Section 2 of the CIHR Grants and Awards Guide describes the guidelines for two categories of personnel:
Training and Salary funding opportunity descriptions and eligibility requirements can be found in the Current Funding Opportunities section under "Training Programs" and "Salary Programs".
2-A General Guidelines for Training Programs
2-A2 Communication of Competition Results
2-A3 Effective Date of Funding Period
2-A5 Eligible Expenditures for Research Allowances
2-A8 Earnings from Other Sources
2-A9 General Income Tax and Benefits
2-A9.1 Taxation of CIHR Awards
2-A11.2 Other Paid Leaves of Absence
2-A11.3 Unpaid Leaves of Absence
2-A12 Transfers and Changes to Proposed Activities
2-A14 Residual Balances in Accounts
2-A14.1 During the Tenure of the Award
2-A14.2 After the Expiry Date of the Award
2-B General Guidelines for Salary Programs
2-B2 Communication of Competition Results
2-B6 Supplements to CIHR Awards from Other Sources
2-B8 Transferring an Award to an Eligible Canadian Institution
2-B10 Residual Balances in Accounts
2-B10.1 During the Tenure of the Award
2-B10.2 After the Expiry Date of the Award
The following guidelines apply to all CIHR-funded Studentships, Health Professional Student Research Awards, Master's Awards, Doctoral Awards, MD/PhD Studentships, Fellowships, Senior Research Fellowships (Phase 1), Clinician Scientists (Phase 1), including partnered training opportunities, unless otherwise stated in the specific funding opportunity description.
The following general eligibility requirements apply to the above mentioned funding opportunities. Detailed eligibility requirements for each funding opportunity can be found in the Current Funding Opportunities section under "Training Programs".
Awards for research training are tenable under the supervision of investigators holding an appointment as an independent researcher and in areas of investigation where it is clear that the research has direct relevance to health. The training program must include actual involvement in research, and not only courses in research methods. Students enrolled in programs oriented primarily toward professional specialty training are usually ineligible for these awards.
CIHR is willing to consider applications from individuals wishing to train with an investigator who does not meet the above criteria. The proposed supervisor must first write to CIHR at least one month prior to the application deadline, giving a brief outline of the training program, indicating the research facilities available and naming the institution through which the funds would be administered.
Award holders cannot hold a position as an independent investigator, for example, a faculty appointment, concurrently with a CIHR research training award. Potential award holders who hold a position as an independent investigator must take a leave of absence from that position for the duration of the CIHR research training award.
In order to increase capacity and allow as many researchers as possible to benefit from federal, peer-reviewed funding, individuals may not hold both a CIHR training award and another federally-funded training award.
Applicants may submit only one application per year (September 1 to August 31) to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) or to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) or to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
Applicants must choose the most appropriate CIHR research training award program for which they are eligible and they must wait until after they are notified of the decision of that application before they can submit another application to another funding opportunity. A request for funding through CIHR's Priority Announcements is not considered to be a duplicate application submission.
Holders of CIHR awards within Canada must be affiliated with an eligible institution. Applicants who are not affiliated at the time of application, but who expect to be by the beginning of the funding period, must provide a letter, signed by the responsible official of the nominating Institution Paid, stating the institution's commitment to provide the affiliation. If the application is successful, funds will not be released to the Institution Paid until the affiliation is confirmed.
Holders of training awards outside Canada must be affiliated with an institution that is included in the four classes of institutions listed above under "Eligible Individuals and Institutions" and would be eligible if it were located in Canada by meeting the obligations listed above under "Obligations of Eligible Institutions". An agreement between CIHR and the institution may not be required since these awards are usually paid directly to the award holder.
Holders of training awards must be supervised by an individual eligible to be a Principal Applicant, or in the case of awards held outside Canada, an individual who would be eligible if he or she had the same status in Canada.
