• Description
• Eligibility
• Funding
• Application
• Review
• Award
• Post-award requirements
• Regulations, policies and guidelines
• Resources

The Canada Postdoctoral Research Award (CPRA) program is a federal research talent investment program in the Canada Research Training Awards Suite (CRTAS) administered by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). The CRTAS includes the following programs: the Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Master's (CGRS M), the Canada Graduate Research Scholarship – Doctoral (CGRS D) and the Canada Postdoctoral Research Award (CPRA). The CRTAS recognizes and empowers the next generation of highly qualified innovators, knowledge workers and creative thinkers. It supports outstanding graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in developing their research skills and provides the funding and flexibility needed to support their contributions to building world-class research capacity and to Canada’s prosperity and competitiveness.

The CPRA program supports and promotes research excellence in a wide variety of disciplines and broad fields of health, natural sciences and engineering and social sciences and humanities, including interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research. This support allows postdoctoral researchers to add to their experience by engaging in research either in Canada or outside of Canada and facilitates their transition to the next phase of their career.

To be eligible to apply, you must:

• hold or expect to hold a doctoral or health professional degree before the start date of your award
• not hold or be on leave from a tenure-track or tenured faculty position. Generally, tenure or tenure-track refers to an open-ended academic position in which the holder can form a research group, apply for externally funded research as a principal investigator and teach

In addition, you must have completed all requirements of your doctoral or health professional degree no more than three years before September 1 of the year in which you apply.

Note: This is not the conferred or convocation date but rather the date on which all the requirements of your degree were met, including the successful defence and submission of the corrected copy of your thesis. If you have more than one doctoral or health professional degree, the completion date of your most recent relevant degree will be used to determine your eligibility.

Exceptions to the doctoral or health professional degree completion eligibility period may be granted if you meet one or more of the following criteria, to a total maximum extension of three years:

• Your career was delayed or interrupted after completing your doctoral or health professional degree due to parental leave, medical leave, family-related responsibilities, mandatory military service, disruptions due to war, civil conflicts or natural disasters in your country of residence or limited research opportunities due to socio-economic reasons. The eligibility period can be extended by the duration of the eligible delay(s) or interruption(s). Career delay or interruption refers to a period of time when you were not working (full-time or part-time) and when your research was completely interrupted.
• You have acquired at least six months of full-time, relevant employment in industry or government (experience in an academic institution or its affiliated hospitals, research institutions and other laboratories will not be considered) after you received your doctoral or health professional degree, the eligibility period can be extended by the duration of this employment.
• You became the primary caregiver after the birth or adoption of a child within three years before or after completing your doctoral or health professional degree. In this case, your eligibility period will be extended by three years.

In addition, if you have engaged in a non-research-related clinical training (for example, your residency) after you received your doctoral or health professional degree, the eligibility period will be extended by the duration of this training.

If you are subject to an extended eligibility period, you may be asked to provide additional information and/or supporting documentation. Any such submission will only be used by agency staff to assess your eligibility for the program. If you wish to inform the review committee of delays and/or special circumstances that may have affected your performance and/or productivity, you may do so in the Special circumstances section of the application.

If you are not a Canadian citizen, permanent resident of Canada or protected person under subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada), as of the application deadline, you must meet one of the following conditions:

• be currently registered in a doctoral or health professional degree at a Canadian institution
• have previously completed a doctoral or health professional degree at a Canadian institution
• be currently conducting postdoctoral research at a Canadian institution

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

You may propose to hold your CPRA at:

• academic research institutions
• provincial research institutions
• research hospitals
• colleges, non-government organizations, Indigenous organizations and other institutions with a significant research training mandate

CPRAs cannot be held at a Canadian federal government research institution.

Direct any questions about institutional eligibility to the appropriate funding agency well in advance of the submission deadline.

To be eligible to hold your award at an eligible international institution, you must both:

• be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident of Canada or protected person under subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (Canada) as of the application deadline
• have completed your doctoral or health professional degree at a Canadian institution

Up to 30% of all postdoctoral awards will be available to be held outside of Canada.

When considering locations of tenure outside of Canada and to help you plan for safe travels and to safeguard your research abroad, you are encouraged to consult the Government of Canada’s resources related to travel and research security. These include the following pages:

• Travel advice and advisories by destination
• Travel health notices
• Registration of Canadians abroad
• Emergency assistance outside Canada
• Safeguarding Your Research portal, which includes resources such as a Travel security guide for university researchers and staff, a series of self-directed research security training courses and Canada’s list of Named Research Organizations
• Safeguarding Science initiative, which offers virtual training modules including on the protection of your research while travelling abroad

Please note that the Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern (STRAC Policy) does not apply to scholarship and fellowship programs, such as the Canada Research Training Awards Suite (CRTAS). However, all Canadian researchers are encouraged to consult the Tri-agency guidance on research security and associated resources in order to exercise due diligence when managing their research.

