CIHR relaunches funding opportunity to support analysis of CLSA data

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has announced the relaunch of a funding opportunity designed to support Canadian researchers in leveraging available data within the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) research platform.

The funding opportunity is intended to catalyze research efforts of Canadian researchers to use data from the CLSA to better understand how biological, medical, psychological, social, and/or economic aspects of people’s lives have an impact on both maintaining health and the development of disease and disability as people age.

Support for the 2025 Catalyst Grant: Analysis of CLSA Data is provided by the CIHR Institute of Aging (IA), Institute of Population and Public Health (IPPH), Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA), Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA), in partnership with the Quebec Network for Research on Aging (RQRV).

The total amount available for this funding opportunity is $1,485,000, enough to fund approximately 21 grants. The maximum amount per grant is $70,000 for up to one year.

This funding opportunity will support projects relevant to the following research areas:

1. General Pool ($140,000 available to fund two grants) – Funding provided by the IA for projects on any research topic.
2. IA Early Career Researcher ($140,000 available to fund two grants) – Funding provided by IA for projects on any research topic led by an Early Career Researcher.
3. Healthy Aging and Functional Ability in Aging ($140,000 available to fund two grants) – Funding provided by IA for projects on aligned with the objectives of the UN Decade of Healthy Aging.
4. Brain Health and Cognitive Impairment in Aging (BHCIA) Research Initiative ($280,000 available to fund four grants) – Funding provided by the IA for projects relevant to the overarching goals of the BHCIA Research Initiative.
5. IPPH Mandate ($210,000 available to fund three grants) – Funding provided by IPPH for projects related to its mandate and to pillar 4 research.
6. IPPH Mandate Early Career Researcher ($140,000 available to fund two grants) – Funding provided by IPPH for projects related to its mandate to pillar 4 research, led by an Early Career Researcher.
7. IMHA Mandate ($70,000 available for one grant) – Funding provided by IMHA for projects related to its mandate.
8. IMHA Mandate Early Career Researcher ($70,000 available for one grant) – Funding provided by IMHA for projects related to their mandate led by an Early Career Researcher.
9. INMHA Mandate ($280,000 available for four grants) – Funding provided by INMHA for projects related to its mandate.
10. RQRV Top up – $15,000 is available as a top-up funding from the RQRV to the highest ranked application from an active RQRV member based in the Province of Quebec and is aligned with a topic ranging from cell to societal aspects of aging.

Researchers interested in applying should visit ResearchNet for more information on eligibility, how to apply and the relevant research areas and data resources available. If needed, researchers can download the CLSA Data Access Support Letter to include with their application.

The CLSA will have newly available Follow-up 3 (FUP3) questionnaire data for this competition. Please refer to the CLSA Data Availability Table for a full summary of available CLSA data.

Researchers may propose projects using CLSA data alone, or CLSA data plus other data sets/cohorts to enhance the scope of research questions that can be addressed. We encourage applicants to consider new provincial administrative data linked through Health Data Research Network (HDRN) Canada (costs for accessing HDRN data are available here).

Building upon a consultation process with Indigenous researchers that began in 2019, the CLSA has revised its data access process for the use of Indigenous-identified data and has made changes to how these projects are assessed. Prospective applicants should review the webinar and resources on considerations for access/use of Indigenous-identified data to learn more about the CLSA’s expectations and guidelines for requests to access and use this data.

The registration deadline for the Catalyst Grant: Analysis of CLSA Data is September 10, 2025. The full application deadline is October 15, 2025. Funding is expected to begin March 2026.

For more information on how to access CLSA Data, please review the CLSA Data Access Application Process.