The Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research is excited to announce the launch of a new funding competition for the Career Investigator Program – Scholar Award.

These awards represent one of the cornerstones of our investment in nurturing talent and building research capacity in British Columbia. Since 2001, our personnel programs have supported more than 1,450 individual researchers working across all areas of health research. MSFHR funding helps foster the development of outstanding health researchers by providing a vital source of support that allows them to build strong research programs, engage collaborators and teams, and attract additional funding to advance knowledge on critical health issues. Past recipients of this award have achieved numerous discoveries and "world firsts" that have improved health and saved lives in BC and around the world.

More information about this funding opportunity, including guidelines and instructions, may be found on the MSFHR website.

Our commitments to current MSFHR award recipients remain our first priority. New awards under this program will be contingent upon receipt of sufficient funding for the 2012/13 fiscal year to cover existing commitments as well as new awards arising from this competition. 

An upgraded version of our MSFHR ApplyNet grant application system is being launched concurrently with this competition. The new system is task-driven and allows users to manage applications and awards from a personal home page where they can also seek input from supervisors, department heads, deans, referees, and others as part of the full application. All details of the application are now available in one place, reducing workload for applicants and improving response time from MSFHR staff. MSFHR ApplyNet may be accessed through our website homepage. Tutorials are available to help users learn the new system.

As we enter our second decade, MSFHR is excited to continue fostering excellence through these scholar awards as we support our best and brightest to discover, connect, and engage to improve health.