NFRF (New Frontiers in Research Fund) Exploration 2026 – Full Application
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
Social Justice
Well-being, Health and Biomedical Discovery
Deadlines
Academic Unit: Inquire with unit
Memorial Deadline: Thursday 15th, October 2026
External Deadline: Tuesday 20th, October 2026
Description
The New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) supports world-leading interdisciplinary, international, high-risk / high-reward, transformative and rapid-response Canadian-led research.
The goal of the Exploration stream is to inspire high-risk, high-reward and interdisciplinary research.
Exploration grants support research that pushes boundaries into exciting new areas. Researchers are encouraged to think “outside of the box” and undertake research that defies current paradigms; brings disciplines together in unexpected ways and from bold, innovative perspectives; and has the potential to be disruptive or deliver game-changing impacts.
Exploration stream grants support projects that:
- – bring disciplines together beyond traditional disciplinary or common interdisciplinary approaches;
- – propose to explore something new, which might fail; and
- have the potential for significant impact.
Exploration grants support research with a range of impacts—economic, scientific, artistic, cultural, social, technological, environmental or health-related. This list is not exhaustive; other types of impacts are also recognized. Diversity of perspectives is important, and the fund encourages research proposals led from any discipline, from those in the social sciences and humanities, to health, the natural sciences and engineering.
All competition information is available on our website, and the competition can now be accessed via the Convergence Portal.
The Exploration competition has two stages:
- Notice of Intent to Apply (NOI) stage with a deadline of August 18th, 2026(at 8 p.m. Eastern Time)
- Full Application stage with a deadline of October 20th, 2026(at 8 p.m. Eastern Time)
Applications at each stage must be submitted by the institution’s research administrators.
Research administrators are free to set their own internal deadlines.
In preparation for the NOI deadline, we encourage all applicants interested in submitting a NOI, as well as the research administrators, to participate in one of the two upcoming webinars. Below are the dates, times and links to the webinars.
NFRFE-2026 – NOI Webinar (English)
Thursday, May 21, 2026, 1:00 to 3:00 PM | (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
Meeting ID: 220 340 497 176 693 Passcode: 9nG98sT6
Dial in by phone: (888) 896-2137 Canada (Toll-free); Phone conference ID: 872 692 744#
FNFRE-2026 – Webinaire Avis d’intention (French)
Thursday, May 21, 2026, 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM | (UTC-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada)
Join link
Meeting ID: 243 788 175 260 877 Passcode: S8DK3ju6
Dial in by phone: (888) 896-2137 Canada (Toll-free); Phone conference ID: 680 047 602#
The webinars will be recorded and made available, along with the presentation slides, to the research administrators after the session.
For more information, please contact: NFRF-FNFR@chairs-chaires.gc.ca.