbon dioxide.

The Burroughs Wellcome Fund aims to stimulate the growth of new connections between thinkers working in largely disconnected fields who might together change the course of climate change’s impact on human health. In the three years between Fall 2023 and Summer 2026, we will dedicate $1M to supporting small, early stage grants of $2,500–$50,000 toward achieving this goal.

We are mainly but not exclusively interested in activities that build connections between basic/early biomedical scientific approaches and ecological, environmental, geological, geographic, and planetary-scale thinking, as well as with population-focused fields, including epidemiology and public health, demography, economics, and urban planning. Also of interest is work piloting new approaches or interactions toward reducing the impact of health-centered activities, such as developing more sustainable systems for health care, care delivery, and biomedical research systems.

Global Affairs Canada has opened its call for international scholarship applications for the 2025-26 academic year.  Researchers may be contacted by students from eligible countries seeking a supervisor for a research stay. 

There are scholarships for STUDY (usually undergrads) and RESEARCH (usually graduate students). Students cannot apply directly and must be nominated by their home institutions; applications are submitted by Lakehead University, with selection decisions made by Global Affairs Canada.  

Please note that visiting research students are expected to work on their research full-time for 4-6 months under the Lakehead researcher's supervision.

ELAP - Emerging Leaders of the Americas Internal Deadline: March 6 (External March 18)

• Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos;
• Central America: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama;
• North America: Mexico;
• South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela.

SICS - Study in Canada Scholarship - Internal Deadline: March 6 (External March 18)

• Asia: Bangladesh, Nepal, Taiwan;
• Europe: Türkiye, Ukraine;
• Middle East and North Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia;
• Sub-Saharan Africa: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda.

IMPORTANT - The students' home institution may have internal selection processes/competitions and earlier deadlines as well.

To be eligible, study students must be from institutions where Lakehead has an MOU / Exchange agreement. For research students, an MOU is not mandatory.  In a few cases, an undergrad may be nominated for a research stay if the Lakehead researcher has a genuine collaboration with the student's home institution.

For questions, please contact Jill Sherman at intl.research@lakeheadu.ca.

Global Affairs Canada has opened its call for applications to its international scholarship programs for the 2025-26 academic year.  Researchers may be contacted by students from eligible countries seeking a supervisor for a research stay. 

There are scholarships for STUDY (usually undergrads) and RESEARCH (usually graduate students). Students cannot apply directly and must be nominated by their home institutions; applications are submitted by Lakehead University, with selection decisions made by Global Affairs Canada.

If researchers are interested in hosting a visiting research student and have research collaborators in any of the eligible countries, they are encouraged to reach out and invite applications from their students. Please note that VRS are expected to work on their research full-time during their stay, under the Lakehead researcher's supervision.

SEED - Canada-ASEAN Scholarships and Educational Exchange for Development - Internal Deadline March 19 (External March 31).

Please note that this year, the SEED program has changed - maximum length of stay is 4 months and must start no later than October 1, 2025.

• for citizens of ASEAN member states (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos (Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR)), Malaysia, Myanmar, The Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, or Vietnam)

IMPORTANT - The students' home institution may have internal selection processes/competitions and earlier deadlines as well.

To be eligible, study students must be from institutions where Lakehead has an MOU / Exchange agreement. For research students, an MOU is not mandatory.  In a few cases, an undergrad may be nominated for a research stay if the Lakehead researcher has a genuine collaboration with the student's home institution.

For questions, please contact Jill Sherman at intl.research@lakeheadu.ca.