Catalyst Grant: Analysis of CLSA Data (2026)

Eligibility

For an application to be eligible, all the requirements stated below must be met:

1. The Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) must be an independent researcher affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary institution and/or its affiliated institutions (including hospitals, research institutes and other non-profit organizations with a mandate for health research and/or knowledge translation).
   • The Nominated Principal Applicant must be an Early Career Researcher (ECR) to be eligible for ECR funding pools.
2. The Nominated Principal Applicant must have their substantive role in Canada for the duration of the requested grant term.
3. The Institution Paid receives and administers the funds on behalf of the NPA and therefore must be authorized by CIHR before the funds can be released.
4. At the application stage, the Nominated Principal Applicant must have successfully completed one of the sex- and gender-based analysis training modules available online through the CIHR Institute of Gender and Health and submit a Certificate of Completion. Please select and complete the training module most applicable to your research project.
5. Researchers who propose to use additional data sets to the CLSA will have to demonstrate that the data they want to use is/will be available and accessible at the time of the application.
6. To be eligible for RQRV top-up funding, the Nominated Principal Applicant must be a member of the RQRV at an Institution Paid based in the province of Quebec. For information on how to become a member of the RQRV, please refer to the RQRV Member Resources (in French only) webpage.

Note: Researchers may apply only once to this competition as a Nominated Principal Applicant.

Summary

The CLSA is a large, national, long-term data platform that is following 51,338 Canadian men and women who were between the ages of 45 and 85 at the time of recruitment, at three-year intervals for 20 years or until death. The CLSA collects information on the changing biological, medical, psychological, social and economic aspects of people's lives and completed recruitment of 51,388 participants in 2015. The aim of the CLSA is to find ways to improve the health of Canadians by better understanding the aging process and the factors that shape the way we age.

CLSA is currently in its third phase of funding (2021-27); baseline data collection and three follow-up waves have been completed, and the fourth follow-up period is underway (2024-27). Please refer to the CLSA Data Availability Table for a full summary of available CLSA data.

Researchers may propose projects using CLSA data alone, or CLSA data plus other data sets/cohorts to enhance the scope of research questions that can be addressed. We encourage applicants to consider new provincial administrative data linked through Health Data Research Network (HDRN) Canada (costs for accessing HDRN data are available here). Please note that identifiable information on CLSA participants cannot be released. Applications that require identification of participants to link individual information to other data sets will not be eligible for funding.

The specific objective of this funding opportunity is to:

• Catalyze and support research efforts of Canadian researchers to use the available CLSA data to better understand how biological, medical, psychological, social, and/or economic aspects of people's lives have an impact on both maintaining health and the development of disease and disability as people age.

Overhead

Application deadlines

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.

Submission Process:

Full application, plus approvals in RMS, will be required by RSO by noon on September 21, 2026. Please be sure to select 'Submitted for approvals' (Under Save & Progress) in RMS in enough time to allow for approvals from your Department Head and/or ADR prior to the internal RSO deadline. Consult your department and faculty for more information on their approval processes and timelines.

Do not submit through ResearchNet until RSO's signature has been granted!! 

Once institutional signature has been obtained, a copy of the CIHR signature page will be available via the RMS record, under Documents. Upload the CIHR signature page and routing slip in the Print/Upload Signature Pages task in ResearchNet by 6:00PM Calgary time on September 24, 2026.

NOTE: This funding opportunity uses the tri-agency CV (TCV). For opportunities requiring the Tri-Agency CV, a Research Contributions attachment, or a Most Significant Contributions statement, applicants can refer to the Narrative CV Support webpage. 

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 Application