Office of Surgical Research | Funding Opportunities
Internal Funding Opportunities
The Office of Surgical Research administers several grant competitions on behalf of the Department of Surgery. Please review the available grants and awards below.
Open Competitions:
The purpose of CSRDF program is to provide researchers with a small grant to conduct pilot/novel studies. Each proposal can request up to $4000, and priority is given to applications involving residents within the Department of Surgery.
Application Deadline: October 31, 2024
A total of $10,000 will be awarded annually, with a maximum award of $2500 per application, to cover the cost of fees associated with publishing in an open-access journal. There are two deadlines for the competition, June 30 and December 31. The primary author (lead, first-named, or corresponding) must be a Department of Surgery member and journals must be non-predatory and use a full open-access publishing model.
Application Deadlines: June 30, 2024, and December 31, 2024
Predatory journals and conferences are a growing problem in the research world. The University of Calgary has put together an information guide on how to recognize suspicious journals and conferences. The Directory of Open Access Journals is an online resource that lists quality, peer-reviewed journals. If you are planning on publishing in a journal that is not listed in DOAJ, please investigate further.
Upcoming Competitions:
The Department of Surgery (DoS), Office of Surgical Research (OSR) is pleased to announce a new funding opportunity for DoS members. The "Pathway to Success" funding award is designed to provide PI's or DoS research groups infrastructure, research capacity and early data to facilitate competitive applications towards external funding opportunities.
Application Deadline: TBD
The Surgeon Scientist Program is a longstanding program within the Department of Surgery designed to support residents, and extended residents as they pursue a master's or Ph.D. while enrolled on surgical training at the University of Calgary. Surgeon Scientist recipient will receive up to $60,000 as salary support for a 1-year period.
In recognition of Dr. Peter Cruse’s outstanding leadership and dedication to the Department of Surgery and to the education of medical students, the Department of Surgery will presents the annual “Peter Cruse Award” for the best surgery-related research project by a University of Calgary medical student. The recipient of this award will present their project as a podium presentation at Surgeons’ Day and will be awarded a $250 gift certificate to the University of Calgary Bookstore.
The Sharpest Knife competition sees investigators compete live at our annual Surgeons' Day to be awarded a $10,000 grant from the Office of Surgical Research. The goal of this competition is to invite greater engagement in the granting process and promote understanding of the exciting research being proposed in the Department of Surgery.
Live Competition Date: June 21, 2024
Closed Competitions:
The Pillars of Research Award is a jointly funded competition between the Office of Surgical Research and the Cumming School of Medicine. It is designed to promote research within the four pillars of the OSR: Basic Science, Clinical, Education, and Health Systems Research. The program provides up to $25,000 in funding per year for two years. The purpose of this grant program is to provide funding for research within the Department of Surgery that has a novel focus, hypothesis, or questions and could lead to publications and further external funding.
Pillar Definitions (partially adapted from the Canadian Institute for Health Research):
Basic Science: Research involving disciplines such as biochemistry, microbiology, physiology, and pharmacology. Usually involves laboratory studies with cell cultures, animal studies, or physiological experiments. Studies may be clinically linked by focusing on the discovery and analysis of genes or genetic markers of disease. Machine learning and some biomedical engineering projects would fall under the scope of this pillar.
Clinical: Clinical research is research with the goal of improving the diagnosis and treatment of disease and injury. Clinical research is focused on improving the health and quality of life of patients and improving best clinical practice.
Health Systems: Research designed with the goal of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of health professionals and the health care system. Changes occur through changes to practice and policy. There are many areas involved in health services research, including assessment of how social factors, financing systems, organizational structures and processes, health technologies, and personal behaviours affect access to health care, the quality of health care, and the cost of health care. The ultimate goal is to promote the health and well-being of Canadians.
Education: Research involving student/resident teaching, physician training, patient education, etc. Topics may include patient care, medical knowledge, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal and communication skills, systems-based practice, professionalism, etc. Outcomes that are measured in this type of research include changes in knowledge, attitudes, skills, behaviours, patient outcomes, etc.
- Past Winners
- Past Competition Guidelines (please note, there is no guarantee that these will not significantly change from year to year)
The purpose of this program is to promote the enhancement of research at the section level. Each of the fourteen sections within the Department of Surgery are invited to submit requests for funding for activities that will enhance the research capacity of their own section. Funds can be used for research assistants/coordinators, specific areas of research within the section, resident research support, biostatistical support, research training, etc. Priority is given to sections who plan to utilize the funds in support of young researchers, resident research, or for general capacity building activities, and to sections who provide matching funds.
- Past Winners
- Past Competition Guidelines (please note, there is no guarantee that these will not significantly change from year to year)
This program is similar to the Section Funding initiative and is designed to provide support to individual researchers nominated by their sections. Each year, a few researchers who have demonstrated high research productivity, community involvement, and publication potential will be selected to receive monetary support. Other researchers involved in the targeted support program will receive administrative and statistical support from the OSR.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created a significant impact on the delivery of surgical care across Canada. There is a unique opportunity to support surgical research in this domain, which is not well represented in national funding opportunities. The purpose of this funding opportunity is to support COVID-19 surgical research across all pillars defined by the OSR (basic science, clinical research, education, health systems), and the OSR has a budget of $20,000 to support eligible research projects. Two to four projects can be funded, depending on the scientific merit and budget. The tight timeline for this application is to facilitate quick access to funds and research.
External Funding
The University of Calgary Cumming School of Medicine offers various internal and external grants. Please review the list of available grants and awards below.