The goal of this pilot funding opportunity is to support a partnership between a postsecondary research entity and one or more federal government departments to establish a long-term research program focusing on specific topics in an area of importance to Canada and public decision-makers.

If the pilot is deemed successful, the funding opportunity will be offered periodically, subject to availability of funds. Each competition will focus on a new target area in which research in the social sciences and humanities is well positioned to make an impact. Only one partnership will be funded per competition.

The successful partnership is expected to advance research, capacity, and policy development in the target area by:

• engaging one or more federal government departments to identify and address public policy needs;
• conducting long-term research that generates knowledge with the potential to inform federal policy-making;
• working with, adapting and/or developing comprehensive datasets relevant to the needs of the public policy community and future researchers;
• improving access and use of research knowledge within Canada’s policy-making communities; and
• supporting high-quality training experiences for students and/or postdoctoral researchers.

The partnership is expected to be based within an established research entity at a Canadian postsecondary institution (e.g., institute, centre, lab, hub, observatory, etc.) that has a demonstrated track record in the target area. The successful partnership will have significant flexibility in the scope, priorities and activities of the program of research to adapt to new developments and changing circumstances, as needed, over the duration of the grant. As the partnership is expected to strengthen Canadian policy-making in the target area, applicants must partner with at least one Canadian federal government department.

Target area 2025: Improving Canada’s Productivity

The Transformation stream is designed to support large-scale, Canadian-led interdisciplinary research projects that address a major challenge with the potential to realize real and lasting change (high-reward). The challenge may be fundamental, leading to a scientific breakthrough, or applied, with a social, economic, environmental or health impact. Projects are expected to be world-leading, drawing on global research expertise where relevant.

 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.