CIHR may at times enter into Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with Canadian federal government departments or agencies to administer the peer review process and a dedicated envelope of funds specifically to support emerging researchers training in these organizations. Since these are not eligible institutions as defined under the subsection titled "Eligible Individuals and Institutions", CIHR will provide the funds directly to the holder of the training award. Individuals holding such training awards should be supervised by independent investigators with the appropriate level of experience and expertise, but these mentors need not be eligible to be a Principal Applicant, as described under the subsection titled "Participant Categories for CIHR Grants".
CIHR's decision will be conveyed in a letter to the applicant and the supervisor. Decisions will also be made available publicly on our "Funding Decisions" page.
Successful applicants will be given two months to accept an offer following the date of the offer. The award will be cancelled if the applicant fails to notify CIHR within this time period.
Following approval by CIHR, successful applicants are sent an official Authorization for Funding (AFF) by CIHR. The AFF will state the name of the award holder, the type of award, the effective date of the funding period and the amount of the stipend and research allowance in each fiscal year for the duration of the award. A copy of the AFF is sent to the business officer of the university or institution who is administering the award (Common Award Account) or directly to the award holder (Direct Payment).
Funding for awards must commence within 12 months of the date of offer. For the applicable start date, refer to the description of the funding opportunity.
CIHR will release funds for award holders once the following conditions have been met:
In cases where the business officer of the institution is responsible for disbursing funds to the award holder on behalf of CIHR, the business officer must first ensure that the following conditions have been met prior to releasing the funds:
A Common Award Account enables CIHR funds to flow to an award holder at a Canadian institution. CIHR makes payments into the Common Award Account in monthly instalments (stipends) or in an annual instalment (research allowances), after all required documents have been received.
In turn, the business officer of the institution where the stipend is held will pay the award holder from the Common Award Account in accordance with its internal process. The research allowance is paid on the anniversary date of the award.
Some awards are not paid through a "Common Award Account"; rather they are paid directly:
In these cases, the terms and conditions of the administration of funds are determined on an individual basis. The CIHR terms and conditions could include an agreement outlining reporting requirements and method of payment.
An annual research allowance may be provided with an award. Payment of the research allowance is made on the anniversary date of the award. An award holder may apply receipts against the research allowance for up to three months beyond the official termination date, at which time the account must be finalized. Any unspent funds must be returned to CIHR immediately. For information regarding eligible expenses, please consult the subsection "Use of Grant Funds" in the Tri-Agency (CIHR; NSERC; SSHRC) Financial Guide.
To comply with government policy, CIHR must confirm the award holder's continuing eligibility before releasing future instalments to the institution.
For Common Award Accounts, once a year, CIHR will provide the institution's research office and business office with a listing of award instalments for the next fiscal year. At this time, the institution will be required to confirm that the award holders continue to be eligible according to the opportunity criteria. However, the institution must contact CIHR's Finance Division as soon as an award holder's eligibility changes during tenure of the award.
For Direct Payments, CIHR will contact the award holder directly to confirm that they continue to be eligible according to the funding opportunity eligibility criteria. However, the award holder must contact CIHR's Finance Division as soon as their eligibility changes during tenure of the award.
To ensure that Institutions inside of Canada have complete and accurate funding data on the award they administer, CIHR will make available to the research awards officers and business officers, at designated times of the year, a list that identifies all new awards and continuing instalments.
The business officer of the institution will be required to submit, in March of each year, a reconciliation of the commitments and payments made by CIHR with respect to the Common Award Account in accordance with instructions issued by CIHR each January. Other financial reports may be requested as needed.
An award holder may, with the approval of their supervisor(s), earn additional amounts from other sources, including research grants. For example, they may engage in and accept remuneration for limited departmental activities that contribute to their development as independent researchers. Award holders may instruct for a maximum of 200 hours per year, provided that this does not interfere with their research training progress.
An award holder is permitted to hold additional awards provided that the total monthly value of the additional awards during the period of overlap with the CIHR award does not exceed 50% of the monthly value of the CIHR stipend.
Awards, whether held inside or outside Canada, are taxed as income by the Canadian government.
