Closed
Source verified August 10, 2026
Operating Grant: Human Frontier Science Program - Research Grants
Collaborative basic life science research
Receipt of requests is now closed
Get notified about updates to this grant.
Latest source updateLast Update: August 10, 2026Latest change: The full proposal instructions PDF now shows a new submission deadline and revised submission rules, including a stricter institution-matching requirement.View change
Latest source update
Last Update: August 10, 2026
Latest change: The full proposal instructions PDF now shows a new submission deadline and revised submission rules, including a stricter institution-matching requirement.
HFSP full proposal instructions updated
The Instructions for Submitting a Full Proposal PDF now shows the submission deadline as 10 Sep 2026, replacing the prior 11 Sep 2025 deadline. It also adds a validation rule requiring the institutional official and applicant institution to match exactly before submission, and revises process guidance on the previous HFSP grant year, publication date window, and figure/table limits. The funding text and contact details were not materially changed in the updated instructions.
Funding available
$ 300,000 - $ 500,000
Deadline
Closed
Location
Canada
Overview
HFSP Research Grants provide fixed annual awards of 300,000 USD to 500,000 USD for international teams of scientists pursuing innovative basic research in the life sciences, with Principal Applicants in HFSPO member countries and co-applicants worldwide. Supported work includes novel interdisciplinary collaboration on basic biological questions, with mathematical or computational modelling encouraged.
Receipt of requests is now closed
Get notified about updates to this grant.
At a glance
Funding available
Financing goals
- Conduct research and development activities
Eligible Funding
- Maximum amount : 500,000 $
- Minimum amount : 300,000 $
Funds Providers
Eligible candidates
Eligible Industries
- All industries
Location
- Canada
Legal structures
- Public or Parapublic institution
Annual revenue
- All revenue ranges
Organisation size
- All organization sizes
Audience
- All groups
Next Steps
1
Determine your project
2
Validate your eligibility
Activities funded
- Basic research studying fundamental problems in the life sciences.
- Novel collaborations among scientists working in different countries and different disciplines.
- Projects that develop new lines of research through collaboration.
- Mathematical or computational modelling approaches, when clearly described.
Documents Needed
- Letter of Intent.
- Invited Full Proposal.
- Each team member’s CV information and publications.
Official resources
Eligibility
Who is eligible?
- International research teams of 2 to 4 scientists.
- Principal Applicants working at non-for-profit academic institutions in HFSPO member countries.
- Co-applicants based in any country, including non-HFSPO member countries.
- Teams that include members from for-profit organizations if their expertise is necessary for the project.
Who is not eligible
- Individual researchers.
- Post-doctoral fellows.
- Teams with all members in one country.
- Teams with more than one member affiliated to the same institution.
- Scientists who hold or apply for more than one HFSP award at the same time.
Eligible expenses
- Purchase of equipment essential for the new collaborative project.
- Reagents, animals, disposables, and computer software necessary for the scientific collaboration.
- Consulting services, computer services, and services by research facilities specific to the project, including rental fees.
- Salaries for research assistants, including post-doctoral scientists, graduate students, and technicians, essential for the new collaborative project.
- Publication costs including open access fees, article translations, mail and express courier services, and travel and per diem allowances (up to three months each year) for team members and their personnel visiting other team members, for field work or visits to research facilities, scientific meetings or training courses related to the HFSP project, and costs for attending the annual awardee meeting organised by the HFSPO.
Ineligible Costs and Activities
- Purchase of equipment to supplement current domestic programs.
- Salary support for the Principal Applicant, Co-Applicant, other faculty, or institutional staff such as secretaries or laboratory managers, and student tuition fees.
- Projects of a purely applied nature, including projects with a primarily clinical and/or pharmaceutical focus, diagnosis or treatment of diseases, identifying drug targets, drug design and development, applied projects in engineering, biotechnology, or nanotechnology, development of novel methods that do not aim to answer a basic biological question, and projects directly focused on agricultural, forestry, environmental, or conservational problems.
- Purely observational or descriptive projects, including systematic screening approaches and data collection studies.
- Proposals that are an obvious next step in the field, use standard approaches, or promise only an incremental advancement in the field.
Eligible geographic areas
- Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus (EU part), the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, the Republic of Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
- Any country, including non-HFSPO member countries, for co-applicants.
Selection criteria
- Novelty.
- Interdisciplinarity.
- Team integration.
How to apply
- Designate one member as Principal Applicant.
- Create a personal account in ProposalCentral and initiate the Letter of Intent by 17 March 2026 at the latest.
- Save the title page of the online form to generate the 7-digit LOI ID.
- Add all co-applicants, enter their CV information and publications, and submit the Letter of Intent by 26 March 2026.
- If invited, submit the Full Proposal by mid-September 2026.
Processing and Agreement
- Letters of Intent are checked for applicant eligibility and pre-screened for concordance with the scientific scope and project requirements.
- The remaining Letters of Intent are evaluated by the Review Committee.
- A Selection Committee decides which applicants will be invited to submit a Full Proposal.
- The Principal Applicant is notified of the Letter of Intent outcome in mid-July 2026.
- In the event of an award being made, the distribution of funds will be proposed by the team and, after approval, the funds will be transferred by the HFSPO directly to each team member’s institution; institutions will be required to maintain complete lists of all expenditures and a financial report will be required for the full grant period.
Additional information
- DOIs will be assigned to all awards, helping to enhance project visibility, accessibility and inclusivity.
- HFSPO will not claim any intellectual or commercial property rights that may be generated through the research it sponsors.
- Submission of manuscripts for publication of these discoveries in scientific journals will not be delayed for more than 45 working days after the manuscript is completed.
- An acknowledgement (with grant number/DOI) of support by the Human Frontier Science Program must be included in all publications resulting from work carried out under the grant.
Contacts
Other components of this program
Explore related funding streams and grants that belong to the same program.
- Operating Grant: New Investigator Research Grants in Child and Youth Health (2026)Funding for early-career child health research
Frequently Asked Questions about the Operating Grant: Human Frontier Science Program - Research Grants Program
What is the Operating Grant: Human Frontier Science Program - Research Grants?
HFSP Research Grants provide fixed annual awards of 300,000 USD to 500,000 USD for international teams of scientists pursuing innovative basic research in the life sciences, with Principal Applicants in HFSPO member countries and co-applicants worldwide. Supported work includes novel interdisciplinary collaboration on basic biological questions, with mathematical or computational modelling encouraged.
How much funding can be received?
Operating Grant: Human Frontier Science Program - Research Grants Funds up to $500,000 of admissible expenses.
Who is eligible for the Operating Grant: Human Frontier Science Program - Research Grants program?
To be eligible for the Operating Grant: Human Frontier Science Program - Research Grants program, you must:
Basic life science research.
International collaborative team.
Novel project beyond ongoing work.
What expenses are eligible under Operating Grant: Human Frontier Science Program - Research Grants?
Basic research studying fundamental problems in the life sciences.
Novel collaborations among scientists working in different countries and different disciplines.
Projects that develop new lines of research through collaboration.
Mathematical or computational modelling approaches, when clearly described.
Who can I contact for more information about the Operating Grant: Human Frontier Science Program - Research Grants?
You can contact Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) by email at grant@hfsp.org or by phone at 33 3 88 21 51 ext. 26 or 37.
Where is the Operating Grant: Human Frontier Science Program - Research Grants available?
The Operating Grant: Human Frontier Science Program - Research Grants program is available across Canada.
Is the Operating Grant: Human Frontier Science Program - Research Grants a grant, loan, or tax credit?
Operating Grant: Human Frontier Science Program - Research Grants is a Grant and Funding