Postdoctoral Fellowships

The Postdoctoral Fellowships Program enhances the recruitment and development of talent that will strengthen Alberta’s digital health ecosystem and accelerate the conversion of research and technology into sustainable human-centered care.

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Program Status: Inactive
Program Status refers to the state of work going on within this particular program. If the Program is 'Active', it is either accepting new applications or research is currently underway. If the Program is 'Inactive', the Program is neither accepting new applications nor is any research being conducted.
Intake Status: Open
Intake Status refers to the state of the Program's call for new applications. If the Intake is displaying 'Open', the Program is accepting new applications. If the Intake is displaying 'Closed', the Program is not accepting new applications.

Program at a Glance

Business Area: Health Innovation
Priority Area(s): Enhances the recruitment and development of talent that will strengthen Alberta’s digital health ecosystem and accelerate the conversion of research and technology into sustainable human-centered care.
Program Guide:

Eligibility

Alberta-based: No

Overview

The Postdoctoral Fellowships Program is a collaborative effort with three Alberta universities encouraging postdoctoral fellows to explore exciting and impactful career opportunities in Alberta’s health research and innovation (R&I) ecosystem. Participating institutions offer multiple competitions every year. A range of one- and two-year fellowships may be offered through the program, including two-year recruitment starting at $70,000 / year.

Program Priority Areas for 2025/26 – 2027/28:
  • Lab to Market/Impact: advancing health research and technologies with high potential for commercial success and/or real-world impact.
  • Clinical Research: engagement in clinical research activities, including study design, participant recruitment, data collection and analysis, or integrating research directly into care.
  • Innovative Care Model Implementations: collaborating with healthcare providers to pilot and scale new care models that improve patient outcomes and system efficiency.
  • Building Healthier Futures Through Cross Disciplinary Collaboration: leveraging cross-disciplinary frameworks—such as One Health—to advance more integrated and comprehensive solutions to health promotion.
Program Objectives:
  • Cultivate a world-class research and innovation system.
  • Drive the discovery, development, and use of innovations that have high potential to improve the health of citizens while creating opportunities for economic diversification in Alberta.
  • Increase the competitiveness of Alberta as a destination for health technology and life sciences talent.

Open Intakes

Postdoctoral Fellowships Program - Intake

Due date: Continuous

More details

Eligibility

To qualify for an Alberta Innovates Recruitment Fellowship, all Fellows must:

  • Have completed a PhD or another relevant doctoral degree (e.g. Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Pharmacy, Doctor of Dental Surgery, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine) at the time of award implementation. Universities may consider additional equivalencies that are relevant to the program priority areas on a case-by-case basis;
  • Be an incoming postdoctoral appointee to one of the Applicant institutions (i.e., the award term for a Recruitment Fellowship must start within the first six months of Fellows’ postdoctoral appointment);
  • Have applied no more than once before for a Fellowship from Alberta Innovates;
  • Have been shortlisted for funding consideration through any one of the following ways:

To qualify for an Alberta Innovates Postdoctoral Fellowship, all Fellows must:

  • Have completed a PhD or another relevant doctoral degree (e.g. Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Pharmacy, Doctor of Dental Surgery, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine) at the time of award implementation. Universities may consider additional equivalencies that are relevant to the program priority areas on a case-by-case basis;
  • Have accepted or started a postdoctoral appointment at one of the Applicant institutions;
  • Be less than five years into a postdoctoral appointment at one of the Applicant institutions;
  • Have applied no more than once before for a Fellowship from Alberta Innovates;
  • Have been shortlisted for project relevancy review through any one of the following ways:
    • Scored among the top 25% of Fellows in a Fellowship competition run by a member of the Tri- Agency, or
    • Ranked Excellent to Outstanding in a university-based Fellowship competition or triaging process.

To qualify for an Alberta Innovates Enhancement Fellowship, all Fellows must:

  • Have completed a PhD or another relevant doctoral degree (e.g. Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Pharmacy, Doctor of Dental Surgery, Doctor of Veterinary Medicine) at the time of award implementation. Universities may consider additional equivalencies that are relevant to the program priority areas on a case-by-case basis;
  • Have accepted or started a postdoctoral appointment at one of the Applicant institutions;
  • Be less than five years into a postdoctoral appointment at one of the Applicant institutions;
  • Have applied no more than once before for a Fellowship from Alberta Innovates;
  • Have been shortlisted for project relevancy review through any one of the following ways:
    • Scored among the top 35% of Fellows in a fellowship competition run by a member of the Tri- Agency, or
    • Ranked Good to Very-Good in a university-based fellowship competition.

How To Apply

Under the guidance of Alberta Innovates, the host post-secondary institutions run fellowship competitions and administer the program. Exact competition details will be found on individual post-secondary institution websites.

Please visit the respective post-secondary institution competition pages for information specific to their institution:

Evaluation Process

All fellowship applications are assessed for scientific excellence through a competitive process. This may consist of:

  • A university-run fellowship competition; or
  • A university-run triaging process for a Tri-Agency competition; or
  • A Tri-Agency-run competition.

The results from the review of scientific excellence will be used to triage fellowship applications for an assessment of relevancy by Alberta Innovates. Only those fellowship applications deemed relevant to program priority areas and approved by Alberta Innovates can be supported. Alberta Innovates retains the sole right to determine the evaluation process and does not disclose the names of any external reviewers used to ensure their objectivity and impartiality. All external parties are subject to both confidentiality and conflict of interest policies set by Alberta Innovates.

Contact

Maddie Renouf

Senior Business Partner, Health Innovation Talent


Open and Upcoming Intakes

Postdoctoral Fellowships Program - Intake

The Postdoctoral Fellowships Program enhances the recruitment and development of talent that will strengthen Alberta’s health technology and life sciences ecosystem, and accelerate the conversion of research and technology into sustainable human-centered care.

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