Banting Discovery Foundation: Discovery Award Program

Sponsor’s Website

Visit the Banting Discovery Foundation website for more information on the Discovery Award Program.

Internal Contact

Katie Harriman: katie.harriman@carleton.ca

Deadlines

Overview

The prestigious Discovery Award Program is dedicated to supporting innovative early-career researchers across Canada who are advancing cutting-edge discoveries in health and biomedical sciences.

It offers funding to enable independent research programs and foster breakthroughs that have the potential to impact human health.

Value and Duration

$30,000 for one year (July 1 to June 30).

Eligibility

Applicants must be a new investigator at any Canadian university, within the first three years of their first career academic appointment and within eight years of completing a PhD at the application deadline. They must also have not received external peer-reviewed grant funding at the time of application.

Please review the eligibility criteria for additional details.

Institutional Quota

One application per academic department/unit.

Targeted Discovery Awards

The Discovery Award Program includes additional targeted awards for specific areas of research. These include:

• Banting-Ontario Brain Institute Discovery Award: Focuses on transformative brain science and AI research, particularly projects advancing treatments for brain disorders through biomarkers, analytics, patient engagement and industry partnerships.
• Banting–Canerector Discovery Award: Dedicated to research on Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) and hypermobility spectrum disorders (HSD), with a focus on connective tissue defects and related comorbidities.
• Banting–CANSSI Discovery Award in Biostatistics: Supports early-career investigators in biostatistics who collaborate with health scientists, addressing health equity and patient outcomes through innovative methodologies.
• Banting–Dystonia Medical Research Foundation Canada Award: Supports research aimed at understanding dystonia, developing models and identifying new therapeutic targets.

Submitting Your Application

Internal Process

A mandatory EOI is due by October 6, 2025 via the online form.

Eligible applicants will be contacted by the Office of the Vice-President (Research, Innovation and International) (OVPRII), as well as their Faculty Research Facilitator, to develop an external NOI to the Banting Discovery Foundation by November 3, 2025.

As only one application can be submitted per academic department/unit, the Carleton Office for Research Initiatives and Services (CORIS) will consult with the chair/director in the event that more than one EOI is received from their department.

External Submission Steps

1. Submit an internal Approval Form through our central awards management database cuResearch. Consult the user’s manual for guidance.
2. Submit an external application to the Banting Discovery Foundation by following their submission guidelines. Applications must include a departmental letter of support, and the application form must be signed by the applicant, chair and institutional signatory.