Discovery Award

Founded in 1925, the Banting Discovery Foundation is Canada’s oldest health charity that supports early career researchers (ECR) during their first academic appointments—a pivotal stage when ECRs, like Frederick Banting, have limited funding but limitless possibility. We take pride in being the first—and for more than a decade, virtually the only—organization funding medical research in Canada, until 1938, when the National Research Council also began supporting research in the field.

To apply for the Banting Discovery Award, you must:

• Be a health or biomedical researcher.
• Be within three years of your first academic appointment (e.g., Assistant Professor or equivalent) at a Canadian university or research institute.
• Have begun this appointment within eight years of completing your most recent graduate or professional degree (PhD, MD, or MD/PhD)
• Have not received external peer-reviewed grant funding such as from CIHR or NSERC, at the time of application. Support from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) does not count towards the funding limit.
• Have not received external research funding exceeding over $50,000 per year at the time of receiving the Banting  

Discovery Award. If the external funding exceeds $50,000, the candidate may still apply for up to $30,000 providing the total operating funds including the Banting Discovery Award do not exceed $80,000 in the funding year.