2025/2026 Career Development Program (CDP)

Eligibility

• Scholar applicants must:

  • Have a total research program that is at least 75% focused on direct blood cancer research.
  • Be a tenure-track, independent investigator of at least an assistant professor position or equivalent (see Experience/Eligibility Clock).
  • Not be a full professor as of the award start date.
  • Not have any unexplained gaps in training, education, or employment.
  • Have adequate funding to support the proposed blood cancer research; at least one blood cancer-focused grant having a minimum total of $200,000/year (USD) going to the applicant for at least 3 years and which is active after the CDP award start date is sufficient to qualify. This must not be only start-up funds, a transitional award, or a career development-type award (see Research Support Requirement).
  • Not concurrently hold a Scholar award together with any career development-type award that has a total value higher than the total value of the Scholar award.
  • Have started their first independent position no less than 2 years but not more than 8 years as of January 1 the year of the award start date. Instructor-level positions are not counted as independent for eligibility purposes. However, all non-mentored positions are considered independent for this calculation (e.g., positions with the title “Research Professor,” Assistant Research Professor,” “Adjunct Assistant Professor,” etc.).
  • Have at least one full-length (which may include short reports), peer-reviewed, primary research, corresponding author publication* that is primarily focused on blood cancer by the Eligibility Phase due date as an independent investigator. This may be a co-corresponding authorship publication. Corresponding authorship must be confirmed in the publication; “contributing equally” or other similar terms do not count.
  • Have a Sponsor who will attest to institutional support for the applicant. An appropriate Sponsor may be a department head, chief of service, or program chair. The Sponsor must be from the same institution and in a supervisory position relative to the applicant.

   

• Scholar in Clinical Research applicants must:
  • Have a total research program that is at least 75% focused on direct blood cancer research.
  • Be an independent investigator of at least an assistant professor position or equivalent; this includes any permanent, independent clinical faculty who are not on a laboratory-based, tenure track career path
  • Not be a full professor as of the CDP award start date.
  • Not have any unexplained gaps in training, education, or employment.
  • Have clinical training in blood cancer.
  • Have adequate blood cancer-focused funding to support the proposed research
  • Not concurrently hold a Scholar in Clinical Research award together with any career development-type award that has a total value higher than the total value of the Scholar in Clinical Research award.
  • Have started their first independent position no less than 4 years but not more than 10 years as of January 1 of the year of the award start date. Instructor-level positions are not counted as independent for eligibility purposes. However, all non-mentored positions are considered independent for this calculation (e.g., positions with the title “Research Professor,” Assistant Research Professor,” “Adjunct Assistant Professor,” etc.).
  • Have protected time for research after the CDP funding start date in the range of 20-40%. Deviations from this may be allowed and will be determined on a case-by-case basis by LLS scientific staff.
  • Primarily be engaged in clinical research (with some associated correlatives). Some other laboratory studies may be acceptable as long as the bulk of the applicant’s research program is based in the clinic. If an investigator is more laboratory-based than clinic-based, they cannot apply for this award; they should consider the Scholar subcategory.
  • Have at least one first or corresponding author (which may include co-first and/or co-corresponding author), full-length (which may include short reports), peer-reviewed, primary research publication that is primarily focused on blood cancer by the Eligibility Phase due date* (Not including reviews, perspectives, conference/meeting presentations or abstracts, etc.). Note that applicants with no corresponding author publications are eligible but are less likely to be competitive.
  • Have a Sponsor who will attest to institutional support for the applicant’s clinical research program. An appropriate Sponsor may be a department head, chief of service, or program chair. The Sponsor must be from the same institution and in a supervisory position relative to the applicant.
  • Be performing clinical research involving patients (generally clinical trials), which is related to their clinical duties. Laboratory correlative studies are welcome, and any laboratory studies must directly relate to the clinical studies.
• *Peer reviewed manuscripts that are fully accepted by the Eligibility Phase due date are
  acceptable. A copy of the letter from the journal must be provided to LLS by the Eligibility
  Phase due date; clear evidence of full acceptance (with no more than minor
  structural/grammatical changes) is required

Summary

Scholar

The Scholar award supports rising stars in the blood cancer research field. You must be a highly qualified investigator who has shown a capacity for independent, sustained, and original investigation in the field of hematologic malignancies and/or relevant pre-malignant conditions. You should hold an independent, tenure-track faculty-level position, below the level of full professor, and must have substantial research support awarded from a national agency. Scholar applicants are primarily basic and translational researchers; those who are primarily clinical researchers should consider the Scholar in Clinical Research subcategory. The Scholar application and review process has fundamentally changed from project-based to research program-based and therefore, the application is unlike a standard research grant.

This award is for 5 years and the maximum award per year is $120,000.

