Canada Impact+ Research Training Awards (CIRTA)

The eight priority research areas are as follows:

• Defence and dual-use technologies.
• Advanced digital technologies (including artificial intelligence, quantum and cybersecurity)
• Health, including biotechnology
• Clean technology and resource value chains
• Environment, climate resilience and the Arctic
• Food and water security
• Democratic and community resilience
• Manufacturing and advanced materials

Nominator (faculty supervisor) eligibility:

• Must hold an active Tri-Agency grant (details at: Tri-Agency FAQ #17)
• Must be eligible to supervise doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows

Nominee (student recipient) eligibility:

• Incoming doctoral students:
  • Nominees cannot have a current affiliation with a Canadian institution and must be currently studying or working abroad
  • Nominees must be eligible to enroll in a doctoral program at the nominating institution in Canada as of the award activation date; the latest possible PhD program start date is January 2027.
• Nominees can be of any citizenship:
  • International students (will be in Canada on a study visa)
  • Canadian citizens, permanent residents and protected people.
• Undertaking research in priority areas listed above.
• Meet eligibility requirements for admission to the UBC PhD program
• See additional eligibility criteria at: Tri-Agency FAQ 23-35

Nominee (Postdoctoral Fellow) eligibility:

• Prospective Postdoctoral Fellow:
  • Nominees cannot have a current affiliation with a Canadian institution and must be currently studying or working abroad
  • Nominees must be qualified to undertake postdoctoral research at the nominating institution in Canada as of the award activation date. All Canada Impact+ Research Training Awards must be activated by March 31, 2027.  
• Nominees can be of any citizenship:
  • International citizens  
  • Canadian citizens, permanent residents and protected persons.
• Undertaking research in priority areas listed above. 
• Meet eligibility requirements to hold a Postdoctoral Fellowship at UBC. 
• Must not have held previous postdoctoral-level funding from the tri-agencies (CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC), regardless of institution.  
• See additional nominee eligibility criteria at: Tri-Agency FAQ 23-35 

The CIRTA program entails two levels of selection:

• Selection of nominators (faculty): UBC will be allocated a set number of CIRTA nominations. G+PS will distribute these nominations among disciplinary Faculties; in turn, each Faculty will work with its academic units to identify specific faculty supervisors (nominators) who will be invited to submit a CIRTA nomination (as per the eligibility criteria). Nominators will be identified in January 2026.
  
• Selection of nominees (PhD students and Postdoctoral Fellows): Each designated nominator will identify an eligible nominee (as per the eligibility criteria) by late February 2026.

Faculty of Medicine Internal Procedure

1. Departmental Nominations to FoM: EOI submissions due by Friday, January 23, 2026, at 12.00 pm PST (noon)
   
   
   • Interested Faculty of Medicine supervisors are invited to submit an Expression of Interest (Word doc linked) to their respective Department or School. Departments and Schools will conduct an internal review of the submissions and rank the EOIs based on the eligibility criteria and alignment with the CIRTA priority areas.
   • Each Department/ School may submit up to four nominations for doctoral awards and up to two nominations for postdoctoral research awards, in ranked order, along with the corresponding EOIs, to the Faculty of Medicine.
   • Submissions must be made through the Online Portal (linked webpage) for the Faculty-level review.
     
     
2. FoM Nomination Review: Due by the end of January 2026
   
   All EOIs received will be reviewed by an internal committee chaired by the Associate Dean, Graduate and Postdoctoral Education.
   
   
3. FoM faculty nominations to G+PS: Due by the end of January 2026
   
   Based on the Faculty allocations, the Faculty of Medicine will submit the selected faculty supervisor nominations to the G+PS. Each faculty supervisor may be nominated for one award only. Successful nominators will then be invited by the G+PS to prepare and submit the full application package for the CIRTA nomination.
   
   Nominators will provide the required nomination materials for their nominee to G+PS, who will submit the nominations to the Tri-Agencies on behalf of each nominator by March 4^th. The Tri-Agencies will review each nomination to validate the eligibility of the nominator and nominee.