Funding Opportunities

MIRA will support teams of researchers who wish to apply to major external, interdisciplinary funding opportunities to further develop research projects in aging. Eligible funding opportunities include complex, interdisciplinary funding calls such as CIHR Health Research Training Platform; New Frontiers for Research Fund Transformation stream; and NSERC Collaborative Research and Training Experience program.

MIRA researchers may request up to $5,000 to support the hiring of staff, such as a research assistant, to assist with grant writing and submission. To request this type of support, please email a letter of intent to MIRA Research Manager Audrey Patocs (patocsae@mcmaster.ca) copying mirafund@mcmaster.ca with the following information:

1) Funding opportunity information, including grant name and link, application deadline, and value of funds requested

2) Names of principal and co-investigators

3) A brief summary of work completed to date and of the proposed research for which the applicant(s) wish to secure funding

Funding available: MIRA can support access fees ($3,000) for up to 10 CLSA data applications

Deadline: See CLSA website for next data application deadline

MIRA members are eligible for support in accessing CLSA data, a national database tracking 50,000 Canadians aged 45 to 85 over a period of 20 years. Data access applications are accepted three times per year. Researchers should notify ​MIRA at ​​mirafund@mcmaster.ca prior to applying for CLSA data access to be considered for funding. MIRA funds will be allocated only to projects that do not have any other funding for this purpose.

Deadline: ​Rolling
Funding available: Matching funds up to $100,000

In order to improve the positioning of McMaster’s researchers in external funding competitions, MIRA and the Labarge Centre for Mobility in Aging have allocated funding that may be used to match or leverage external funds. This process is intended to be used for requests related to externally funded, peer-reviewed grant competitions that require a matching component.

The MIRA | Dixon Hall Centre is a partnership between MIRA and Dixon Hall, a multi-service agency focused on addressing poverty, social injustices, and isolation across the lifespan in downtown Toronto East. Knowledge Synthesis Grants will support the synthesis and mobilization of existing knowledge and the identification of knowledge gaps and opportunities related to the following themes identified as priority areas in consultation with staff, leadership, and other stakeholders from Dixon Hall:

• Loneliness, social isolation & emotional well-being
• Housing & aging in place
• Precarity, financial well-being & food security
• Physical & cognitive decline
• Ageism, vulnerability, & loss of agency

Successful proposals will include a comprehensive knowledge mobilization plan for disseminating findings, such as a knowledge mobilization forum, in-person workshops, videos, education materials, infographics or other knowledge mobilization approaches.

This grant is intended to stimulate new collaborations and allow McMaster researchers to collect preliminary data to support future proposals for full-scale studies investigating the aging-related molecular and cellular mechanisms that are candidate risk factors and drivers of common chronic conditions and diseases associated with age. Projects may investigate how the aging process represents a major risk factor for the development of numerous chronic diseases and conditions, including neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, many cancers, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, reproductive aging, and frailty, and/or the biological pillars —inflammation, adaptation to stress, epigenetics, metabolism, macromolecular damage, proteostasis, and stem cells and regeneration — that may represent the potential drivers of the aging process.

This grant will support a geroscience approach: the incorporation of basic aging biology, chronic disease and clinical research, and projects must incorporate researchers from at least three different McMaster Faculties.

Deadline: December 15, 2022
Funding available: One grant of $50,000 (for one year salary), plus $3,000 for research expenses

The MIRA Interdisciplinary Fellowship Grant invites teams of researchers to propose a project that will attract a highly qualified postdoctoral fellow who will conduct collaborative and interdisciplinary research focused on aging. The fellowships are valued at $50,000 salary for one year, plus $3,000 for research expenses. The supervisory team must contribute at least $10,000 in cash for the fellow’s benefits, and are encouraged to demonstrate leveraging of additional funds, assets and in-kind support for the proposed project. Interdisciplinary research teams are invited to submit proposals for research that will promote new research collaborations in aging.

The primary applicant will act as the recruited fellow’s primary supervisor. The interdisciplinary proposal must include at least two co-applicants from McMaster Faculties outside of the primary applicant’s Faculty, who will act as mentors to the fellow and research collaborators. Applicant teams may also include knowledge users or mentors from industry, the public sector, non-profit or community, health care, or others whose perspective will enrich the prospective fellow’s research experience and the project’s impact. Successful applicants will be awarded funds to hire one postdoctoral fellow to support the proposed project. Teams will have one year after award notification to recruit an appropriate fellow. MIRA can assist with recruiting a Fellow by sharing the posting across its communications platforms and with partners.

Deadline: February 24, 2023 at 5:00 PM (EST)
Funding available: maximum value of $50,000

To enhance the position of McMaster applicants, MIRA’s Labarge Centre for Mobility in Aging (LCMA) will co-fund up to two applications led by McMaster researchers. LCMA funds may support interdisciplinary projects focusing on mobility in aging; LCMA-HAC co-funded awards will have a maximum value of $50,000.

