Scholar program
Our Scholar Program supports early-career health researchers who are building leading-edge health research programs, training the next generation of scientists and expanding their potential to make significant contributions to their field.
The Scholar Program is one of Health Research BC’s flagship funding opportunities. Since 2001, we’ve granted more than 560 Scholar awards to develop, attract and retain BC’s best and brightest health researchers and support the advancement of world-class health research in BC.
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This competition is
OPEN
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Important Dates
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Applications open:
October 2024
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Letter of intent deadline:
November 19, 2024, 4:30 p.m. PT
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Full application deadline (applicant):
January 23, 2025, 4:30 p.m. PT
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Full application deadline (host institution):
January 30, 2025, 4:30 p.m. PT
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Anticipated notice of funding decision:
June 2025
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Anticipated start of funding:
July 1, 2025
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Award Term
5 years
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Award Amount
$90,000/annum for salary support
Jump to:
Program details Eligibility How to apply Application resources WebinarProgram details
- Identifies and develops outstanding BC health researchers who are within six years of the start of their first institutional appointment as an independent investigator.
- Helps researchers start and develop new programs of research.
- Protects researchers’ time to conduct research, develop an independent research career, attract additional research funding, and train the next generation of researchers.
- New for 2025: Guided by advice from Indigenous partners, award holders, peer reviewers and advisors, we are introducing a distinct peer review panel for Indigenous health applications to the 2025 competition. Applicants may choose a review by a panel with expertise in Indigenous health research who will review applications with a central focus on meaningful and culturally safe Indigenous-led research (see guidelines: Section 7, Indigenous Health Research and Section 13, Review Process).
- New for 2025: Top-up funding from the BC SUPPORT Unit is available to recipients whose research involves meaningfully engaging Indigenous communities to support those engagement activities (see Section 7, Indigenous Health Research).
- New for 2025: Applicants will no longer be able to include a Canadian Common CV in their application and instead will be asked a few new questions about supervision of trainees, career history, and experience leading or participating in funded research projects (see guidelines: Section 9, Assessment of Research Outputs)
Partnered awards are
available for this program!
Learn more
Eligibility
Applicants must:
- Have a PhD, or equivalent.
- Hold or have a commitment for an appointment at a BC institution that holds a memorandum of understanding with Health Research BC and commit to a minimum of 75 percent of their time conducting research.
- Be within six years of the start of their first university appointment.
- New for 2025: An adjustment of the eligibility calculation to align with the Tri-Agency policy on leave credits for early career researchers, so that parental, medical, caretaking and bereavement leaves are credited at twice the amount of time taken (see guidelines Section 4, Eligibility Requirements).
Featured Story
New cohort of researchers leading the way to better health outcomes
Michael Smith Health Research BC is funding 23 new Scholars and 14 Health Professional-Investigators (HP-I), through the 2024 competitions.
Read moreHow to apply
Applications to our funding competitions are coordinated through Health Research BC's ApplyNet, our online grants management system that allows users to manage their entire award lifecycle, from application submission to post-award monitoring.
Log in to ApplyNet:
Applynet
Webinar
The 2025 Scholar and Health Professional-Investigator information sessions have passed. To watch the recordings, please click “View” below and enter the passcode. The slides are also available for download.
2025 Scholar and HP-I Information Session (Passcode: a9bvd@Xb)
View2025 Scholar and HP-I Information Session Slides
Download2025 Scholar and HP-I Indigenous Health Research Review Information Session (Passcode: +A9yiMK@)
View2025 Scholar and HP-I Indigenous Health Research Review Information Session Slides
DownloadFostering health research capacity
As a funding agency with a provincial mandate, we recognize the importance of fostering health research capacity in all regions. Additionally, we’re working to increase applications from around the province, including the north, Interior, Fraser Valley, and Vancouver Island, to support research of importance to those communities and train tomorrow’s researchers to strengthen health research capacity across the province. For this competition we are implementing process changes to identify and remove barriers to success for applicants from around the province, including:
- Revising peer review processes and evaluation criteria to ensure applications from across BC are reviewed fairly and equitably.
- Recruiting peer reviewers from underrepresented regions and institutions in BC and from smaller institutions outside of BC.
- Working with Health Research BC partners to proactively identify partnership opportunities for fundable applications from regions and institutions outside of the Lower Mainland.