*Please find all Program documents available for download below:

• 2025-2026 Guidelines & Instructions – Scholar (PDF)
• CDP Funding Agreement Template - FY24 (PDF)

Scholar in Clinical Research

The Scholar in Clinical Research award supports rising stars in the clinical blood cancer research field. You must be a highly qualified investigator who holds an independent faculty-level appointment and is conducting independent clinical research, often involving early-stage clinical trials, that will advance the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of hematologic malignancies and/or relevant pre-malignant conditions. The research should be related to your clinical activities and must directly involve patients. Investigators who are primarily laboratory-based, and/or who are working on primarily blood cancer model systems rather than blood cancer patients, are not eligible for the Scholar in Clinical Research Award and should consider applying for the Scholar Award instead. The Scholar in Clinical Research application and review process has fundamentally changed from project-based to research program-based and therefore, the application is unlike a standard research grant.

This award is for 5 years and the maximum award per year is $125,000.

*Please find all Program documents available for download below:

• 2025-2026 Guidelines & Instructions – Scholar in Clinical Research (PDF)
• CDP Funding Agreement Template - FY24 (PDF)

Application Submission:
The CDP application process consists of 3 distinct phases: Eligibility*, Letter of Intent*, and Full Application.*

*Information provided at the earlier phases must match that provided at later phases. Divergence between information provided at the Eligibility and/or Letter of Intent Phases and information provided at the Full Application Phase may result in administrative disqualification; if not disqualified, any divergence may be shared with the review committee

1. Eligibility Phase: October 17, 2025, 1:00 pm MST

   Applicants may submit Eligibility Phase components upon opening of the program. It is recommended to submit as soon as possible, as there is almost never a benefit to waiting. There are both webform components and an eligibility template that you must obtain from the LLS Research Portal. Your completed eligibility template must be uploaded to the LLS Research Portal. Eligibility will be evaluated by LLS scientific staff on a rolling basis. If eligibility is approved, the applicant may proceed to the next phase of the application process. If eligibility is rejected, the applicant may submit one more time if new information is provided and the eligibility deadline has not passed

2. Letter of Intent Phase: November 1, 2025, 1:00 pm MST

   Applicants may access the Letter of Intent Phase components as soon as their eligibility request is approved by LLS. The components in the LLS Research Portal must be completed by the Letter of Intent Phase deadline. This includes reference letter-writer request information, which must be input into the LLS Research Portal by this deadline (however, reference letter-writers should be contacted well before this time). Once these components on the LLS Research Portal are submitted, the applicant will have immediate access to the rest of the Full Application Phase components (the full application template was available after eligibility was accepted). Note that reference letters must be uploaded by the letter-writers by the Full Application Phase deadline.

   To ensure the accuracy of the information given in your LOI, applicants are strongly encouraged to obtain institutional approval from the University of Calgary prior to submitting their LOI to the sponsor. Initiate required University of Calgary internal approvals by completing a Pre-Award/Letter of Intent record in RMS (https://my.rms.ucalgary.ca/)/. Please ensure that you allow time for academic approvals prior to the Research Services Office internal review deadline of October 28, 2025 at 12:00 pm MST. 

3. Full Application: November 15, 2025, 1:00 pm MST

   Some sections of the full application will carry through from the Letter of Intent Phase. Information that carries through must not be modified; changes made to the Letter of Intent Phase components after the Letter of Intent Phase deadline may result in administrative disqualification of the full application. The remainder of the full application consists of web form components and elements to be uploaded as a single PDF.
    

Please see the above-linked guidelines for specific instructions for each phase. 

Overhead

5% of total costs. Indirect costs may be included and cannot exceed 5% of the total award amount requested in the proposal.

Pre-application deadlines

RSO internal deadline

Pre-application program deadline

Application deadlines

RSO detailed review deadline

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator
• Department Head
• Faculty ADR/Dean
• Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.

RESOURCES

Reminder: The sooner the researcher engages with Research Services, the more help we can be!

Contact the following Research Service units for support with:

Projects Involving Indigenous Research:

Support with incorporating wise practices in Indigenous research, community engagement, and Indigenous data management is available through the Indigenous Research Support Team (IRST).

Applicants can reach out by email to IRST at IRST@ucalgary.ca in advance of the RSO internal deadline. For more information about IRST, please visit the IRST webpage.

Knowledge Mobilization, Research Impact Assessment, DORA:

Support for knowledge mobilization/engagement/translation, community partnerships, research impact, responsible research assessment (DORA), and open science, is available through the Knowledge to Impact team.

Applicants can reach out by email to the KI team at knowledge.impact@ucalgary.ca.

For more information and access to resource archives, please visit the KI team webpage.

Research Data Management:

For information on research data management plans, processes, or best practices for your research program, please contact research.data@ucalgary.ca.

EDI in Research:

RSO can provide resources and support to research teams on the integration of equitable and inclusive practices in research design and research practice.

Contact edi.rso@ucalgary.ca for more information.

Research Security:

The Research Security Division is available to ensure researchers adhere to research security guidelines and policies, including the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships (NSGRP) and the policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern (STRAC).

Visit the Research Security website to learn more or contact researchsecurity@ucalgary.ca.

Pre-Award Submissions:

RMS: Creating a Pre-Award LOI
RMS: Creating a Pre-Award Application