Deadline: June 30, 2022, 4 p.m. ET
Funding available: Up to six awards of $40,000 (one per Faculty)

Labarge Catalyst Grants in Mobility in Aging offer the opportunity to conduct collaborative and interdisciplinary research focused on mobility in aging. Mobility is broadly defined to include physical, social and community aspects; proposals may consider intrinsic and extrinsic barriers to mobility, execution of daily activities and participation in society. These grants are intended to stimulate new collaborations and allow researchers to conduct feasibility/pilot studies, scaling of interventions and/or collect preliminary data to support future proposals for full-scale studies. A minimum matching contribution of $5,000 (up to $2,500 may be in kind) is required.

MIRA has partnered with the EPIC-AT Health Research Training Platform, a national training platform that will prepare graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and early career researchers to be future leaders in digital health solutions for older adults with complex health needs. McMaster trainees at the Master’s, PhD and Postdoctoral level are eligible to apply for MIRA/EPIC-AT co-funded awards. Applicants should review the EPIC-AT application package and apply via the AGE-WELL Application Portal. For application questions please contact training@agewell-nce.ca.

More information: Application Package AGE_WEll APPLICATION PORTAL: apply HERE

Graduate Student Professional Development Awards are for students working with MIRA researchers to present their work at an academic conference (virtual or in-person), attend a training program (virtual or in-person), complete an online course at a different institution or participate in research activities in another location. Professional development awards are tenable for up to one year after the application deadline. MIRA will also accept ​submissions for professional development activities that occurred up to three months prior to the application deadline. Students are asked to advise MIRA by email (mirafund@mcmaster.ca) of cancellations or changes related to MIRA-supported professional development activities.  

The McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA) will fund up to six summer student Fellowships (one per Faculty) valued at $2,000 each for undergraduate students working with MIRA researchers between May and August 2024. 

Download the call apply online

Applicants entering year one of a master’s program and year one or two of a PhD program are invited to submit a research proposal focusing on interdisciplinary, impact-driven approaches in the study of aging to the MIRA Graduate Scholarship Program. See call for proposals for full details; all applications must be submitted via the online application.

All applicants will be considered for the MIRA Scholarship in Aging Research. In addition, MIRA has partnered with several of McMaster’s research centres and institutes to further expand our collective impact and build capacity among McMaster trainees. Applications that focus on aging and the mandate of any of the co-funding partners below may be considered for co-funded scholarships. Applicants are encouraged to review the mandates and areas of focus for each of the co-funding partners below and indicate their interest in having their application considered for specific co-funded awards via their online application.

Download the call Download Evaluation Rubric Apply online

Application deadline: April 22, 2024
Funding available: See application

Given the release of the UN/WHO Decade of Healthy Ageing’s Action Areas, we continue to encourage innovators from all sectors to connect their submissions to this seminal global effort. Specifically, this year, we ask the candidates to connect their submissions to the categories of technology that supports preventative health, technology that enables an older workforce and technology that makes intergenerational connections.

The Prize addresses two global megatrends: the emergence of digital technologies and ageing populations, both of which are already bringing about important socio-economic changes worldwide. The Prize aims to promote digital ventures within the Silver Economy and support possibilities for economic, social and political growth from increased digital inclusion and age-friendly digital environments. It celebrates digital solutions that can leverage the contributions of older generations, reduce their age-related vulnerabilities and foster their socio-economic development to achieve healthier and wealthier inclusive societies (source: ITU Report: Ageing in a Digital World – from Vulnerable to Valuable).

The Prize will be awarded to the most innovative and impactful technology that enables healthier and more active ageing, consistent with the goals and principles of The UN Decade of Healthy Ageing and will be presented as part of the High-Level week of the WSIS Forum 2024. ICT projects are to be submitted on the dedicated WSIS Stocktaking webpage starting 10 February and concluding by the deadline of 22 April 2024. Please see below for a detailed description of the contest phases, and to read about the Rules and Guidelines of the contest.

An Expert Panel will decide on four finalists in each category, and they will be announced on 30 April 2024. The Finalists will be judged during a special WSIS&SDG TalkX session on 8 May 2024, and a Winner will be announced during the WSIS Forum 2024 (27-31 May).

There will be a financial award for all Finalists and for the Winner and, once selected, the Winner and Finalists will be promoted on the WSIS 2024 website. Submissions will also be considered for the renowned WSIS Prizes 2025.

Application deadline: April 30, 2024
Funding available: Up to $300,000 over 18-24 months

The Rapid Response program is designed to provide seed funding to catalyze novel, high-risk, high-reward translational research that accelerates the development of therapeutics or tools for neurodegenerative diseases of aging.

Application deadline: April 30, 2024
Funding available: Up to $10,000 and in some cases more

The Hevolution Foundation recognizes the value of supporting high-quality conferences, scientific meetings and workshops relevant to its mission to drive efforts to extend healthy human lifespan and understand the processes of aging.

Proposals for the support of scientific meetings, conferences, and workshops relevant to the mission of the Hevolution Foundation will be considered. Up to $10,000 per meeting may be requested, but the Hevolution Foundation will determine the final amount based on several factors including but not limited to the number of expected attendees, duration of the meeting, and meeting venue. Larger support may be considered on a case-by-case basis. Applicants are encouraged to discuss in advance with the Hevolution Foundation if an exception to the funds limit is being sought.

