Canada (Tri-Agency)-UK-US: Enhancing Resilience to Wildfires in the Wildland-Urban Interface

Sponsor’s Website

Visit the Government of Canada website for more information on the Canada (Tri-Agency)-UK-US: Enhancing Resilience to Wildfires in the Wildland-Urban Interface.

Internal Contacts

Heloise Emdon: Heloise.Emdon@carleton.ca

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

Deadlines

Overview

This is a joint initiative between the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). It supports collaborative research to improve understanding of and resilience to wildfire occurrence and impacts in the wildland-urban interface. Research teams are encouraged to adopt interdisciplinary and intersectoral approaches.

Value and Duration

NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR each expect to allocate $3 million to this call (total Canadian investment of $9 million). Each agency expects to fund four projects, with a duration of three years. The number of awards and funding level are subject to each agency’s availability of funds.

Interdisciplinary projects are welcome but not required. Projects may request budget from one, two or all three Canadian funding agencies. Each agency’s maximum budget request for a project is $750,000 total ($250,000 per year, per agency).

The maximum level of Canadian support for a three-year interdisciplinary project would be $2.25 million if the maximum budget was granted from NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR.

Important:

• The EOI and proposal submission from the consortiums need to be submitted to UKRI by the UK principal investigator.
• The Canadian project lead is the primary applicant for the NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR grants, and is responsible for contributing to the Canadian Component section in the UKRI submission.
• UK researchers will be funded by UKRI, US partners by NSF and Canadian partners by the Tri-Agency.
• Each consortium can only submit one proposal.
• The EOI will be evaluated for eligibility only; unless you hear from the funders, continue working on the consortium proposal as the timeline is short (October 1, 2026).
• For download: Budgeting Excel Spreadsheet

Eligibility

This call is open to Canadian university researchers in the natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities and health disciplines, working in partnership with academic collaborators from the UK, and optionally from the US.

If you are a Canadian university researcher eligible to receive funding from NSERC, SSHRC or CIHR, you can apply (as the Canadian project lead in the UKRI application) either independently or as part of a team. Your primary affiliation must be with a Canadian postsecondary institution currently holding full institutional eligibility with one of the agencies. See the list of eligible institutions. If you are applying as a team, your co-applicants must also meet NSERC, SSHRC or CIHR eligibility requirements.

Additional CIHR eligibility criteria:

• The applicant must be an independent researcher and have their substantive role in Canada for the duration of the requested grant term.
• If the institution paid is not on the list of CIHR eligible institutions, contact CIHR’s contact centre in advance to inquire about the authorization process and timelines.

The project must include at least one UK academic collaborator (UK project lead) who is eligible to receive funding from UKRI. You may also optionally include at least one US academic collaborator (US project lead) who is eligible to receive funding from NSF.

NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR will review the eligibility of Canadian researchers, while UKRI will review the eligibility of UK researchers and NSF the eligibility of US researchers.

Each Canadian team should submit only one application to this call. You may participate as Canadian project lead (NSERC, SSHRC and/or CIHR applicant) on only one application, but you may be a co-applicant or collaborator on multiple applications. Please consult UKRI and NSF for application limits that apply to the UK or US.

Information Sessions

For more information:

• Listen to UKRI’s recorded webinar
• Consult the NSERC-SSHRC-CIHR slides

Submitting Your Application

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 NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR by following their submission guidelines.