Notice of Upcoming Funding Opportunity: 2019 Platform Support Grants

The Brain Canada Foundation is pleased to announce the second funding opportunity to arise from the $40 million committed by the Government of Canada in Budget 2019. Building off the success of past competitions, the 2019 Platform Support Grants (PSG) competition will be formally launched on November 26, 2019 with a Request for Applications outlining the guidelines, eligibility criteria, and application components. To date, Brain Canada has supported 25 projects through the PSG program, with over $40 million dollars invested.

Support for operations and maintenance of Canadian research platforms has been identified as a gap in the neuroscience research funding environment. Through this sponsored PSG funding opportunity, Brain Canada aims to address this gap in order to enhance the technical and research capabilities of collaborative research teams in the neurosciences and/or mental health fields. Examples of platforms that fall within the scope of PSGs include brain banks, clinical trial networks, imaging facilities, transgenic animal facilities, specialized high-throughput genomics facilities, drug discovery platforms, data repositories, informatics systems, and data-sharing systems.

Briefly, the competition will be open to groups of investigators working in brain research (interdisciplinary teams are especially encouraged). Research teams must apply for funding with sponsors who will commit to providing matching funds (50% of the total funding requested). Grants are generally $1.5 million over three years, although there may be some flexibility to accommodate the needs of specific platforms, with funding to start in Summer/Fall 2020.  

Following the release of the Request for Applications, interested applicants will be required to submit a Registration Letter in early February 2020, which includes an overview of the platform they intend to implement or build upon and a Letter of Support from prospective sponsor/s. The Registration Letter will not be peer reviewed but will be used to guide the formation of an expert panel of national and international reviewers for full applications. Formal commitments with sponsors do not need to be in place until the Full Application deadline in March 2020.

For more information, contact platformgrant@braincanada.ca.