Cystic Fibrosis Canada opens 2025 research grant competition

Cystic Fibrosis Canada has opened its annual grant competition for 2025. Canadian researchers with an interest in cystic fibrosis (CF), including but not limited to its connections to diabetes and cancer, can now apply for funding to be awarded starting in early 2026. New this year is the Seed Clinical Trial Planning Grants and a Publication Prize.  

Applications are currently being accepted in the following categories: 

• Early career investigator awards and research fellowships, which invest in tomorrow’s research leaders by providing salary support to work under the supervision of established researcher or start their own labs. 
• Seed grants, which balance higher-risk, more innovative work with lower budgets and shorter timeframes to bring fresh new ideas to the field. 
• Seed Clinical Trial Planning Grants, which support the initial planning and development phases of a clinical trial, enabling researchers to refine the study design, protocol, and feasibility before a full-scale trial is initiated. 
• Publication Prize, which recognizes peer-reviewed published research by a student or trainee that has significantly contributed to the advancement of cystic fibrosis research in Canada. 

Please note that the Basic and Clinical Grant competition is on hold for 2025. 

Stay tuned for a potential funding opportunity with CIHR in the area of Cystic Fibrosis across the Lifespan. 

Cystic Fibrosis Canada will again partner with the Canadian Cancer Society and Diabetes Canada who are respectively providing funding for seed grants focused on cancer risk in people with CF and CF-related diabetes. This pooled funding approach reflects that as people live longer with CF thanks to life-changing treatments; they face new health challenges that remain under-researched in the CF population.  

Eligible proposals received by the application deadlines will be peer reviewed by a panel of scientific experts and Canadians with lived experience with CF. The highest-ranked applications will be awarded grants based on funds available as a result of fundraising and donations. 

Earlier this year Cystic Fibrosis Canada announced nearly $3 million in research investments for 2025, with funds supporting the seed grant competition and a research partnership with Genome Quebec, as well as basic science and clinical grants.  

Cystic Fibrosis Canada’s research funding is grounded in a strategic approach that prioritizes listening to and working with Canadians whose lives are most affected by CF; attracting scientific minds to fuel innovation; investing in areas of unmet need; and creating impact sooner rather than later. While the median age of survival has increased among Canadians with CF, life with the disease is still too challenging and too short. Research continues to be essential in fueling progress, particularly for those who cannot benefit from life-changing therapies and those experiencing more severe complications as they age with the disease. 

Information about the 2025 grant competition, including application deadlines, is available on Cystic Fibrosis Canada’s website. 

Contact 

Dr. Rachel Syme  
Program Director, Research and Clinical Trials 
Cystic Fibrosis Canada  
rsyme@cysticfibrosis.ca