The 2024-2026 Research Competition opens on September 15th, 2023.

The Parkinson Canada Research Program supports promising researchers as they discover new ways to understand and diagnose Parkinson’s disease, new treatments, and ways to improve quality of life for people impacted by Parkinson’s.

To submit an application, please make an account or log into our Research Application System.

WHAT’S NEW

Research Priority Area: Canadian Open Parkinson Network

  • For this year’s competition Parkinson Canada has earmarked $200,000 for meritorious projects (open to all active competitions) that make strong use of the datasets and resources from C-OPN. Applications will be submitted to the general research competition and will follow the same timeline, evaluation procedure, and general policy guidelines.   
  • To date C-OPN has enrolled over >1500 Parkinson’s patients from participating sites across Canada. From these participants, rich datasets (demographic, epidemiological and clinical information) and biological samples (DNA, PBMC and Serum) have been collected for further testing.  
  • Check out C-OPN here: https://copn-rpco.ca/research/ 
  • Check out the C-OPN research toolkit.
  • If applicants have any questions, contact Rosemary Wagner, C-OPN National Manager, at national.manager@copn-rpco.ca

New Template forms for Biographical Information and Budgets 

  • To standardize the forms and documents used for applications, Parkinson Canada will introduce template forms for biographical information and budgets, to be used by applicants.   

New Research Impact and Patient Involvement Statements  

  • We are introducing 2 new sections to the application materials for this year’s competition. These Research Impact and Patient Involvement Statements will give applicants the opportunity to describe how their research projects have the chance to concretely impact the lives of people with Parkinson’s and how they have taken into consideration how people affected by Parkinson’s will be involved in the design of their studies.   

Updated Research Awards and Stipend Values  

  • The Basic Research Fellowship (BRF) has been renamed to the Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (PRF).  
  • The Clinical Research Fellowship (CRF) has been renamed to the Clinician Scientist Research Fellowship (CSRF) 
  • The New Investigator Award is back! 
  • The value of the Graduate Student Award (GSA) has been increased to $20,000/year

Key documents

Funding opportunities

Pilot Project Grant (PPG)

  • Up to $75,000 (1-year term)
  • To foster novel, high-potential projects, and ideas with a trajectory for major grants with larger granting institutions

Graduate Student Award (GSA)

  • $20,000 per year (2-year term)
  • Full-time graduate students at the PhD level conducting research relevant to the cure, cause, prevention, improved treatment and/or understanding of Parkinson’s disease or related disorders.

Note: The Graduate Student Award for the Master’s level is not available.  

GSA Partnership Awards

  • Parkinson Canada/Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS) Partnership Award.
    • For candidates submitting applications to the Parkinson Canada/FRQS Partnership Program, funding amounts are $27,500/year for years 1 & 2. Additionally, candidates are eligible for funding for years 3 & 4 at the FRQS base award value ($25,000/year) as per regular FRQS competitions. Candidates for the Parkinson Canada/FRQS funding opportunity must submit applications to both FRQS and to Parkinson Canada and must indicate that this has been done. Research supported under this Program must be carried out at a University or affiliated institution (including hospitals and research institutes) within the province of Quebec.
  • Parkinson Canada/ResearchNB Partnership Award
    • Candidates must submit applications to Parkinson Canada only and indicate on their application that they wish to be considered for this partnership award. Research under this Program must be carried out at a post-secondary educational institution, regional health authority or research institute within the Province of New Brunswick. Two awards in this partnered funding program for the postdoctoral research fellowship will be eligible for an additional $5,000/year supplement.

Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (PRF)

  • $45,000 per year (2-year term)
  • Candidates must hold a doctoral degree (PhD or MD) obtained in the last 5 years and are exclusively conducting research relevant to the cure, cause, prevention, improved treatment and/or understanding of Parkinson’s disease or related disorders.