Non-profit organizations, public and private universities, colleges, laboratories and government agencies in North America (Canada, Mexico and the United States of America) can apply. The meetings must also be held at venues in North America. For-profit entities or individuals are not eligible.

Application deadline: May 1, 2024
Funding available: $2,000,000, enough to fund approximately 16 grants. This amount may increase if additional funding partners participate. The maximum amount per grant is $125,000 per year for up to one (1) year.

The goal of the CIHR Operating Grants: Knowledge Mobilization in Diabetes Prevention and Treatment is to enhance knowledge mobilization in the field of diabetes, focusing on evidence integration into health services, programs, and policies. This funding opportunity will also provide researchers and knowledge users, including people with lived/living experience (PWLLE), e.g., people at risk of or with diabetes, and their families and informal caregivers, or a representative of a patient organization representing these groups, an opportunity to work collaboratively to improve prevention and care of people at risk of, or living with, diabetes in Canada.

Application deadline: May 1, 2024

Funding available: $50,000

In collaboration with the Canadian Arthroplasty Society and Zimmer Biomet, the Canadian Orthopaedic Foundation, has established a Research Grant to support and encourage orthopaedic surgeons to conduct collaborative research on a national scale.Successful applications will include researchers from across Canada that are interested in kinematic knee replacement. Applicants should consider partnering with colleagues who have access to the infrastructure required to perform and to assess the outcomes of total knee replacement (eg. robots, gait labs, etc.).

Application deadline: May 3, 2024
Funding available: $8,000 – $16,000

Powered by AGE-WELL and hosted at the University of Toronto, EPIC-AT Health Research Training Platform is a national training platform that will prepare graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and early career researchers to be future leaders in digital health solutions for older adults with complex health needs. Applications for these $8,000-16,000 fellowships will open on April 1, 2024 and close on May 3, 2024. Fellowships enable promising new scholars to participate fully in an exclusive one-year training program.

For application questions please contact training@agewell-nce.ca.

LOI deadline: May 22, 2024
Application deadline: June 20, 2024
Funding available: $1,000,000

The FY24 funding is intended to support studies that will make transformative and advanced contributions to reduce risk of or prevent the development of AD/ADRD. Risk reduction considering TBI and/or military service is of particular interest to the program. The work should significantly accelerate efforts in AD/ADRD research and demonstrate significant impact toward improving patient care and/or quality of life.

To meet the intent of the funding opportunity, applications must robustly address an important problem or a critical barrier to progress in prevention and risk reduction. The proposed research may include, but is not limited to, exploring questions in the following areas:

• Identification of risk factors (environmental, genetic, epigenetic, lifestyle, etc.)
• Identification and implementation of strategies to reduce AD/ADRD risk and prevent cognitive problems following TBI and/or military service
• Understanding the role of social determinants of health in risk reduction
• Informational (not descriptive) epidemiology to understand environmental and other factors that contribute to development of AD/ADRD.

LOI deadline: May 22, 2024
Application deadline: June 20, 2024
Funding available: $1,000,000

The FY24 funding is intended to support studies that will make transformative and advanced contributions to reduce risk of or prevent the development of AD/ADRD. Risk reduction considering TBI and/or military service is of particular interest to the program. The work should significantly accelerate efforts in AD/ADRD research and demonstrate significant impact toward improving patient care and/or quality of life.

To meet the intent of the funding opportunity, applications must robustly address an important problem or a critical barrier to progress in prevention and risk reduction. The proposed research may include, but is not limited to, exploring questions in the following areas:

• Identification of risk factors (environmental, genetic, epigenetic, lifestyle, etc.)
• Identification and implementation of strategies to reduce AD/ADRD risk and prevent cognitive problems following TBI and/or military service
• Understanding the role of social determinants of health in risk reduction
• Informational (not descriptive) epidemiology to understand environmental and other factors that contribute to development of AD/ADRD.

LOI deadline: May 22, 2024
Application deadline: June 20, 2024
Funding available: $2,000,000

The funding is intended to improve diagnosis now. Proposed projects must build knowledge, capacity, technology, and/or research to reduce or overcome important barriers to obtaining a diagnosis, meaningful disease monitoring, and accurate prognosis. Barriers could include, but are not limited to, technologies, cost, equitable patient access, applicability, structural and social determinants of health, clinical implementation, relationship to clinical outcome measures, biomarker validation, lack of longitudinal data to inform prediction/prognosis, and more. The investigator must clearly attune their project to provide true benefit to people living with AD/ADRD diagnoses and their families.

All applications submitted to this funding opportunity must clearly indicate how the project
addresses an important barrier, explain how the research will be representative of the
population it intends to benefit, and demonstrate cultural competence. Culturally competent research factors the cultural background and diversity of the intended beneficiaries of the research outcomes when developing research ideas, conducting research, and implementing the research findings. Cultural competency in research is critical in reducing health disparities and enhancing the quality and impact of research by ensuring inclusivity, understanding, and responsiveness to the needs of diverse populations.

