Types of Grants
Capacity Building Grants
The next generation of scientists have the talent and ingenuity to move the needle on Canadian brain research – as long as they have support. Capacity Building Grants invest directly in trainees and early-career researchers to catalyze their potential through salary support, training, research funding and mentorship.
Team Grants
Groundbreaking discoveries in brain health research never happen alone – they take bright minds working across disciplines and institutions. Our Team Grants bring together scientists from across Canada to advance collaborative research on the brain and brain health.
Platform Grants
Research platforms – what we call centralized shared research resources – are a cost-effective way for scientists to access cutting-edge equipment, technology, and services beyond what they can achieve on their own. Platform Support Grants help develop and/or enhance the capabilities and accessibility of platforms essential for brain research, benefiting researchers across Canada.
Knowledge Mobilization Grants
These support the mobilization of knowledge: to use the findings from research to inform the development of evidence-based tools, resources, programs and solutions with the potential to benefit all people in Canada; and to convene the Canadian brain research community and key stakeholders, including people with lived experience.
Flagship Programs
Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research Program
Launched in 2019, this annual grant program provides funding at the most critical point in a researcher’s career and gives budding scientists the courage to dream big and be brilliant. Through this revolutionary funding model, we are establishing Canada’s pipeline of future leaders, and laying a foundation of research excellence and innovation.
Dr. Hubert van Tol Travel Fellowship
The Dr. Hubert van Tol Travel Fellowship allows doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows to attend a major international conference/symposium or training course.
Momentum Grants
The Momentum Grants program builds upon the success of the Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research program, which provides funding to early-career researchers to build a foundation of research excellence and innovation in Canada. By investing in these researchers, we foster a culture of scientific excellence and promote the growth of their careers as they make significant contributions to their fields of research.
Multi-Investigator Research Initiative (MIRI)
The Multi-Investigator Research Initiative (MIRI)’s aim is to support multidisciplinary teams and to accelerate novel and transformative research that will fundamentally change our understanding of nervous system function and dysfunction and their impact on health.
Platform Support Grants
High-impact research in the neurosciences has always required skill, imagination, determination, and insight. Today, it also requires access to shared equipment, facilities, services, databases, computing/informatics facilities, patient repositories, and biobanks; collectively referred to as “platforms”. The Platform Support Grants Program funds major research platforms – at local, regional, and national levels – with the goal of providing enhanced technical and research capabilities to myriads of investigators across all fields of neuroscience.
Rising Stars Trainee Awards
Funding to support early-career researchers with programs tailored for the next generation of researchers is a core component of Brain Canada’s work. The increasing competitiveness of the Canadian research environment and limited financial support from major granting agencies and institutions can make it difficult to attain the resources needed for trainees to excel. In response, Brain Canada launched its Rising Stars Trainee Awards aimed at recognizing the excellent research being conducted by graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and residents in all fields spanning neuroscience research.