CIHR issues T4A slips in February to all award holders aid outside of Canada during the previous calendar year, regardless of whether the payments were made directly to the award holders or to a non-Canadian institution. Those award holders receiving payments through Canadian institutions will be issued T4 or T4A slips by the institution rather than by CIHR.
Since no deductions are made at source by CIHR, award holders are responsible for determining the amount of tax they will be required to pay, and for forwarding this to the Canada Revenue Agency. For information, call toll-free 1-800-959-5525 for services in English or 1-800-959-7775 for services in French.
Award holders can obtain information about the amount and method of payment, the deductions allowed, and the receipts required from their local tax services office. Residents of Quebec should also contact Revenue Québec, Service des renseignements spécialisés at (819) 770-1768.
Please note that the Federal government has recently announced that for 2006 and subsequent taxation years, the amounts received in the year by an individual on account of scholarships, fellowships, and bursaries will be excluded from income. Please contact the Canada Revenue Agency directly for further information.
Award holders with dependent children under the age of 18 years may be eligible to receive Child Tax Exemptions from the Canadian government even while holding awards outside the country. Pertinent information may be obtained from the Canada Revenue Agency. While in Canada, award holders may use the toll free number 1-800-387-1193 to obtain more information. While abroad, information may be obtained by dialling (613) 952-3741 for services in English and (613) 954-1368 for services in French.
CIHR will not assume any obligation toward an award holder or dependents in the event of accident or illness.
CIHR recommends that award holders avail themselves of any medical insurance offered at the institution of tenure. The personnel office there can provide the necessary information. In addition, CIHR strongly encourages all award holders to contact their provincial health insurance agency to verify coverage policies for extended periods abroad.
The general policy of each institution relating to ordinary vacation, extended illness or other types of leave of absence will be applied to CIHR award holders in that institution.
The supervisor and the award holder are required to notify CIHR in writing of any leave that the award holder will be taking, apart from ordinary vacation leave, in order to adjust the dates of tenure of the award and the payment of stipends and research allowances. The time accumulated while on leaves of absence should not add up to more than 12 months in total. After 12 months, leaves will be unpaid and the end date of the award will no longer be extended. For award holders with a term equal to or less than one year, leaves of absence should not exceed 4 months.
An award holder is permitted to start an award while on a paid leave provided they return to the research training environment for a term of equal duration to the leave taken. In the event that the award holder does not return to the research training environment for a term of equal duration to the leave taken, the award holder must reimburse CIHR the amount of stipend and the research allowance that would represent the difference between the term of the leave and the amount of time spent in the research training environment after his/her return.
Award holders may be eligible to receive paid parental leave if interrupting their studies/award within six months of the birth or adoption of children in order to be primary caregiver for the child/children. If both parents are supported by a federal agency, each parent may take a portion of the leave for a combined maximum duration of six months. An award holder may request a parental leave for every birth and/or adoption that occurs during the tenure of an award, even if the total of the leaves adds up to more than 12 months.
The leave must be requested at least 30 days in advance with the following documentation sent to CIHR:
1. A letter from the award holder requesting the leave and confirming the following information:
2. A letter from the primary supervisor providing their approval for the leave as well as confirming the dates of the leave.
Upon confirmation of return to the research training environment, the stipend (not the research allowance) will be extended by the duration of the leave to a maximum of six months.
Award holders may be granted other paid leaves of absence upon CIHR approval under the following circumstances:
Illness of the award holder
Time Limit: Up to a maximum of 6 months
Documentation Required by CIHR:
Change in location during the tenure of the award due to the departure or leave of absence of the primary supervisor
Time Limit: Up to a maximum of 1 month
Documentation Required by CIHR:
Provision of care and support to an immediate family member who has a serious medical condition with a significant risk of death occurring
Time Limit: Up to a maximum of 2 months
Documentation Required by CIHR:
Notes:
In circumstances other than those listed in subsections 2-A11.1 and 2-A11.2, CIHR will suspend payment of the award during the absence. Upon confirmation of return to the research training environment by the supervisor, CIHR will extend the award by a period equal to the duration of the leave to a maximum of 12 months.