Application deadline: May 22, 2024
Funding available: $60,000

The Inclusive Community Grants Program provides funding for projects to help ensure local government and community organizations consider Ontarians of all ages and abilities at every stage of community planning and development. The program provides grant funding to eligible applicants for projects that: increase the accessibility of outdoor spaces by making improvements to the built environment to create equitable access to community resources, promote accessible housing through projects that result in tangible products, make practical, timely improvements to increase accessible housing, outdoor spaces, buildings, and transportation needs. Projects funded through Inclusive Community Grants are led by local governments, community organizations, Indigenous communities and/or organizations.

LOI deadline: May 24, 2024
Application deadline: July 10, 2024
Funding available: $600,000

The Therapeutic Idea Award supports new, innovative, high-risk, high-gain ideas aimed at Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) drug or therapy discovery. The studies supported by this award mechanism are expected to be hypothesis-driven and generate preliminary data for future avenues of therapeutic investigation. Projects that focus primarily on pathophysiology of ALS without development of a therapy are outside the scope of this funding opportunity. Applications may demonstrate the ability to achieve interpretable results in the absence of preliminary data supporting the hypothesis. While the inclusion of preliminary data is not prohibited, the strength of the application should rely on the approach.

LOI deadline: May 24, 2024
Application deadline: July 10, 2024
Funding available: $1,500,000

The FY24 ALSRP Therapeutic Development Award supports research ranging from preclinical
validation of therapeutic leads through Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Investigational
New Drug (IND)-enabling studies. The proposed studies are expected to be empirical in nature
and product-driven. Applicants with limited ALS experience are strongly encouraged to include
collaborators with substantial experience in the relevant ALS model systems, endpoints, and
pathophysiology. Applications supported by this award must begin with lead compounds in hand and must include proof-of-concept efficacy data in at least one preclinical model system of ALS, including whole animal and cellular model systems.

LOI deadline: May 24, 2024
Application deadline: July 10, 2024
Funding available: $2,000,000

The FY24 ALSRP Pilot Clinical Trial Award supports the rapid implementation of clinical trials with the potential to have a significant impact on the treatment or management of ALS. Projects may range from phase 1 to small-scale phase 2 trials and should aim to de-risk and inform the design of more advanced trials by investigating safety, feasibility, biomarker application, and therapeutic efficacy in relevant patient populations. Clinical trials may be designed to evaluate promising drugs, biologics, or devices with anticipated therapeutic impact that is supported by strong scientific rationale and existing preliminary studies and/or preclinical data. Clinical trials aimed to improve aspects of patient care and ALS symptom management are also applicable to this award mechanism.

LOI deadline: May 24, 2024
Application deadline: July 10, 2024
Funding available: $750,000

To meet the intent of the funding opportunity, applications must address ONE or BOTH of the following focus areas:

• Clinical Biomarkers: Identification, development, and/or validation of promising biomarkers for ALS. Biomarkers may include, but are not limited to, target engagement objective pharmacodynamic biomarkers to measure the biological effect of an investigational therapeutic, predictive/cohort-selective biomarkers, or digital health measures, including wearable devices, smart-phone sensors, video or voice recordings, imaging studies, or other devices which record disease-relevant physiological data.
• Clinical Outcomes: Identification, development, and/or validation of clinician-, observer-, or patient-reported, and/or performance outcome measures for ALS. Projects may include optimization of current outcome measures already in use.

LOI deadline: May 27, 2024
Application deadline: October 28, 2024
Funding available: $300,000

This fellowship is intended to provide salary support for a new investigator, who has demonstrated the ability to successfully complete high-impact knowledge translation research. Knowledge translation must be the fundamental purpose of this fellowship and must be demonstrated in the application. The purpose of the opportunity is not to provide operating funds. The candidate must be either a practising physician in Ontario (with CPSO license) within the first six years of their first academic appointment or a clinical fellow in Ontario.

Application deadline: May 31, 2024
Funding available: $25,000

The inaugural Let’s Get Proof 2024 Catalyst Prize is a single-payment, CA$25,000 grant. The grant is open to any healthcare researcher with a verifiable affiliation with a research university; however, the grant is primarily intended for early-career investigators.

Let’s Get Proof is a medical research crowdfunding platform, looking to make medical research more efficient, inclusive, and impactful. For early-career researchers, female researchers, researchers from a less established institution, and others, winning a grant is challenging. Many of the best research ideas get lost, and many high-potential researchers never have the chance to pursue a research career. Our aim in Let’s Get Proof is to level the playing field and put the researcher in the driving seat. Researchers can upload proposals publicly to the platform, tell the story of why it is important, and build a community of both fellow researchers, as well as interested non-researchers, that can financially back the project to get it funded.

This prize is a grant/crowdfunding hybrid that is democratizing the granting process and giving an equal chance for any researcher at any institution to win. Researchers must crowdfund a certain portion of their budget, as well as meet other social engagement metrics, to become eligible for the prize (see Eligibility). Moreover, the goal is that, even for the projects that do not win the research prize, they will have crowdfunded sufficient money and built enough of a community that they can continue forward with their research proposal without the prize funding.

