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Operating Grant: Early Career Researchers in Human Development, Child and Youth Health

October 31, 2025

Time to read: 4 minutes

CIHR Funding

External Funding

The goal of this opportunity is to build research capacity, generate new knowledge and support knowledge mobilization in human development, child and youth health by funding operating grants to early career researchers (ECRs).

The program will fund research across the four Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) pillars — biomedical; clinical; health services; social, cultural, environmental and population health — that has the potential to have a significant impact on human development, child and youth health. Ultimately, the program aims to strengthen Canada’s capacity and knowledge to respond to challenges and needs by providing important early career development support to researchers in these fields.

For more information on the Operating Grant: ECRs in Human Development, Child and Youth Health.

Value and Duration

The total amount available for this funding opportunity is $1,500,000, enough to fund approximately ten grants. This amount may increase if additional funding partners participate. The maximum amount per grant is $50,000 per year for up to three years, for a total of $150,000 per grant.

Eligibility

For an application to be eligible, all the requirements stated below must be met:

  1. The Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) must:
    • Be an early career researcher* affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary institution and/or its affiliated institutions (including hospitals, research institutes and other non-profit organizations with a mandate for health research and/or knowledge translation); and
    • Have at least 50% protected time for research.
    • *Individuals who do not hold an independent research appointment at the time of application, but who expect to be appointed by the beginning of the funding period, may apply. If the application is successful, funds will be released to the Institution Paid once the applicant’s status is confirmed.
  2. The NPA must have their substantive role in Canada for the duration of the requested grant term.
  3. The Institution Paid receives and administers the funds on behalf of the NPA and therefore must be authorized by CIHR before the funds can be released. If the Institution Paid is not on the list of CIHR eligible institutions, they are encouraged to reach out to the Contact Centre in advance to enquire about the authorization process and timelines.
  4. The NPA must have successfully completed one of the sex- and gender-based analysis training modules available online through the CIHR Institute of Gender and Health and submit a Certificate of Completion. Please select and complete the training module most applicable to your research project.
  5. For applications to be eligible for the Indigenous Human Development, Child and Youth Health pool:
  6. For applications involving research carried out by or with Indigenous Peoples but not applying to the Indigenous Human Development, Child and Youth Health pool, at least one member of the research team in an applicant or knowledge user role (i.e., Principal Applicant, Co-applicant, Principal Knowledge User, Knowledge User) must self-identify as Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit or Métis) and/or provide evidence of meaningful and culturally safe involvement with Indigenous Peoples.
  7. For applications to be eligible for the Human Development, Child and Youth Health for Equity-Denied Groups pool:
  8. For applications involving research with equity-denied groups but not applying to the Human Development, Child and Youth Health for Equity-Denied Groups pool, at least one member of the research team in an applicant or knowledge user role (i.e., Principal Applicant, Co-Applicant, Principal Knowledge User, Knowledge User) must provide evidence of meaningful involvement with that group.
  9. Applicants may only submit one application to this competition as the NPA.

If eligible for both competitions, applicants may apply to ECRs in Human Development, Child and Youth Health (2025) and SickKids Foundation-CIHR IHDCYH New Investigator Research Grants in Child and Youth Health (2025) but can only accept one grant from the 2025 competitions, regardless of whether the applications are for different projects.

Deadlines

Submitting Your Application

  1. Submit an internal Approval Form through our central awards management database cuResearch.
  2. Submit an external application to CIHR by following their submission guidelines.

Contact Us

Potential applicants are encouraged to discuss this funding opportunity with their Faculty Research Facilitator.

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