Discovery Award 2026

Eligibility

Eligible applicants must:

• Be a health or biomedical researcher.
• Be within the first three years of your first academic appointment at a Canadian university or research institute as an Assistant Professor or a non-health care professional.
  • This appointment should have begun within eight years of completing the most recent graduate or professional degree (PhD, MD, or MD/PhD). The Banting Discovery Foundation will adjust the eligibility window for eligible leaves such as maternity, parental, medical, family medical, or bereavement. However, no adjustments will be made for professional leaves such as training, sabbatical, or administrative. Also, no adjustments will be provided for time spent on non-research related duties or for the pursuit of non-research related career activities. Applicants who experienced a significant gap between degree completion and academic appointment due to extenuating circumstances are encouraged to contact the Foundation directly to discuss eligibility.
• Have not received external peer-reviewed grant funding (e.g., CIHR, NSERC) at the time of application. Support from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) does not count towards the funding limit.
• Have not received external research funding exceeding $50,000 per year at the time of receiving the Banting Discovery Award.

To ensure broad and equitable representation across institutions, only one candidate per primary appointment University Department, Division, or single Department Faculty may be nominated per competition cycle. The primary appointment Department, Division, or single Department Faculty is the principal academic unit to which the applicant is responsible to and/or paid from or where most of the applicant’s grants are held.

Summary

The Banting Discovery Foundation provides feasibility and pilot grants that help early career scientists establish their independence and launch their research programs. These funds support the day-to-day realities of running a research program—from hiring trainees to acquiring essential equipment—empowering researchers to pursue bold ideas that push the boundaries of health and biomedical science.

Submission Process

Notice of Intent (NOI) Stage

A Notice of Intent (NOI) must be submitted to the funding sponsor by November 3, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. (MT). Submission occurs via Banting's NOI Portal.

• A department head will be permitted to nominate only one potential applicant. In the case of non-departmentalized faculties, only one nomination can go forward from the faculty.
• The NOI forms requires the applicant to acknowledge that the plan to submit a proposal has been discussed with the respective Department Chair/Head (or equivalent).

As the department/division head may nominate only one applicant per competition year, departments or the faculty (for non-departmentalized faculties) should contact Katie Cupello (katie.cupello@ucalgary.ca) by November 3, 2025 to advise that an NOI is going forward to the agency. The intent of this notice is to ensure that no more than one application is put forward per department/division. Please send the following:

1. Principal Investigator’s name
2. Faculty and Department
3. Project Title

Full application stage (by invitation)

Full applications, plus approval in the Research Management System (RMS) via a Pre-award/Application record, must be submitted to Research Services (RSO) by January 21, 2026 at 12:00 p.m.  Please be sure to select "Submitted for approvals" (Under Save & Progress) in RMS in good time to allow for approvals from your Department Head and/or ADR prior to the RSO deadline.

Do not submit to the agency until RSO's approval has been granted in RMS. Once the institutional signature has been obtained, the Principal Investigator will receive an automated message from RMS to their @ucalgary email address.

Overhead

Not applicable. Overhead is an ineligible expense for the Discovery Award Program.

Pre-application deadlines

Pre-application program deadline

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.

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