CIHR Doctoral Awards and Health Research Training Platforms Compared
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published Aug 10, 2025 • Scholarships & Funding, Canadian Universities & Colleges
A health research doctoral student in Canada can get funded two different ways: win an individual doctoral scholarship on your own application, or join a supervisor's grant-funded training platform that pays trainees as part of a larger program.
🎓 The individual route now runs through the harmonized Canada Graduate Research Scholarship - Doctoral, worth 40,000 CAD per year for up to three years.
💵 A training platform pays a stipend set by that specific program, not a fixed national rate.
📩 You apply for the individual award yourself. A platform seat usually comes through your supervisor or department.
Platforms often add required coursework, rotations or cohort activities the individual award does not.
Two different funding routes for the same field
Health research doctoral students in Canada can be funded through an individual scholarship they win on their own application, or through a training platform that a supervisor or department already holds. The two work differently, and knowing the difference before you apply saves you from assuming one covers what the other does.
The individual doctoral award
CIHR previously ran its own Canada Graduate Scholarships - Doctoral competition, known as the Frederick Banting and Charles Best award, for students in a health-related field. The 2025-26 CIHR CGS-D competition , with results released April 30, 2025, was the final round run under that name. CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC now run one harmonized competition for this level of award, the Canada Graduate Research Scholarship - Doctoral, part of the joint Canada Research Training Award Suite . It pays 40,000 CAD per year for up to three years, and health-related applicants are still assessed through a CIHR-aligned review process within that single national competition. You apply once, through your university's graduate studies office, on the agency's annual cycle. Students in Quebec can weigh this national option against the province's own Fonds de recherche du Quebec awards, comparing FRQNT, FRQSC and FRQS.
Training platforms
CIHR also funds multi-year health research training programs awarded directly to a university, hospital research institute, or a consortium of them, rather than to an individual student. These platforms build a cohort of trainees around a shared research theme, such as a specific disease area or a research method, and usually add required coursework, lab rotations, or cohort seminars beyond your regular thesis work. A seat in one of these platforms is not something you apply for on your own the way you apply for an individual scholarship. Your supervisor, or the platform's own recruitment process, decides who gets a funded seat, and the exact stipend and term length depend on that specific platform's own budget rather than one fixed national number.
Comparing the two routes
| Feature | Individual award (CGRS-D) | Training platform seat |
|---|---|---|
| Who you apply through | You apply directly, via your university's graduate office | Your supervisor or the platform's own process selects trainees |
| Payment amount | Fixed at 40,000 CAD per year | Set by the individual platform, varies by program |
| Duration | Up to three years | Varies by program and available funding |
| Extra requirements | None beyond your normal degree progress | Often includes shared coursework, rotations or cohort events |
| Portability | Follows you if you switch supervisors within eligibility rules | Tied to the specific platform and its host institution |
Which one to pursue
Apply for the individual award regardless of whether a training platform is available to you, since it does not require a supervisor's grant to already exist and the amount is fixed and known in advance. Ask any prospective supervisor whether their lab holds a seat in a training platform, what that seat currently pays, and what extra coursework or rotation commitments come with it before you decide between two offers that look similar on paper but come from different funding structures.
Ask the graduate program directly whether you can hold both at once. Some training platforms are structured so a trainee's platform stipend is reduced or replaced if that student also wins an individual scholarship in the same year, so get this rule in writing rather than assuming the two simply add together.