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 460 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.

  • This competition is

    CLOSED

  • Important Dates

  • Applications Open

    October 2023

  • Award Term

    5 years

  • Award Amount

    $90,000/annum for salary support

Program details

  • Identifies and develops outstanding BC health researchers who are within five 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 2023: A section in the application form will be provided for applicants to describe how they will meaningfully and appropriately account for Equity Diversity and Inclusion in the design of their research projects, in the analysis and interpretation of the findings, and in their knowledge translation activities.
  • NEW for 2023: Letters of reference are no longer required (letters of collaboration are optional).

Partnered awards are
available for this program!

Learn more

Eligibility

Applicants must:

  • Have a PhD, or equivalent, and commit to a minimum of 75 percent of their time conducting research.
  • Hold or have a commitment for an appointment at a BC institution that holds a memorandum of understanding with Health Research BC.
  • Be within six years of the start of their first university appointment.

How 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
Learn more about Health Research BC ApplyNet
View the Health Research BC ApplyNet quick start guides

Application resources

2023 Guidelines

Download

2023 Evaluation Criteria

Download

2023 Conditions of Award

Download

Sample PDFs

Letter of Intent

Download

Full Application

Download

Dean Form

Download

Department Head Form

Download

Webinar

The Scholar webinar has now passed. To watch the recording, please click “view” below. The slides are also available for download.

Watch webinar

View

Webinar slides

Download

Fostering 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.