June 2025 Alberta Innovates Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

Eligibility

UCalgary is pleased to offer a range of one- and two-year fellowships, including two-year recruitment starting at $70,000 / year. There are no citizenship restrictions on this program. Applications to all 3 fellowships must demonstrate strong alignment with at least 1 of the below priority areas.

Recruitment Fellowship

2 years, $70,000 CAD/year
The AI PDF Recruitment Fellowship is intended for postdocs who will be new to UCalgary at the time of receiving the Fellowship. It is designed to increase institutional research capacity, and attract and develop new talent in areas of strategic importance.

• PhD at implementation
• Applicant must be an incoming postdoctoral appointee to the University of Calgary:
  • Those with an existing postdoctoral appointment at the University of Calgary  are not eligible to apply.
  • Applicants must not currently hold, or have held in the past, a postdoctoral position at the University of Calgary at the time of application.
  • Have received their PhD no more than 5 years prior to the date of application. Be less than five years into a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Calgary. 
    • Special circumstances including maternity/parental leave, child-rearing, illness, disability, cultural or community responsibilities, socio-economic context, health-related family responsibilities, trauma and loss will be considered. Please include any interruptions as a separate section in the career goals document included in the pdf attachment.
• Not have applied more than once before for a postdoctoral fellowship from Alberta Innovates

Restrictions

• Must start award within 6 months of postdoctoral appointment at the University of Calgary
• Proposed project must be performed while appointed as a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Calgary

AI Postdoctoral Fellowships in Health Innovation & Enhancement

2 years, $55,000 CAD/year

• Have completed a PhD at the time of award implementation;
• Have accepted or started a postdoctoral appointment at University of Calgary
• Have received their PhD no more than 5 years prior to the date of application. Be less than five years into a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Calgary. 
  • Special circumstances including maternity/parental leave, child-rearing, illness, disability, cultural or community responsibilities, socio-economic context, health-related family responsibilities, trauma and loss will be considered. Please include any interruptions as a separate section in the career goals document included in the pdf attachment.
• Have applied no more than once before for a Fellowship from Alberta Innovates (i.e. can apply two times in total to the University of Calgary’s competitions);
• The Adjudication Committee will determine if candidates will receive a PFHI or Enhancement Fellowship.
• Applications received from the Recruitment Fellowships competition will also be considered for the PFHI and EF streams within the same competition round

Restrictions

• Must start award within 6 months of receiving notification
• Proposed project must be performed while appointed as a Postdoctoral Associate at the University of Calgary

Alberta Innovates Enhancement Fellowship (By invitation only)

1 year, $55,000 CAD/year
These Fellowships function as bridge funding to help increase the competitiveness of Trainees in other future fellowship/salary award competitions. If Trainees are successful in other future competitions, they are encouraged to accept the new salary award.

• Have completed a PhD at the time of award implementation;
• Have accepted or started a postdoctoral appointment at University of Calgary
• Have received their PhD no more than 4 years prior to the date of application
  • Special circumstances including maternity/parental leave, child-rearing, illness, disability, cultural or community responsibilities, socio-economic context, health-related family responsibilities, trauma and loss will be considered. Please include any interruptions as a separate section in the career goals document included in the pdf attachment.
• Have applied no more than once before for a Fellowship from Alberta Innovates (i.e. can apply two times in total to the University of Calgary’s competitions);
• The Adjudication Committee will determine if candidates will receive a PFHI or Enhancement Fellowship.
• Applications received from the Recruitment Fellowships competition will also be considered for the PFHI and EF streams within the same competition round.
   

Summary

Alberta is taking the lead in transforming postdoctoral supports and opportunities to reflect a changing research and innovation landscape.

Through the Alberta Innovates Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, UCalgary is pleased to offer applications for the Alberta Innovates Postdoctoral Fellowship Program.

To ensure the AI PDF Program builds capacity in areas of strategic importance to the province, the following areas are prioritized for investment and applicants must demonstrate which priority area their research program falls within.

• Lab to Market/Impact: advancing health research and technologies with high potential for commercial success and/or real-world impact.
• Clinical Research: engagement in clinical research activities, including study design, participant recruitment, data collection and analysis, or integrating research directly into care.
• Innovative Care Model Implementations: collaborating with healthcare providers to pilot and scale new care models that improve patient outcomes and system efficiency.
• Building Healthier Futures Through Cross Disciplinary Collaboration: leveraging cross-disciplinary frameworks—such as One Health—to advance more integrated and comprehensive solutions to health promotion.

The minimum Stipend Incentive offered is $15,000 CAD per year for Recruitment Fellowship. The Stipend Incentive may be increased as necessary to ensure the combined value of the awards does not fall below $70,000 CAD per year for Recruitment, or $55,000 for PFHI and Enhancement streams

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 fellowships@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.

Apply now!

Application Items

• Alberta Innovates Postdoctoral Fellowship online submission application
• Project Proposal including a statement of relevancy with at least 1 strategic priority area (2 pages max with 1 additional page for references)
• Summary of Career Goals (1-page max if applicable, include a section outlining any career interruptions for which you are requesting an extension to the eligibility window. 
  • Special circumstances including maternity/parental leave, child-rearing, illness, disability, cultural or community responsibilities, socio-economic context, health-related family responsibilities, trauma, and loss will be considered. Please include any interruptions as a separate section in the career goals document included in the pdf attachment.
• Applicant CV (Common CV or free form)
• Supervisor Statement of Support (1 page max)
• If applicable, copies of results letters from relevant competitions you have applied to in the past 2 years with the same project (e.g. CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC, Banting, etc.)
• 2 letters of reference (from referees external to UCalgary for Recruitment Fellowship), on institutional letterhead, sent directly to fellowships@ucalgary.ca *NOTE: The Faculty Supervisor named in the application cannot serve as referee.

Notes

• Annual progress reporting to UCalgary is required for successful applicants
• Up to 3 intakes per year