The leave should be requested at least 30 days in advance, if possible, or if the reason for the leave comes suddenly and unexpectedly, as soon as is reasonably possible. The following documentation must be sent to CIHR:
The award holder must receive CIHR's approval before making any changes pertaining to the location of tenure, the course of study and/or the supervisor. CIHR requires that the award holder provide the following:
Funds must be used for the purpose and the research program for which they were intended. Therefore the stipend and research allowance are not interchangeable.
CIHR may terminate an award at any time under the following circumstances:
In all cases, the aforementioned documentation must be submitted, by mail, to CIHR for assessment.
If CIHR decides to terminate an award, any remaining funds must be returned by the institution (Common Award Account) or by the award holder (Direct payment). For additional information on returning remaining funds to CIHR, please consult the subsection titled "After the Expiry Date of the Award" in section 2 of the CIHR Grants and Awards Guide.
Award holders may apply receipts against the research allowance for up to three months beyond the funding expiry date. Any funds remaining at the end of the Authority to Use Funds period must be returned to CIHR by cheque. When unspent funds are returned to CIHR, the cheque must be accompanied by a signed Tri-Agency Grants in Aid of Research Statement of Account - Form 300, indicating an unspent balance in the same amount as the refund.
The following guidelines apply to all CIHR-funded New Investigators, Investigators, Mid-Career Investigators, Senior Investigators, Research Chairs not including Canada Research Chairs, Clinician Scientist (Phase 2) and Senior Research Fellowships (Phase 2), including partnered salary opportunities, unless otherwise stated in the specific opportunity description.
The following general eligibility requirements apply to the above mentioned funding opportunities. Detailed eligibility requirements for each opportunity can be found in the Current Funding Opportunities section under "Salary Programs".
These awards are normally held by independent researchers with full-time appointments in faculties of Canadian universities or affiliated institutions. CIHR is willing to accept applications to support investigators who are not affiliated with a university or research institute. The head of the institution should first write to CIHR, identifying the investigator, giving a brief outline of the project, indicating the facilities available for its conduct and naming the institution through which the funds would be administered. CIHR will then advise as to the applicant's eligibility for its funding opportunities.
Holders of CIHR awards within Canada must be affiliated with an eligible institution. Applicants who are not affiliated at the time of application, but who expect to be by the beginning of the funding period, must provide a letter, signed by the responsible official of the nominating Institution Paid, stating the institution's commitment to provide the affiliation. If the application is successful, funds will not be released to the Institution Paid until the affiliation is confirmed.
In order to increase capacity and allow as many researchers as possible to benefit from federal, peer-reviewed funding, individuals may not hold concurrently a CIHR salary award and another federally funded salary award, for example, a Canada Research Chair. Current Canada Research Chair holders are not eligible to apply for a CIHR New Investigator Award. Please consult the subsection titled "Eligibility Requirements for CIHR Grants and Awards" in Section 1 of the Grants and Awards Guide.
Individuals may only apply to one CIHR salary award competition in the same year (September 1 to August 31).
CIHR's decision will be conveyed to the Dean or Research Director who will receive the offer of award. Decisions will also be made available publicly on our "Funding Decisions" page. Successful applicants will be given two months to accept an offer.
Awards not accepted within this time period will be cancelled. Awards may start on July 1 following CIHR's offer and must be taken up within nine months after that date. March 1 of the following year is the latest possible start date. Awards may commence on the first day of any month. If any of these dates fall on a weekend or statutory holiday, the start date moves to the next business day.
Following approval by CIHR, successful applicants are sent an official Authorization for Funding (AFF) by CIHR. The AFF will state the name of the award holder, the type of award, the effective date of the funding period and the amount of the salary, including fringe benefits, and research allowance (if applicable) in each fiscal year for the duration of the award. A copy of the AFF is sent to the business officer of the university or institution who is administering the award.
