Heart & Stroke and Brain Canada are supporting the 2025/26 Doctoral Personnel Awards for Black Scholars in committing up to a total of $480,000. This award was established to support Black scholars of African or Caribbean heritage and/or ancestry in Canada, and was co-created with Black leaders at all career stages who supported Heart & Stroke in the development of this funding opportunity. The objective of the competition is to increase the number of highly-qualified Black trainees across Canada committed to working in the fields of heart and/or brain research.
About Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
We drive life-saving medical breakthroughs, advocate for better health, and bring together the brightest minds to improve diagnosis, care and support. The Heart and Stroke Foundation is a national, voluntary, non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the health of Canadians by preventing and reducing disability and death from heart disease and stroke through research, health promotion and advocacy.
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Heart and Strike Foundation of Canada Doctoral Personnel Awards for Black Scholars
Aim and Benefits of Heart and Strike Foundation of Canada Doctoral Personnel Awards for Black Scholars
In the context of this award, heart and/or brain health research encompasses research addressing conditions, including neurological, that affect the cardiovascular and/or cerebrovascular health of people living in Canada. This could include research focused on prevention, treatment, and/or recovery related to heart conditions, stroke, vascular cognitive impairment, and mental health in relation to these conditions. The stipends awarded will be up to $120,000 CAD ($40,000 per year for up to three (3) years) enabling Black trainees to focus on their Doctoral research studies and engage with mentors as part of their training
Requirements for Heart and Strike Foundation of Canada Doctoral Personnel Awards for Black Scholars Qualification
SPECIFIC PROGRAM INFORMATION
B.1 Eligibility
In order to be eligible to apply for the 2025/26 Doctoral Personnel Award for Black Scholars, applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Applicants must self-identify as Black. Please refer to section A.7 for further details.
- As of the application deadline date, applicants must be Canadian citizens, permanent residents of Canada or Protected Persons under subsection 95(2) of the Immigration and Refugee ProtectionAct (Canada).
- At the time of submission, applicants must either (a) be enrolled in a Doctoral program at an eligible Canadian institution, (b) have applied for full-time admission to a Doctoral program at an eligible Canadian institution, with a start date of no later than September 30, 2025, or (c) are intending to reclassify from a Master’s to a Doctoral program at eligible Canadian institution, with a start date of no later than September 30, 2025. Applicants must submit confirmation from their institution of being enrolled/accepted/reclassified as a full-time student; or have submitted an application for full-time admission, in a Doctoral program. For more details, please refer to the ‘Institutional Statement’ in section B.12.
- Partial Doctoral Personnel Awards for less than one (1) year of funding are not available.
- Applicants must have an identified research supervisor based at an eligible Canadian institution where the research will be undertaken.
B.2 Tenure
- The award start date is September 1, 2025, for a period of up to 36 months. The term of the award will include reasonable holiday time according to the arrangement with the recipient’s supervisor and institution.
- Recipients starting their Doctoral program in September of 2025 are eligible for up to three (3) years of funding.
- The term of the award cannot be extended beyond the period originally specified and approved at the time of the award offer unless for reasons outlined in B.8.
- An awardee may defer the start date of the award for up to 6 months (i.e., no later than March 1 of the following year). Deferral requests must be made at the time of the award offer and can only commence on the first day of the deferred month requested. Deferral requests beyond 6 months of the award start date will not be considered. Recipients are strongly encouraged to submit a new application for the following year's competition. Deferral is defined as a delay in the start date of the award beyond the available start dates outlined above in B.2.a. Any start date deferral must ensure that the award end date remains consistent with the original program end date unless for reasons outlined in B.8.
- The recipient must notify Heart & Stroke if their Doctoral registration status changes (e.g., termination of studies, successful defense, program change, etc.).
Application Deadline
March 20, 2026
How to Apply
Interested and qualified? Go to
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada on circulink.heartandstroke.ca to apply
Applications are to be submitted via Heart & Stroke’s online grants management system, CIRCUlink.
It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure that a completed application is submitted via CIRCUlink no later than Thursday, March 20, 2025, 4:00 PM ET. CIRCUlink will NOT allow submissions after this deadline. Any applications attempted or submitted by email or mail after the deadline will NOT be accepted. There will be no appeal process for late submissions
For more details, visit Heart and Strike Foundation of Canada Doctoral Personnel Awards for Black Scholars webpage