LOI deadline: June 4, 2024
Application deadline: August 22, 2024
Funding available: $300,000 (Stream 1), $200,000 (Stream 2)

Webinar date: May 7, 2024 at 2 to 3 p.m. ET
To register 

The Weston Family Foundation, through its Proof-of-Principle program, funds Canadian scientists performing high-risk, high-reward translational research that leverages the microbiome towards improving human health.

Biomarkers are a critical component of modern healthcare, with diverse applications in disease prevention, detection and monitoring, as well as therapeutic development. They are poised to play an increasingly important role in personalized medicine, providing means to estimate an individual’s disease risk and prognosis, and predict and monitor an individual’s response to a given therapy.

Emerging research suggests that the microbiome is a potentially understudied source for biomarkers that holds significant potential for predicting and understanding individual responses to therapeutic or preventative strategies. Consequently, there may be opportunities to manipulate or target the microbiome to enhance an individual’s response to these strategies.

The Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of a new funding opportunity to address these key areas in microbiome research. The Proof-of-Principle 2024 program aims to support high-impact projects that seek to identify, validate, or apply microbiome-based biomarkers of disease and therapeutic response.

Eligible projects will: Evaluate compositional or functional microbiome biomarkers; build on established responder/non-responder phenotypes towards the optimization of therapeutic or preventative strategies.

Application deadline: May 31, 2024
Funding available: $25,000

The brain is a highly dynamic and consequential organ that undergoes dramatic shifts in cellular composition, connectivity, and activity patterns across the lifespan. A key factor limiting our understanding of these changes, particularly over longer time periods, is the paucity of methods to study longer-term trajectories. Better approaches are needed to link nervous system structure and function, as well as genetic and environmental influences, across time periods and levels of temporal and spatial resolution. This notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) encourages multidisciplinary collaborations to develop novel approaches or improve existing ones for longitudinal or cross-sectional brain measures across the lifespan. The ultimate goal of this funding opportunity is to improve our understanding of how each stage in brain development, starting from prenatal origins, leads to the next one, and how the parameters that are set at each stage predict later brain health or disease.

Furthermore, this NOFO encourages the application of novel brain measures or tools to hypotheses regarding specific functional or anatomical trajectories across longer stretches of time during development, adulthood, or older age. The goal is to better understand the predictive value of specific genomic, connectomic, neurotransmitter, circuit-level, or other phenotypes for future brain function. Causal interventions are encouraged, especially in experimental models, to avoid projects that are completely correlational.

Applications are encouraged to address both purposes: (1) to expand the technological capacity to track or harmonize data across longer timespans, and (2) to demonstrate the relevance of this technical advance by testing a scientific hypothesis. Expanding the technological capability for longer timespans can occur via hardware, software, or other experimental advances. Including at least one developmental or advanced age timepoint is encouraged to begin to establish a trajectory, whether in humans or animals. The research objective of this NOFO is to develop hardware, software, biological, or other tools, or to adapt and apply existing approaches in novel ways, such that they can track functional or anatomical changes for longer stretches across the lifespan, and to then carry out a scientific demonstration project of the new technology.

Applications should include a novel technical advance that allows integrating neuroanatomical, single-cell, genomic, neural activity, or other brain-relevant data from the same individual across longer timespans than heretofore possible. Projects may include human subjects or animals. Parallel work in animals and humans is encouraged to test the translatability of the technical advance, and strong justification would be required for any use of non-mammalian species.

LOI deadline: June 10, 2024
Application deadline: October 28, 2024
Funding available: Up to $400,000

This fellowship is intended to provide salary support for a new investigator, who has demonstrated the ability to successfully complete high-impact knowledge translation research. Knowledge translation must be the fundamental purpose of this fellowship and must be demonstrated in the application. The purpose of this opportunity is not to provide operating funds. The candidate must be within six to fifteen years of their first academic appointment and have demonstrated potential for high impact research work.

Application deadline: June 13, 2024
Funding available: 5 to 7 awards of up to $500,000 in direct costs per year

This NOFO invites applications proposing to establish multi-scale computational models recapitulating dynamic changes associated with aging and AD/ADRD. This broad scope encompasses a variety of computational approaches—such as mathematical and computational modeling, image analysis, artificial intelligence, and machine learning—to better understand aging processes and AD/ADRD across molecules, cells and networks, and cognition and behavior.

The goal of this NOFO is to establish a computational multi-scale model recapitulating dynamic changes associated with aging across scales. Therefore, the proposed framework must:

• Bridge at least two levels of analysis on the spatial scale (e.g., molecules, cells, tissues, organisms, behavior), or
• Bridge at least two levels of analysis on the temporal scale (spanning from milliseconds to generations).

Along with the framework, the application must:

• Address a targeted research question through a targeted model to provide new insights into the function or dynamics of biology, disease, or a behavioral system.
• Include at least one aim centered on hypothesis testing.
• Include at least one aim on model validation.

