Canada Foundation of Innovation (CFI) John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF)- Call for Expressions of Interest – October 2026 Competition
Aboriginal Peoples
Arctic and Northern Regions
Community, Regional & Enterprise Development
Creative Arts, Culture and Heritage
Environment, Energy and Natural Resources
Governance and Public Policy
Information and Communication Technology
Oceans, Fisheries and Aquaculture
Deadlines
Academic Unit: Inquire within unit
Memorial Deadline: Monday 8th, June 2026
External Deadline:
Description
All application submissions to Research Initiatives & Services (RIS) are due by 4:00 pm NDT on the deadline dates outlined below. Applicants must coordinate with their Academic Units for any related unit deadlines to ensure all signatures of approval are secured before submission to RIS.
Phase 1 – Expression of Interest (EOI)
Monday, June 8, 2026: Deadline for the submission of an Expression of Interest (EOI). EOIs must be emailed to RIS (ris@mun.ca), with the email subject: CFI JELF EOI October 2026 Call. The maximum CFI amount that can be requested is $465,000. All received EOIs will be reviewed by a Selection Committee, and only those EOIs selected will be invited to proceed to Phase 2.
The CFI JELF is an allocation-based funding program that predetermines the maximum amount of funding available to each CFI-eligible institution over a three-year period, based on a rolling average of cumulative funding received in eligible programs from the three federal research funding agencies (i.e., CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC).
Phase 2 – Full Application Selection and Submission to CFI
Monday, August 10, 2026: Deadline for the submission of a completed* Phase 2 CFI JELF application. Phase 2 applications must be submitted to RIS via the Researcher Portal. All received Phase 2 applications will be reviewed by a Selection Committee, and only the selected applications will proceed to submission to CFI.
Friday, October 5, 2026: Deadline for final submission of CFI JELF applications for projects selected from Phase 2. Applications will submitted via the Researcher Portal to be reviewed by RIS and host units.
Thursday, Oct. 15, 2026: Submission of finalized CFI JELF application(s) by OVPRI to CFI.
*Note: “Completed” means ALL sections of the CFI JELF online application have been completed and validated by the applicant(s) in the CFI CAMS system, and all required files are uploaded and compliant with the CFI formatting guidelines outlined below.
For more details, please see attached.
Downloads
CFI JELF October 2026 EOI Call_May 6 2026