Heart and Stroke Foundation – Grants-In-Aid
Well-being, Health and Biomedical Discovery
Deadlines
Academic Unit: Inquire within unit
Memorial Deadline: Monday 24th, August 2026
External Deadline: Thursday 27th, August 2026
Description
Purpose and Objectives
The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (“Heart & Stroke”) Grant-in-Aid (“GIA”) program provides
operating funds to support important, pertinent, novel research in the areas of heart disease and/or stroke.
GIA funding to successful applicants (“Recipients”) promotes research discovery, exploration and
innovation across all health research themes. Knowledge gained from scientific findings contributes to the
cardiovascular and cerebrovascular health of Canadians through prevention, treatment, and recovery.
Heart & Stroke offers support for projects in cardiovascular or cerebrovascular research. This support may
be provided to successful GIA Applicants (“Applicants”) for a maximum of four (4) years. GIA funds may
only be used to support research conducted in Canada. All grants become tenable July 1 following the
announcement of the competition results.
Eligibility
In order to be eligible to apply for the GIA competition, Applicants must meet the following criteria:
a. Principal Applicants (”PA”) and Co-Principal Applicants (“Co-PA”) must have a full-time academic
or faculty appointment (i.e., at minimum, at the Assistant or Clinical Assistant Professor level) at
an eligible Canadian institution at the time the application is submitted.
b. Applicants holding lecturer/clinical scholar of similar university appointments that are of lower tier
than Assistant Professor appointments are not eligible to apply as PA and Co-PA.
c. The date of first faculty appointment will be based on the date listed in the BioSketch under
First Faculty Appointment. Please ensure your BioSketch is updated and correctly identifies a
valid appointment including that it is full-time under section B. Professional Experience, Leadership
Activities, and Honors (B.4.4 BioSketch).
d. For any application with a PA and Co-PA, should the PA be deemed ineligible, the entire application
will be withdrawn from the competition. There will be no appeal process for applications deemed
ineligible.
e. Applicants holding adjunct appointments at an academic institution must submit a letter from
their dean/chair/division director to clarify that through their specific appointment they are accorded
protected time for research. The letter is required to quantify the amount of protected time available,
their access to research infrastructure and their access to other resources necessary to conduct
the proposed research study. Failure to include this explanatory letter with all required
components will result in the withdrawal of the application (without appeal).
f. At the time of submission, and for the duration of the award, Recipients are ineligible if they hold
or have already held funding, directly or indirectly, from the tobacco industry.
g. Please Note: Principal Applicants based in New Brunswick, or who will be as of the July 1 start
date of the funding year, are required to contact the Heart and Stroke Foundation of New
Brunswick at info@hsf.nb.ca prior to developing an application.
Registration
Applicants must complete a registration for the funding opportunity using the Heart & Stroke’s electronic grant and award management system CIRCUlink before accessing and submitting the application.
Note that registration for the competition closes three (3) hours prior to the submission deadline. Heart & Stroke strongly encourages Applicants to begin the registration process as early as possible, and well in advance of the application submission deadline to ensure timely completion.
Applications will be completed online using Heart & Stroke’s online portal, CIRCUlink. A detailed CIRCUlink User-Guide to assist in navigating the system is available, and all Applicants are strongly encouraged to review it in advance of starting an application to optimize user experience.
By submitting an application, Applicants understand that the information provided may be shared with
funding partners for the purpose of eligibility, relevance, peer review and/or funding decisions.
Application Submission Deadline – August 27, 2026 – 3:00pm ET (Registration closes at 12:00pm
ET)
Official Notification Date – May 2027
Grant Start Date – July 1, 2027
For more information on how to apply, please see the Heart and Stroke Foundation Website here.