CIHR will release funds for award holders once the following conditions have been met:
The business officer of the institution is responsible for disbursing funds to the award holder on behalf of CIHR. He or she must first ensure that the following conditions have been met prior to releasing the funds:
A Common Award Account enables CIHR funds to flow to an award holder at a Canadian institution. CIHR makes payments into the Common Award Account in monthly instalments, after all required documents have been received. The first payment will include the contributions to the institutional non-discretionary employee fringe benefits (unless the salary includes fringe benefits), on the same basis as such payments are made to, or on behalf of, members of the regular institutional staff.
In turn, the business officer of the institution where the salary is held will pay the award holder from the Common Award Account in accordance with its internal process. The research allowance is paid on the anniversary date of the award.
To comply with government policy, CIHR must confirm the award holder's continuing eligibility before releasing future instalments to the institution. Once a year, CIHR will provide the institution's research office and business office with a listing of award instalments for the next fiscal year. At this time, the institution will be required to confirm that the award holders continue to be eligible according to the funding opportunity eligibility criteria. However, the institution must contact CIHR's Finance Division as soon as an award holder's eligibility changes during tenure of the award.
To ensure that Institutions inside of Canada have complete and accurate funding data on the awards they administer, CIHR will make available to the research awards officers and business officers, at designated times of the year, a list that identifies all new awards and continuing instalments.
The business officer of the institution will be required to submit, in March of each year, a reconciliation of the commitments and payments made by CIHR with respect to the Common Award Account in accordance with instructions issued by CIHR each January. Other financial reports may be requested as needed.
The contribution provided by CIHR may be supplemented at the discretion of the host institution. In order to increase capacity and allow as many researchers as possible to benefit from federal, peer-reviewed funding, individuals may not hold both a CIHR salary award and another federally funded salary award.
The general policies of the institution relating to ordinary vacation, extended illness, parental, family or other types of leave of absence shall be applied to holders of a salary support award. The head of the department, and the Dean of Faculty or Research Director, are required to notify CIHR of any leave to be taken by an award holder, apart from ordinary vacation leave, in order that adjustments can be made to the dates of tenure of the salary award. The award is held in abeyance for the duration of all leaves taken. The term of the award will be extended by the duration of the leave, to a maximum of two years.
The leave should be requested at least 30 days in advance, if possible, or, if the reason for the leave comes suddenly and unexpectedly, as soon as is reasonably possible. The following documentation must be sent to CIHR:
Holders of salary support are eligible for sabbatical leave in accordance with normal local institutional policies to a maximum of 12 months leave for each six-year period as a member of faculty. If sabbatical leave is granted, the individual is eligible for continuation of CIHR's contribution to salary support during the leave. Award holders wishing to take such leave should present suitable proposals outlining their plans for the period, the research benefits that might be derived from the leave, and the provisions made for the operation of their research facilities in their absence. The investigators must also submit evidence that their proposal has been approved by the head of their department, the Dean of the faculty, and the president or principal of the university or the head of the institution. An application for sabbatical leave, in the form of a letter to CIHR, should be submitted at least three months before the leave is to be taken.
CIHR expects the award to be held in only one institution. In exceptional circumstances, however, CIHR will consider a request for transfer of the award. This will require:
CIHR may terminate an award at any time under the following circumstances:
In all cases, the aforementioned documentation must be submitted, by mail, to CIHR for assessment.
If CIHR decides to terminate an award, any remaining funds must be returned by the institution. For additional information on returning remaining funds to CIHR, please consult the subsection titled "After the Expiry Date of the Award" in section 2 of the Grants and Awards Guide.
Any residual funds from the research allowance remaining at the end of the fiscal year will be carried forward for use during subsequent years until the research allowance is completely spent or terminated.
Award holders may apply receipts against the research allowance for up to three months beyond the funding expiry date. Any funds remaining at the end of the Authority to Use Funds period must be returned to CIHR by cheque. When unspent funds are returned to CIHR, the cheque must be accompanied by a signed Tri-Agency Grants in Aid of Research Statement of Account - Form 300, indicating an unspent balance in the same amount as the refund.