Examples of appropriate topics may include, but are not limited to, the development of a multi-scale computational framework modeling aging and AD/ADRD based on the following:

• Aging clocks (e.g., epigenetic clocks, PhenoAge, GrimAge, Dunedin Pace of Aging, etc.; proteomic clocks, neuroimaging age predictors).
• Hallmarks of aging (e.g., genomic instability, telomere attrition, epigenetic alterations, loss of proteostasis, disabled macroautophagy, deregulated nutrient-sensing, mitochondrial dysfunction, cellular senescence, stem cell exhaustion, altered intercellular communication, chronic inflammation, and dysbiosis).
• Oscillations in energetics and/or metabolism with aging, including brain energetics, frequency bands, and their relationship to behavioral and other biological outputs.
• Age-related changes in synaptic activity across scales, which can also include how these changes are related to motor, sensory, and cognitive domains.
• Image-based analysis of aging function, biology and disease for the purposes of constructing multi-scale models of aging.
• Dynamic patterns of interventions to promote healthy aging (e.g., intermittent fasting)

Application deadline: June 15, 2024
Funding available: $8,000,000 in 2025 to fund one award.

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) invites U24 Cooperative Agreement applications that propose to establish a national Open Measurement Coordinating Network for Non-Pharmacological Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and AD-Related Dementias (ADRD) Primary Prevention Trials. The Network will serve as a centralized hub for developing, validating, standardizing, and disseminating measures and measurement methods for AD/ADRD primary prevention trials. It will incorporate measures and measurement methods across neuropsychological, biomarker, and functional domains to meet the goal of primary prevention of AD/ADRD centered around brain health equity. Brain health equity is the fair distribution of brain health determinants, outcomes, and resources within and between segments of the population, regardless of social standing. Measures and measurement methods of interest will test outcomes and mechanisms of action (e.g., cognitive, behavioral, structural/social, computational, biological) that are customized for individuals with different needs and that are linked to real-world function. Resources developed through this initiative, including measurement instruments, methods, algorithms, code, documentation, and normative data, are intended to enable future measures and measurement-methods-development projects that support AD/ADRD primary prevention research needs.

The National Institute on Aging (NIA) is particularly interested in proposals that aim to advance equity for populations disproportionately impacted by AD/ADRD.

Application deadline: June 16, 2024
Funding available: $275,000

The brain is a highly dynamic and consequential organ that undergoes dramatic shifts in cellular composition, connectivity, and activity patterns across the lifespan. A key factor limiting our understanding of these changes, particularly over longer time periods, is the paucity of methods to study longer-term trajectories. Better approaches are needed to link nervous system structure and function, as well as genetic and environmental influences, across time periods and levels of temporal and spatial resolution. This notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) encourages multidisciplinary collaborations to develop novel approaches or innovative applications of existing ones for longitudinal or cross-sectional brain measures across the lifespan. Expanding the technological capability for longer timespans can occur via hardware, software, or other experimental advances. The ultimate goal of this funding opportunity is to improve our understanding of how each stage in brain development, starting from prenatal origins, leads to the next one, and how the parameters that are set at each stage predict later brain health or disease. Although the main purpose of this NOFO is to encourage the development of highly innovative methods and tools that may not yet be supported by substantial, or any, preliminary data, applications may also include a hypothesis testing aim to better understand the predictive value of specific genomic, connectomic, neurotransmitter, circuit-level, or other phenotypes for future brain function. Causal interventions are encouraged, especially in experimental models, to avoid projects that are completely correlational. However, a hypothesis-testing aim is not required.

Application deadline: June 26, 2024
Funding available: $120,000

ECR salary support for research focused on rheumatic diseases.

Application deadline: June 30, 2024
Funding available: $150,000

This opportunity supports research on health system and policy innovations for Canadian veterans living with chronic pain. Projects should specifically comparatively analyze chronic pain health services for Canadian veterans, and civilians, across health systems, and improve the understanding of the relationships between primary care and interprofessional models of care for veterans, and civilians, living with chronic pain.

Application deadline: June 30, 2024
Funding available: $150,000

This opportunity supports research that advances the understanding of how chronic pain and common comorbidities such as post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury impact the quality of life of Canadian veterans and their family members.

Projects should specifically:

• Evaluate the effects of clinical, system, social or other kinds of interventions targeted specifically at improving quality of life of Canadian veterans living with chronic pain and their family members;
• Promote understanding of how families, support groups, peers, and others can contribute to improving of quality of life for Canadian veterans living with chronic pain with/or without comorbid conditions

Application deadline: July 8, 2024
Funding available: Grants generally range from $10,000 – $15,000

Grants from this fund support and enhance services and facilities offered in the Town of Dundas. Applications will be considered in the following areas: supports and services for seniors/persons with disabilities; poverty alleviation; youth engagement and support; environmental issues and accessibility to the arts.