PRF Partnership Awards

  • Parkinson Canada/Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS) Partnership Award.
    • Candidates must submit applications to both Parkinson Canada and FRQS and indicate on their application that they wish to be considered for this partnership award. The program offers up to two years of joint support with the possibility of renewal for a third year from FRQS. Stipends in this program for fellowship candidates are the same as that which is offered for the Postdoctoral Research Fellowship. The amount of funding available for the third year is based on eligibility for funding renewal in their third year as per regular FRQS competitions and is restricted to FRQS regular funding amounts. Please see FRQS funding guidelines for 2024-2026 amounts.
  • Parkinson Canada/ResearchNB Partnership Program
    • Candidates must submit applications to Parkinson Canada only and indicate on their application that they wish to be considered for this partnership award. Research under this Program must be carried out at a post-secondary educational institution, regional health authority or research institute within the Province of New Brunswick. One award in this partnered funding program for the postdoctoral research fellowship will be eligible for an additional $10,000/year supplement.
  • Parkinson Canada/Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) Partnership Program
    • Candidates must submit applications to Parkinson Canada only and indicate on their application that they wish to be considered for this partnership award. Research supported under this Program must be carried out at a University or affiliated institution (including hospitals and research institutes), within the Province of Saskatchewan. For more information please visit the SHRF website (SHRF). Funding is available for 1 awardee in this program for fellowship candidates are the same as that which is offered for the Postdoctoral Research Fellowships plus a $10,000/year research supplement.

Clinician Scientist Research Fellowship (CSRF)

  • $50,000 per year or $75,000 per year (2-year term)
  • For applicants who are actively pursuing a research project related to Parkinson’s Disease while concurrently undergoing clinical training.
    • $50,000 per year for Residents in Neurology/Neurosurgery
    • $75,000 per year for Clinical Fellows

CSRF Partnership Awards

  • Parkinson Canada/ResearchNB Partnership Program
    • Candidates must submit applications to Parkinson Canada only and indicate on their application that they wish to be considered for this partnership award. Research under this Program must be carried out at a post-secondary educational institution, regional health authority or research institute within the Province of New Brunswick. One award in this partnered funding program for the postdoctoral research fellowship will be eligible for an additional $10,000/year supplement.
  • Parkinson Canada/Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation (SHRF) Partnership Program
  • Candidates must submit applications to Parkinson Canada only and indicate on their application that they wish to be considered for this partnership award. Research supported under this Program must be carried out at a University or affiliated institution (including hospitals and research institutes), within the Province of Saskatchewan. For more information please visit the SHRF website (SHRF). Funding is available for 1 awardee in this program for fellowship candidates are the same as that which is offered for the Postdoctoral Research Fellowships plus a $10,000/year research supplement.

Clinical Movement Disorder Fellowship (CMDF)

  • $75,000 per year (1-year term)
  • A training award for applicants who are enrolled in a clinical fellowship for movement disorders.

New Investigator Award

  • $45,000 per year (3-year term)
  • A project grant to encourage and support early career researchers in the field of Parkinson’s Disease who were appointed to their first faculty appointment within the last 5 years.

CLOSED – Digital Health Application Grant  

  • One award available for funding  
  • Maximum funding of $300,000  
  • The intent of the Parkinson’s Digital Health Application Grant is to fund the enhancement and evaluation of a health app that will engage people living with Parkinson’s and support their approach to wellness by offering education, and wellness tracking metrics to empower them to optimize their health. 

View the Digital Health App Guidelines 

Important Dates

  • 2024-2026 Competition Cycle Launch: September 15, 2023  
  • Application Submission Deadline: December 5, 2023 (11:59 PM EST)  
  • Anticipated Notification of Awards: May 2024  
  • Funding Start Date for Clinical Research Fellowships & Clinical Movement Disorder Fellowships: July 2024  
  • Funding Start Date for Remaining Awards: August 2024  
  • The updated Request for Applications will be uploaded shortly

Further details about each award are included in the Request for Applications and Terms & Conditions documents at the top of the page. For questions about our Research Competition, please see our FAQ page. For questions related to using the Research Application System, please see the Survey Monkey Apply Support Page. 

Inquiries

Email: research@parkinson.ca 
Phone: 1-800-565-3000