Operating Grant: Evaluation & Implementation Science: Youth Mental Health 2026

Eligibility

While there is no limit on team size, a minimum of key participants is required and must be clearly identified on the Participant Table. Applicants are strongly encouraged to develop a diverse and equitable team. For an application to be eligible, all key participants and 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 mobilization).
2. The NPA must have their substantive role in Canada for the duration of the requested grant term.
3. To be eligible to apply to this funding opportunity, the Institution Paid must be authorized to administer CIHR funds by the application deadline.
4. The NPA must have successfully completed at least one of the sex and gender-based modules available online through the CIHR Institute of Gender and Health and have submitted a Certificate of Completion.
5. The NPA must include evidence of meaningful partnership with at least one Canadian organization implementing a youth mental health intervention to be studied, and who will act as applicant partner. Organizations working primarily with Indigenous, racialized, immigrant, sexual and gender minority and/or disability communities or demonstrating evidence of having prior meaningful and culturally safe involvement with these communities are especially encouraged to partner. The organization(s) must submit a partner letter to demonstrate meaningful engagement with the applicant team (see How to apply for more information. The organization(s) must also clearly be identified in the 'key participants' section of the Participant Table.
6. The NPA must also identify a person from the organization(s) as a participant (NPA, PA, Co-applicant or Knowledge User (KU)) on this application to ensure meaningful involvement of the organization. This person must clearly be identified in the 'key participants' section of the Participant Table.

In order for the application to be eligible, the following additional key participants must be included in the application and clearly identified in the Participant Table. Although multiple participants can be added to the application for each of the roles below, only one (1) individual per criteria should be identified as a Key Participant in the Participant Table. Any additional individuals should be added in the second section of the Participant Table).

7. One (1) independent researcher in the role of Principal Applicant (PA) must be identified.
8. One (1) Knowledge User (KU), who will contribute to the shaping of research questions and who is able to use research results to make informed decisions about health policies, programs and/or practices. The KU can be, but is not limited to a practitioner, clinician, a policy maker, an educator, a decision maker, a health care administrator, a community leader or an individual from a health charity, a patient group, private sector organization or media outlet.
9. For the Indigenous-led intervention pool: at minimum the NPA or a Principal Applicant (PA) must self-identify as Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit or Métis) or provide evidence of having meaningful and culturally safe involvement with Indigenous Peoples, or both (see How to Apply section for more details). Note that this individual can fulfill multiple key participant roles.
10. For any applications involving research with Indigenous Peoples (other than the Indigenous-led pool - see eligibility criteria 9), the applicant team must include an NPA, a PA, a KU or a Co-applicant who self-identifies as Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit or Métis) or provides evidence of having meaningful and culturally safe involvement with Indigenous Peoples, or both (see How to Apply section for more details). Note that this individual can fulfill multiple key participant roles.

NOTE:

• A Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) cannot submit more than one application as the NPA. If the NPA submits more than one application, CIHR will automatically withdraw the last application(s) submitted based on the timestamp of submission.
• A NPA can partner with more than one organization implementing a youth mental health intervention on a single application, however, an organization implementing the intervention can partner with only one NPA.
• Interventions that have already been supported, funded or evaluated within the IYS-Net initiative are not eligible for this funding opportunity.

Summary

The current funding opportunity aims to support high-quality evaluation and/or implementation science research on youth mental health interventions, as they are being scaled through the YMHF, and through other initiatives, across the research-to-scale continuum in Canada. For evaluation research, the focus is on generating robust evidence on feasibility, efficacy, or effectiveness of evidence-informed interventions adapted for new contexts or with under-studied populations using rigorous methodological designs. For implementation science research, the focus is on interventions with established efficacy or effectiveness and are ready to be sustained, optimized or scaled out/up. This research will examine strategies to improve or maintain outcomes, while optimizing adoption, integration, scale-out/up, sustainability and equity across real-world environments.

Research teams will assess what is working well, what is not, and how evidence-based youth mental health interventions can be delivered, sustained and/or scaled across diverse Canadian real-world contexts^2,3. The aim of this funding opportunity is to generate evidence that can be mobilized to sustain or improve youth mental health services and their outcomes, as well as the systems that support their delivery in Canada. Funded research teams from this funding opportunity may be required to collaborate with the National Evidence Platform (simultaneous funding opportunity) to share knowledge generated as part of an evidence-producing model, and to support knowledge mobilization that will inform decision-making in youth mental health programming across Canada. Data collection, analysis and interpretation approaches must align with Tri-Council policies including consideration of ethics, data governance, and data quality.

Funding Exclusion: Interventions that have already been supported, funded or evaluated within the IYS-Net initiative are not eligible for this funding opportunity.

Overhead

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.

Submission Process:

Registration due directly to CIHR via ResearchNet by 6:00PM Calgary time on October 22, 2026. No RMS needed for this step.

Full application, plus approvals in RMS, will be required by RSO by noon on November 2, 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 November 5, 2026.

Webinar

CIHR is hosting the following webinar to support participants with the requirements of this funding opportunity and to answer questions on how to apply.

When: Tuesday, July 7, 2026 at 11:00 AM MT | Register
Duration: 60 minutes

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