The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) is recruiting its 2027–2029 cohort of Global Scholars. The two-year programme is for researchers in their first five years as independent principal investigators, anywhere in the world, and this round includes CIFAR’s Brain, Mind & Consciousness programme. Scholars get unrestricted research money, mentorship, leadership training and a place in a small international network of senior researchers.
Applications close at 12:00 Eastern Standard Time (17:00 UK time) on 4 November 2026. Shortlisted candidates will be invited to interview by mid-February 2027, with virtual interviews on 23–25 March 2027. The term runs from 1 April 2027 to 31 March 2029.
What Global Scholars receive
Each Scholar receives CAD $100,000 in unrestricted research support over two years, paid through their home institution. It is not tied to a project, so you can spend it on research costs, teaching buyout, trainees or conference travel. CIFAR covers travel to its own meetings separately.
Scholars also join one of CIFAR’s research programmes as full members, meeting with its Fellows and Advisors twice a year around the world, and can bid for seed funding for high-risk interdisciplinary collaborations. The Azrieli Foundation Leadership Development Programme provides training in team leadership, mentoring trainees, science communication and advocacy, and there is an annual Global Scholars meeting, next held in St. John’s, Newfoundland, in June 2027.
Which programmes are recruiting
Five CIFAR programmes are taking Scholars this year: Boundaries, Membership & Belonging; Brain, Mind & Consciousness; Fungal Kingdom: Threats & Opportunities; Healthy Microbiomes in a Changing World; and Innovation, Equity & the Future of Prosperity. Your research needs to complement the themes of the programme you apply to, and CIFAR welcomes applicants who would bring a new angle to it. Dementia and neurodegeneration researchers are most likely to fit Brain, Mind & Consciousness, though the microbiome and social science programmes may suit some. If you want to apply to more than one, you need a separate application for each.
Who can apply
You must hold a PhD or equivalent and a full-time post that involves leading independent research as a principal investigator and supervising or teaching graduate trainees. In the UK, that means a Lecturer or equivalent post. Your first such post must have started between 1 July 2022 and 31 December 2026, and it must be secure for the whole term. Postdoctoral fellows are not eligible. Extensions to the eligibility window are available for parental leave and other career breaks.
There are no nationality or location restrictions and you stay at your own institution. You also need to be fluent in English, able to travel to meetings two or three times a year, and free for the interview dates. Each programme takes up to three new Scholars, and historically around 6% of eligible applicants have been selected.
How to apply
There is no project proposal. Instead, CIFAR asks for short statements on what you hope to gain and which leadership skills you want to build, a lay summary, a 1,000-word account of your research and how it fits the programme, a 1,000-word piece on your engagement beyond academia, an academic CV, a narrative CV of up to 1,000 words and two reference letters. Referees upload their letters directly, and your application cannot be finalised until both are in, so contact them early.
If you have not written one before, our podcast on how to create a narrative CV is a good starting point, and our piece on what it’s like to do interdisciplinary neuroscience gives a feel for the kind of work CIFAR is looking for. Read the full programme overview and apply on the CIFAR website.
Visit funding web page
(https://cifar.ca/global-scholars/)