Canada Postdoctoral Research Award (CPRA) program – Frequently Asked Questions

For a general overview of the CPRA program, applicants are encouraged to review the description of the program.

For applicants applying to CIHR, up until the application deadline, the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award (CPRA) program funding opportunity is accessible from here. Once the competition deadline has passed, the information will eventually be accessible only from the list of archived opportunities section of ResearchNet.

Applicants applying to CIHR should consult the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award (CPRA) program – Application instructions.

Applicants should consult Selecting the Appropriate Federal Granting Agency to review the mandates of CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC. CIHR accepts applications in all areas of health research; biomedical research, clinical research, health services research, and social, cultural, environmental and population health research. Definitions of these four research themes can be found in the Selecting the Appropriate Federal Granting Agency.

Yes, international applicants are eligible to apply, provided that at the application deadline they:

• Are currently enrolled in or have completed a doctorate or health professional degree at a Canadian institution; or
• Are conducting postdoctoral research at a Canadian institution.

Up to 20% of all postdoctoral awards will be available to international applicants.

Yes, the Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) must have completed all requirements for a doctorate or health professional degree no more than three years before September 1 of the year in which they are applying.

Exceptions to the eligibility window may be granted, if you meet one or more of the criteria described under the eligibility section of the funding opportunity, up to a total maximum extension of three years.

Note if you have engaged in a non-research-related clinical training (e.g., residency) after you received your doctoral or health professional degree, the eligibility period can be extended by the duration of this training without limit.

Interruptions and delays must be detailed in the specific section of your Common CV (Academic). For details about how to complete this section of the CCV, please consult the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award (CPRA) program – Application instructions.

The evaluation of CPRA applications is based on Research potential and experience, and the Quality of the proposed research program.

Refer to the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award program (CPRA) Reviewers' Guide for additional details, including interpretation guidelines for these selection criteria.

Yes. You must identify at least one Primary supervisor in your ResearchNet application. An additional supervisor (if applicable) may be identified in the role of "Supervisor".

No, only applicants are required to submit an Academic CV (validated for CIHR) using the Canadian Common CV (CCV) website. For details on how to complete the CCV, please consult the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award program (CPRA) – Application Instructions. Once the Academic CV is submitted, the system generates a confirmation number. The applicant must enter their CV confirmation number in the application on ResearchNet. Upon doing so, the CV will be appended to the application.

No, official transcripts are not required for this funding opportunity. CIHR will assess eligibility based on the information entered in the "Degree" field of the applicant's CCV (YYYY/MM), the CPRA - Fulfillment of Degree Requirement form [ PDF (71 KB) ] and the CPRA - Status and Confirmation of Scientific Area form [ PDF (189 KB) ]. Please consult the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award program (CPRA) – Application Instructions for details on how to complete this field /provide these forms.

As of the application deadline, the Nominated Principal Applicant must be a trainee and must hold or be completing a PhD or a regulated health professional degree (i.e., be enrolled in the final year of their doctoral/health professional program). The Nominated Principal Applicant must expect to complete all of the requirements of the degree before the latest possible date on which they can take up their award, as outlined in the Funding Opportunity.

Applications are assigned to one of two peer review committees based on the primary scientific area of the research proposal as identified by the applicant: either Biomedical Research or Health Research. The scientific area is based on CIHR's four broad themes. For the purposes of this funding opportunity, applications predominately related to the biomedical and/or clinical research themes are categorized as part of the Biomedical Research scientific area, while applications predominately related to the health services and/or social, cultural, environmental and population health research themes are categorized as part of the Health Research scientific area. Applicants are encouraged to consult with their supervisor to determine the predominant scientific area of the application.

Applicants who do not hold a doctorate (PhD) degree, but hold either a Health Professional (HP) or an Allied Health Professional (AHP) degree are eligible to apply to the CPRA program, but only to pursue post-degree research training. Consult the list of CIHR-Eligible Health Professions to determine if your degree qualifies as an HP or AHP degree.

Note: the CPRA program is not intended to support HP or AHP degree holders pursuing graduate degrees. HP or AHP degree holders seeking support for a graduate degree should apply to the Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Master's (CGRS M) or Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Doctoral (CGRS D) program as applicable.

In the "Identify participants" task on ResearchNet, applicants are to enter the renewal date of the license in the space provided.

CIHR recommends that you choose 2 sponsors under whom you have trained and who have had a good opportunity to assess your potential for research. Your proposed supervisor may be one of the chosen sponsors. Be aware of the importance accorded to your choice, as sponsor assessments are considered by the Peer Review Committee. Applicants should refer their selected sponsors to the Information for Sponsors web page for useful tips.

