Once again this year, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) is pleased to remind the community of an important funding opportunity for Canadian researchers interested in ambitious, international projects in the life sciences.

Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) Research Grants support innovative basic research into fundamental biological problems with emphasis placed on novel and interdisciplinary approaches that involve scientific exchanges across national and disciplinary boundaries. Projects are expected to be at the frontiers of knowledge and therefore entail risk. Participation of scientists from disciplines outside the traditional life sciences such as biophysics, chemistry, computational biology, computer science, engineering, mathematics, nanoscience or physics is recommended because their contributions have made biological research increasingly quantitative and because such collaborations have opened up new approaches for understanding the complex structures and regulatory networks that characterize living organisms, their evolution and interactions. It is important to note that HFSP only funds basic life science research.

Research grants are provided for teams of two to four scientists from different countries who wish to combine their expertise in innovative approaches to questions that could not be answered by individual laboratories. Preliminary results are not required and applicants are expected to develop new lines of research through the research collaboration.

Two types of Research Grant are available: 

• Early Career Grants*: Awarded to teams of researchers, all of whom are within the first five years after obtaining an independent laboratory (e.g. Assistant Professor, Lecturer or equivalent). Applications for Early Career Grants will be reviewed in competition with each other, independent of applications for Program Grants.
• Program Grants: Awarded to teams of independent researchers at any stage of their careers. Applications including independent investigators early in their careers are encouraged.

* Formerly Young Investigator Grants.

Letter of Intent (LOI) Initiation Deadline: March 21, 2023*
LOI Submission Deadline: March 30, 2023*
Submission of full proposals for invited applicants: September 2023

*For more information, please consult the HFSP website.

In Canada, the Human Frontier Science Program is jointly supported by NSERC and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.