• You can apply to only one CRTAS program per academic year through CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC. If you apply to more than one program, only the first eligible application submitted to the agencies will be retained.
• You can apply a maximum of three times to the CPRA program.
• You cannot have already received a postdoctoral award from CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC (including a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship).
• You cannot hold a CPRA concurrently with another tri-agency research training award.

An eligible postdoctoral research program must be predominantly research-oriented.

Projects whose primary objective is to adapt a doctoral thesis for publication in a book or manuscript, to edit textbooks, to translate or acquire a foreign language are not eligible for funding under this funding opportunity.

Your proposed research must be significantly distinct from your doctoral thesis or contribute significantly beyond your doctoral thesis.

Failure to follow these instructions may negatively impact the evaluation of your application and could lead to it being removed from the competition.

In Budget 2024, funding was provided to support an increase in the number of awards, a portion of which will be dedicated to supporting priority research areas. The agencies will make additional award offers for select meritorious applications that align with one or more of the following priority research areas:

• Advanced digital technologies (including AI, 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
• Defence and dual-use technologies

See agency-specific application instructions for guidance on how to identify your research as being aligned with a priority research area. 

The agencies may offer supplementary funding to award holders, some of which is offered through joint initiatives (collaborations with organizations from across the not-for-profit, private and public sectors to support and promote training, research and connection activities). Joint initiatives and supplements are designed to reflect the strategic objectives and mandates of each respective agency, inform decision-makers and, in certain cases, address specific needs of their partners. See the agency websites (CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC) for more information on related opportunities.

The Indigenous Scholars Awards and Supplements Pilot Initiative provides financial support to meritorious Indigenous postdoctoral researchers (First Nations, Inuit or Métis) whose nations or communities are located in Canada and who have applied to the CPRA program through NSERC or SSHRC. To the limit of available funding, Indigenous postdoctoral researchers who are successful in the CPRA competition will be offered the Indigenous Scholars Supplement valued at $10,000 for one year. Additional CPRA awards and supplements may be offered to select meritorious applicants who have not been offered an award in this competition.

The Tri-Agency Policy on Indigenous Citizenship and Membership Affirmation and the associated directive apply to these awards and supplements; successful applicants must provide documentation as outlined in the Policy and Directive.

For more information, refer to the Indigenous Scholars Awards and Supplements Pilot Initiative web page.

These measures include:

• a checkbox in the application form to identify a proposed program of study as Indigenous research, such that the Guidelines for the merit review of Indigenous research will apply (CIHR and SSHRC only)
• instructions for members of the review committees to consider special circumstances that may have had an impact on the academic or career paths of Indigenous applicants
• concerted efforts by the agencies to include Indigenous members and experts in Indigenous research on review committees

The Government of Canada has allocated additional funds to increase direct support for Black postdoctoral researchers. Meritorious CPRA applicants who self-identify as Black and provide consent to be considered for funds designated for specific groups may be selected to receive this funding. Each agency has up to six additional awards reserved for Black postdoctoral researchers.

Apply to the agency best aligned with your research subject matter to ensure your application  will be reviewed by experts in disciplines closest to your field(s) of study. For more information, see Selecting the Appropriate Federal Granting Agency.

If you are applying to CIHR, consider the information on CIHR’s website.

If you are applying to NSERC, see the Addendum to the guidelines for the eligibility of applications related to health, which has additional information and specific examples relating to subject matter.

If you are applying to SSHRC, see the information on SSHRC’s Subject Matter Eligibility web page.

If you are still unsure after consulting these resources, contact the relevant agencies.

It remains your responsibility to select the funding agency that best suits your application.

To complete the application process, see the appropriate agency’s website and instructions:

• CIHR: ResearchNET and instructions
• NSERC: Online system and instructions
• SSHRC: Registration and login and instructions 

You must submit your application electronically through the relevant agency’s platform. All referees/references, institutional nominators, etc., must use the appropriate online application system to submit their supporting letters before the deadline.

If you need help while preparing your application, write to the appropriate program contact well before the application deadline.

As the application deadline approaches, the high volume of users accessing the online application systems may cause delays that prevent you from submitting your application on time. It is your responsibility to strictly follow the instructions for completing an application by the deadline. Late applications will not be accepted.

With the exception of personal contact information, you cannot make any changes or updates to your submitted application either before or after the deadline. You may update your personal contact information by sending an email to the relevant agency.

If your proposed host institution has an internal deadline for the endorsement or nomination process, you must submit your application by the deadline set by the institution, which may be well in advance of the agency deadline.

For more information about institutional deadlines, contact the relevant institution’s department in charge of postdoctoral affairs.