Budget 2024 investments: How is CIHR investing these new funds?
Message from the Vice-President and Associate Vice-President, Research Programs (Operations)

November 6, 2024

Dear colleagues,

Budget 2024 provided $1.8 billion over five years, beginning in 2024-2025, to the federal granting councils to support existing core research programs. It also designated $748 million annually to the granting councils in the years to follow. This is excellent news for the research community and a testament to the important role researchers play in the lives of people in Canada.

We are pleased that we can now share that, of the $1.8 billion investment, $540.3 million over five years (2024-25 to 2028-29), with $229.2 million per year ongoing, will be provided to CIHR.

How will the funds be used?

We know that the community's biggest priority is ensuring stable funding for investigator-initiated research, and these new funds will help strengthen the Project Grant program. It's important to note that this funding will ramp up over time, with $23M available in 2024-25 before gradually increasing to $229.2M in 2028-29 and thereafter.

This means that the Fall 2024 competition and subsequent Project Grant competitions will see an increase in available funding from the approximately $325M currently available. We will share these new amounts shortly.

CIHR's intention is that this additional funding will allow us to both increase the number of grants supported through the Project Grant program, and increase the average budget size for Project grants. In doing so, CIHR will provide for the new, higher rates to pay trainees a living wage, in line with the increased award values of tri-agency scholarships and fellowships.

As of September 2024, the granting councils increased the annual value of master's and doctoral scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships to $27,000, $40,000 and $70,000 respectively. It is CIHR's expectation that students being paid from CIHR grants will receive stipends in line with these amounts. We acknowledge that there are differences across the country (e.g., based on the cost of living in different areas).

We look forward to sharing more details about these investments in the coming months. In December, CIHR will hold Ask Me Anything webinar sessions, where you will have a chance to ask questions about this and other topics.

Sincerely,

Dr. Christian Baron
Vice-President, Research – Programs

Adrian Mota
Associate Vice-President, Research – Programs (Operations)

Date modified:

2024-11-06