LOI deadline: January 9, 2024
Application deadline: July 10, 2024
Funding available: $1,500,000 over six years (one grant)

The KM Hub will be national in scope and will serve as a centralized source of information and evidence-based practice for researchers, knowledge keepers, and knowledge users, including but not limited to persons with lived and living experience (PWLLE) of dementia and their care partners (i.e. family, friends, caregivers and care providers). The KM Hub will compile knowledge created from transdisciplinary research related to brain health and cognitive impairment, including dementia, from partners, funded projects through the BHCIA Research Initiative, and other national (and international) researchers. 

Application deadline: July 15, 2024
Funding available: $20,000

The program was founded in 2006 to help ensure the legacy of Canada’s world-class status in orthopaedic research, thereby ensuring orthopaedic patients reap the reward of new techniques and treatments made possible through research grants from this program.

The funds are to be awarded to novel short-term (1-2 years) research projects which could
include: new investigator starting a novel research project, possibly paired with an experienced team, or an experienced investigator seeking funding for a pilot project. Experienced investigator s should be listed as a secondary investigator on the application, and most research projects should be led by a newer investigator.

Application deadline: July 15, 2024
Funding available: $100,000

This annual national prize provides funding to exceptional researchers who are affiliated with a Canadian academic/research institution in the field of mental health and who are 45 years of age or younger, to encourage them to continue to pursue their research interests in Canada.

Application deadline: July 15, 2024
Funding available: $30,000

This award recognizes the best career orthopaedic research over a period of five years or more at a Canadian centre. The recipient will present their research at the Annual General Meeting of the Canadian Orthopaedic Association. The award consists of an educational grant and a personal research grant to be used by the recipient at the Canadian institution where they currently reside.

LOI deadline: July 22, 2024
Application deadline: August 9, 2024
Funding available: $250,000 to $750,000

Research must address one or more of the following: Improve and accelerate the translation of biological regeneration/repair mechanisms into clinical applications. Research addressing the damage, repair, and regeneration of the auditory system after military-relevant injuries is strongly encouraged; develop diagnostic tests that differentiate sensory, neural, synaptic, and central processing disorders, that may inform applicability and outcomes for current or future hearing
restoration therapeutics; develop reliable in-vitro human models to facilitate the understanding, derivation, and characterization of human auditory cells, and/or to facilitate the evaluation of hearing restoration therapies.

LOI deadline: August 14, 2024
Application deadline: September 12, 2024
Funding available: $125,000

Funds will support research on climate change, health impacts on older adults, community-based research; topics: climate justice, alternative diagnoses of Lyme disease, food security in northern communities.

Application deadline: September 7, 2024
Funding available:
RO1: Application budgets are not limited but need to reflect the actual needs of the proposed project
R21: $275,000

This grant opportunity invites applications at the intersection of HIV and aging by proposing research that aims to meet the following objectives:

1) Improve the understanding of biological, clinical, and socio-behavioral aspects of aging through the lens of HIV infection and its treatment; and

2) Improve approaches for testing, preventing, and treating HIV infection, and managing HIV-related comorbidities, co-infections, and complications in different populations and cultural settings by applying current aging science approaches.

In contrast to the pre-modern era of HIV treatment, where AIDS-related opportunistic infections and cancers were common, the most frequent morbidities and causes of death for individuals undergoing treatment for HIV infection are similar to those seen in older non-infected adults. These conditions include cardiovascular disease, lung disease, infection-related and non-infection-related cancers, neurocognitive and neuropsychiatric disorders, osteopenia/osteoporosis, liver cirrhosis, and renal disease.

In addition, individuals living with HIV infection may exhibit many of the clinical and socio-behavioral characteristics commonly observed in aging, such as multiple morbidities, polypharmacy, declining physical and cognitive function, alterations in body composition, social isolation, and increasing caregiver burden.

People living with HIV (PLWH) also exhibit molecular changes associated with aging, such as epigenetic alterations, mitochondrial impairment, and telomere shortening. Thus, accumulating evidence suggests that HIV and/or its treatment may lead, at least in part, to an accelerated aging phenotype. In addition, recent advances have led to greater adoption of pre-and post-exposure prophylaxis, but the impact of these measures on aging is unclear.

Application deadline: September 12, 2024
Funding available: Up to $25,000

The fund is specifically interested in investing in organizations achieving significant impact providing services and programming across the following program areas:

Stable homes stable families;

Healthy bodies and minds;

Educational/learning support across the ages;

The Foundation will be looking for applications which are evidence-informed and/or present the opportunity to pilot innovative new strategies, address significant needs or gaps in service for this population, provide evidence of collaborative/coordinated approach to service provision. The funds will not support proposals solely focused on research. 

Application deadline: Rolling
Funding available: $1,000

McMaster’s Office of Community Engagement offers small catalyst grants to McMaster University faculty, staff, students and their community partners through the Community-Campus Catalyst Grant Fund. These funds are available in amounts of up to $1000 each.

