Scholar program
The Michael Smith Health Research BC 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.
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This competition is
CLOSED
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Important Dates
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Webinar
November 10, 2021, 10:00 a.m PT
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Letter of Intent Deadline
December 06, 2021, 4:30 p.m PT
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Full application deadline
February 28, 2022, 4:30 p.m PT
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Anticipated notice of funding decision
June 2022
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Anticipated start of funding
July 01, 2022
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Award Term
5 years
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Award Amount
$90,000/annum for salary support
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Program details Eligibility How to apply Application resources WebinarProgram 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.
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.
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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:
Webinar
The Scholar webinar has passed
COVID-19 and research
COVID-19 has created rapid change and much uncertainty within BC’s health research community. Through consultations, we heard that funding for early-career researchers and post-doctoral fellows is critically important now more than ever. This is why we’re introducing the following changes to our application and review process for the 2021 Research Trainee competition to account for the impact of the pandemic on research outputs and activities (full details in the competition guidelines):
- COVID-19 impact statement: All applicants will have the opportunity to describe the impact of the pandemic on their research activities as part of their application.
- Eligibility window extension: To account for COVID-19 research and training disruptions, we are automatically extending the eligibility window by one year.
- Research Trainee award terms: To provide greater funding stability for postdoctoral trainees, the Research Trainee award terms are no longer prorated and applicants can request up to three years of support, regardless of when they completed their PhD.
- Peer review process: Peer reviewers will account for COVID-19 impacts in application assessment and scoring.
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.
