New Frontiers in Research Fund: 2026 International Joint Initiative for Research Harnessing Disruptive Technologies to Address Global Challenges

Overview

The New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) International stream aims to support international collaborations and position Canada and Canadian researchers as strategic partners at the international level.

The 2026 International Joint Initiative for Research Harnessing Disruptive Technologies to Address Global Challenges represents a collaboration among research funders from the Åland Islands, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and the United Kingdom to support international, interdisciplinary and transformative research aimed at harnessing disruptive technology to address major societal challenges on a global scale.

The call will support international, interdisciplinary research projects focused on harnessing disruptive technologies to address at least one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) or another recognized global challenge. For the purpose of this call, a disruptive technology is defined as “an innovation whose application replaces or radically alters systems, processes and/or behaviours to have transformative economic or societal impacts.”

Funding Value and Duration

The total amount of funding available for each project will depend on the funding organizations supporting the project. Up to CAD $1,500,000 is available from NFRF for the Canadian portion of projects. The amount available from each international partner is detailed in the call for proposals and annexes.

Eligibility Criteria

Each project team must be eligible to receive funds from at least three funding organizations. To fulfil this requirement, the project team must include a minimum of three principal investigators (PIs), each eligible to receive funding from a different participating funding organization. At least one of the three PIs must be eligible to apply to the NFRF program (i.e., Canadian postsecondary researchers eligible to apply to one of the three federal research funding agencies). The PIs eligible for the three funding organizations will be co-PIs on the proposal. The project team must identify a project lead from among the co-PIs. The project lead will be the primary contact point for the project as a whole.

Sponsor’s Website

2026 International Joint Initiative for Research Harnessing Disruptive Technologies to Address Global Challenges

External Deadline

Interested teams must submit a draft Notice of Intent (NOI) to the Carleton Office for Research Initiatives and Services (CORIS) by February 27, 2026, as well as a final NOI to CORIS through the Convergence Portal by 3 p.m. on March 2, 2026. Please see the timeline below for more details.

Information Sessions

NFRF will host an information session on Tuesday, February 3, 2026. Please contact Kate Swan for details. 

Internal Contacts

Faculty Research Facilitator (FRF)

Kate Swan, Research Facilitator, Institutional Initiatives

How to Apply

To apply to this call, teams must submit a NOI to CORIS via the Convergence Portal by 3 p.m. on March 2, 2026. This will be forwarded to NFRF by their deadline of March 3, 2026. This is a mandatory step in the application process. The NOI is used for administrative purposes and is not assessed.

Once the NOI deadline has passed, the research team will immediately be able to work on their Letter of Intent (LOI). The team must submit their LOI by June 9, 2026. Submitted LOIs will be evaluated for the purpose of identifying teams to be invited to the full application stage. 

The timeline for the internal process is as follows:  

Submitting Your Application

1. Log in to cuResearch and submit an internal Carleton Approval Form. Review the cuResearch user’s manual.
2. Submit an external application to Canada Research Coordinating Committee by following their submission guidelines.