The goal of the Community-Campus Catalyst Fund is to support community-campus partnerships that align with the goals of McMaster’s Community Engagement Strategic Plan. Reflecting on this goal, proposals that involve collaborative projects with community partners working towards mutual benefit and pursuing outcomes aligned with McMaster’s community engagement goals and objectives will be prioritized for funding. Funding cannot be applied towards equipment, conference travel, or ongoing initiatives. Any application must be developed as a community-campus partnership and must include at least one community partner, at least, but not limited to, a program, department, or formal initiative that includes a faculty member, staff member or student. This fund has been developed to support new community-campus partnerships or partnerships in the early stages of development. More information

Application deadline: Rolling
Funding available: $250,000 for established investigators; $300,000 for ECRs

Available for topics relating to clinical research, medical education research, and health systems research.

Application deadline: Rolling
Funding available: $30,000

ELIGIBLE TYPES OF RESEARCH
• Clinical Research which is of direct relevance to patient care. Studies involving animals will be considered only if the animals are required as an immediate patient surrogate, which must be demonstrated in the written application.
• Medical Education Research which focuses on projects designed to assess through research in the post M.D. educational environment, such as curricula, methods and teaching resources. The Foundation recognizes that research within this area may involve teams that include non-medical researchers and consultants.

Please note:
This funding stream is intended to support hypothesis-driven research proposals; therefore, applications will only be considered for projects that evaluate curriculum, methods and teaching resources. Projects intended to create and/or develop curriculum, educational programs or tools will not be considered. Also, any costs attributed to the creation and/or development of curriculum, educational programs or tools will not be considered.

Research participants must be at the post M.D. level (e.g. residents) and cannot include undergraduate medical school students.

Health Systems Research which focuses on projects of a special nature within the healthcare system, such as preventative medicine, care of the elderly, communications within the system, underserviced regions and ways of enhancing the effectiveness of medical practice.

Application deadline: Rolling
Funding available: Variable

Eligibility for research grants is limited to faculty, PhD students and postdoctoral researchers from accredited higher education institutions and eligible nonprofit research institutions in approved countries. Review program FAQs to learn more.

Application deadline: Rolling
Funding available: No stipulations

Allergan Inc. considers Grants and/or Donations requests from institutions or charities, provided they are restricted to the enhancement of patient care, genuine clinical research and/or genuine charitable causes

Application deadline: Rolling
Funding available: No stipulations

Applications must focus on one of the following areas: Rheumatology, Dermatology, Gastroenterology, Hematology-Oncology, Urology, Women’s Health, Migraine, Movement Disorders, Ophthalmology, Virology, Psychiatry.

Application deadline: Rolling
Funding available: See call

The call is open to all biomarker categories that will advance drug development for Alzheimer’s and related dementias. The expected context of use, which defines a biomarker’s intended use clinically as a diagnostic or in drug development, should be described in the application. These categories, as defined by the FDA, include diagnostic, monitoring, predictive, prognostic, pharmacodynamic/response, safety, and susceptibility/risk biomarkers. Additionally, the applicant should articulate where in the path to commercialization the study falls and what is the proposed plan forward.

Application deadline: Rolling
Funding available: Up to 5,000

These grants of up to $5,000 cover costs associated with accessing and working with large data sources, which are necessary to carry out data-intensive research and application. The purpose of these grants is to foster research by mitigating the high cost of access to many data sets. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until two grants have been funded in a given academic year.

Application deadline: Rolling
Funding available: Awarded funds will vary based on project need.

The trial should plan to test specific interventions or pathways of care for the prevention, diagnosis or treatment of heart and circulatory diseases. Interventions include drugs, surgery, devices, psychological, physical and educational interventions. The trial should address an unmet clinical need of importance to people affected by, or at risk of, cardiovascular disease. Its results should have the potential to change clinical practice. There should be a clear need for a multinational trial to answer the clinical question.

Application deadline: Rolling
Funding available: Variable

Max Bell Foundation makes grants to support projects that are designed to inform public policy. We do so across four program areas: Education; Environment; Health & Wellness; and Civic Engagement and Democratic Institutions.

Application deadline: Rolling
Funding available: $30,000 – $60,000 in matching funding to support postdoctoral internships with partner organizations

Application deadline: Rolling
Funding available: $20,000 to $1,000,000 per year for one to five years

NSERC Alliance grants encourage university researchers to collaborate with partner organizations, which can be from the private, public or not-for-profit sectors. Funding may support research and development projects that seek to respond to a research challenge in the natural sciences or engineering while working with external partners who are able to accelerate scale-up, application, impact, or commercialization. NSERC is now accepting Option 1 applications requiring at least 50 percent matching cash contributions from partner organizations, and Option 2, involves non-profit partners and requesting 90 to 100 percent funding support from NSERC.

Application deadline: Rolling
Funding available: Variable

The Physician’s Services Incorporated (PSI) Foundation provides grants to practising physicians for health research with an emphasis on research relevant to patient care, including clinical research; medical education research at the post-MD level; health systems research, and healthcare research by community physicians. Many of PSI’s funding streams are open to applications on a rolling basis; PSI Clinical Research; PSI Medical Education Research at the Post M.D. Level, PSI Health Systems Research; PSI New Investigator and PSI Healthcare Research by Community Physicians offer up to $250,000 – $300,000 for a maximum of three years (maximum $100,000 in any one year). See more information on PSI funding calls with rolling deadlines.