For details about how the Sponsor Assessments work in ResearchNet, please consult the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award (CPRA) program – Application Instructions.

A sample of the "Sponsor's Assessment of a candidate for a Fellowships" form can be found in the Index of Funding Related Forms and is available for information purposes only.

In order to ensure fairness in the evaluation of applications, CIHR will not accept updates to submitted applications (before or after the deadline). You can make updates to your Contact Information within your ResearchNet account settings.

An Applicant may apply to only one CRTAS program per academic year to either the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) or the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). If you apply to more than one program, only the first eligible application submitted to the agencies will be retained.

Note that the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award (CPRA) program has a maximum lifetime limit of 3 applications per Nominated Principal Applicant.

No, you must not have already received postdoctoral-level award from CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC (including a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship) to apply to the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award program. If you hold or have held a CIHR postdoctoral-level award that is more focused on an internship, contact CIHR.

CIHR is a signatory of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) and recognizes that research outputs include a broad range of contributions and impacts and are not limited to published peer-reviewed journal articles. In the Application Instructions, applicants must highlight up to three of their most significant research-related contributions, which can include but are not limited to, research publications, reports, books, guidelines, datasets, code, tools, training and mentorship, volunteerism, community engagement, standards, software or commercialized products.

When choosing which contributions to highlight, applicants should consider the relevance of the contributions to their work, the impact of the contributions, their role in conducting the work, and which contributions support their career aspirations.

Applicants can review the criteria of the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award program (CPRA) Reviewers' Guide in Appendix A - Selection Criteria to see how reviewers assess this information.

The San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) is a global initiative whose purpose is to support the development and promotion of best practices in the assessment of scholarly research. DORA recognizes the need to improve the ways in which research is evaluated, beyond widely used journal-based metrics.

As a signatory of DORA, CIHR has reaffirmed its commitment to excellence in research evaluation. CIHR recognizes and values a broader range of contributions, including outreach and mentoring, and emphasizes their quality and impact.

For applicants, this means being able to highlight a broad range of contributions and impacts in your applications. This could include contributions such as: articles, reports, books, guidelines, datasets, code, tools, training and mentorship, volunteerism, community engagement, standards, software, and commercialized products—and whether your work has influenced policy and practice, health outcomes, societal outcomes, and whether you have engaged in distinctions-based, meaningful, and culturally safe health research.

Peer reviewers are directed to consider a range of contributions and impacts in their assessment of applications. Peer reviewers are also directed to consider the context of applicants and how that may have affected their productivity.

For peer reviewers, this means being supported with enhanced guidance and practical tips to consider: the value of a range of contributions and impacts, factors that could affect productivity, the importance of the content of articles over the publication metrics or journal identify.

CIHR requires that you adhere to all instructions and requirements to ensure fairness to all applicants. This includes using the correct font sizes, spacing, page limits etc. The reason for these formatting requirements is to ensure that all applicants have exactly the same amount of space to write their proposals. Failure to comply with these requirements may negatively impact the evaluation of the application. In cases of non-compliance, CIHR reserves the right to withdraw your application.

CIHR offers applicants a number of learning materials regarding our programs and initiatives. Applicants are encouraged to take advantage of this support by accessing the website Learning for Applicants. In this page, applicants will find more information on Mentorship and Training tools and learning modules; access to learning modules on Sex- and Gender Based Analysis and Health Research and other useful links.

Priority Announcements (PAs) are additional sources of potential funding for highly ranked applications submitted to the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award (CPRA) competition. The PAs outline specific research areas relevant to CIHR Institutes, Initiatives and Partners, and applications that align with those areas may be selected for funding – without having to re-apply. Applications must still meet the eligibility criteria and requirements for the CPRA competition to which the application is submitted.

• Applicants submit their applications to the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award competition, following all application instructions as they normally would. The only difference in the application process is that the applicant can also identify up to three PAs for consideration.
• Each PA will include a description of the target research area that it will support. Applicants are encouraged to read the description of all PAs to identify those that are relevant to their work. Some PAs will require the applicant to complete a relevance form by entering approximately one half-page of free form text to describe how and why their application is relevant to the areas described in the PA. For PAs that do not require a relevance form, the application's relevance to a given PA will be assessed using the summary of your research proposal (from the application).
• The relevance form provided by the applicant and/or the summary of research proposal (depending on the PA's specific requirements) will be considered by the CIHR Institute or Initiative, or by the funding Partner supporting the PA. Applications deemed relevant to (or in alignment with) the research areas described in the PA will be considered for PA funding.
• Within their application to the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award competition, applicants must consent to the sharing of information in order to be considered for Priority Announcements. Applicants who do not consent to this sharing of information will be considered ineligible for Priority Announcements.
• The application is assessed through the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award peer review process, as usual.
• When the peer review process for the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award competition is complete, funding decisions will be made. CIHR funds applications in rank order until the competition funds are exhausted. This is often described as the "funding cut-off."
• Inevitably, highly ranked and meritorious applications fall below the funding cut-off for the competition. It is these applications – the ones that are highly ranked but ultimately not funded through the budget available for the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award competition – that may be supported through a Priority Announcement.
• Applications rated below 3.5 are not eligible for PA funding.

If your application is not deemed relevant to the PA, then your application will remain in the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award competition (as per usual) but will not be considered for funding for that PA funding.

If your application is funded through the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award peer review process, then your full application will only be funded through the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award competition budget and not the PA. In this case, the PA funds would be used to support the next highly ranked application on the list that falls below the funding cut-off.

Yes, your application is still first and foremost submitted to the CPRA competition to which you are applying. However, if your application is withdrawn from the open competition for any reason, you will not be considered for any priority announcements.

If your application is the top-ranked application on two PA lists, then you will be awarded one (not both).

No. The "relevance review" process for a PA is separate from the peer review process for the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award competition. The peer reviewers for the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award competition will not assess your application's relevance to a given PA, nor will your application's relevance (or lack thereof) have any impact on the peer review deliberations.

The results of the Priority Announcements will be available on the Notice of Decision document which is issued at the end of the competition process.

The CIHR Contact Centre is available to answer any questions or provide support.

Successful applicants have 15 business days to accept or decline an award as of the date on the funding decision documents. This deadline is firm, so please make sure to request the relevant signatures in time from your institution and/or supervisor when applicable (see below).

In addition to the specific documents listed in the Notes section of the Offer of an Award, there are two mandatory documents that need to be provided:

• Response to an Offer of Award: if you are successful in receiving an award, a pdf version of this form will become available to you in your ResearchNet account after you answer a few questions online regarding when you wish to start the award and the person and/or institution that will be administering the funds. Both you and the authorized official at the Primary Location of Research must sign the printed form. This form must be returned to us within 15 business days of it becoming available to you online.
• Confirmation of Commencement: this form will become available to you in your ResearchNet account 2 months prior to the start date you indicated on the Response to an Offer of Award form (for example, if you chose a start date of September 1st, it will appear on July 1st). If your start date is within 2 months of the current date then the form will appear within a few hours of completing your Response to an Offer of Award. If it does not, it is because the information you filled in your Response to an Offer of Award form (Institution, Faculty and/or Department) does not match the information provided on your original application. In this case, please email CIHR for further information. The printed version of this form needs to be signed by both you and a Scholarship Liaison Officer (SLO) or equivalent official in the faculty of graduate studies or its equivalent and returned to CIHR before we can process your award.

All required documents must be sent to CIHR by email only at: support-soutien@cihr-irsc.gc.ca in a single package. Please avoid sending multiple messages whenever possible, as it may delay the activation of your award. Please note that the applicants (and not the institution) must send the documents themselves to CIHR.

Yes. As we need to know that you are declining the award please send us, within 15 business days of receiving your offer, a signed copy of the Response to an Offer of Award form stating that you are declining the award and letting us know why. This can be sent to support-soutien@cihr-irsc.gc.ca.

Payments can be made retroactively as of the first possible funding start date when the recipient has met all the eligibility requirements.

You must consult the Tri-Agency Research Training Award Holder's Guide for information about policies and guidelines related to Changes to the award and/or Interruptions of award. It is important to note that a change of status may render you ineligible to hold your award, in which case the Termination of award policy must be followed. It is also important to consult the eligibility criteria noted in the original funding opportunity, as eligibility requirements must be maintained throughout the tenure of the award.

If the delays fall within the allowable start dates stated in the Notes section of the Offer of an Award document, the only effect is that your payments will be delayed until we are able to process your paperwork. Payments can be made retroactively as of your indicated start date provided that you meet all the eligibility requirements.

Awards recipients must devote at least 75 per cent of their time to research training to maintain their eligibility.

As stated in the Tri-Agency Research Training Award Holder's Guide, the agencies do not place restrictions on outside sources of funding (except federal remuneration for the studies or research for which the award is requested) or employment that award holders may have while holding the award or taking an approved leave of absence.

As such, a Canada Postdoctoral Research Award recipient cannot simultaneously hold any other award funded by one of the federal research agencies (NSERC, SSHRC, CIHR). Recipients are expected to respect the eligibility requirements and funding conditions throughout the tenure of the award.

If they are a Canadian federal government/public employee and are pursuing studies or conducting research that is separate from their employment, they need to contact the relevant agency for attestation purposes.