Current funding opportunities

It is anticipated that one (1) Fellowship will be awarded. 

If the successful applicant is a full-time student: $5,000 + equal matching from supervisor

If the successful applicant is a part-time student: $2,500 + equal matching from supervisor

Additional fellowships may be supported by external partners. The total number of additional awards are subject to the financial commitment of these agencies. The award is administered by the Canadian Lung Association.

The annual stipend for a Fellowship award is based on a 50:50 match formula between the Canadian Lung Association and the trainee’s supervisor. The matching funds can include funding from the supervisor, the host institution, and/or a research partner, including a provincial lung association. 

The applicant’s supervisor, department, host institution, and/or a partner agency is required to provide written confirmation of the remaining funding ($5,000 or $2,500) for one (1) year. 

Funds from the Canadian Lung Association will not be released until formal confirmation of matching funding is received from the trainee’s supervisor. 

Funds may not be matched by funds from tobacco, vaping, and/or cannabis industry and/or supervisors holding or having held funding, directly or indirectly from tobacco, vaping, and/or the cannabis industry.

The recipient of a Canadian Lung Association: Allied Health Fellowship Award is permitted to receive funding from other sources. Please inform the Manager, National Research Programs of other amounts received as soon as you know. 

What the funds can be used for

Funds from the Allied Health Fellowship Award are a salary or living stipend and are not to be used to pay for benefits, journal subscriptions, membership fees in scientific societies, travel expenses not specified in the approved budget, or to employ technicians, graduate students or others related to the applicant. 

The Canadian Lung Association supports only the direct costs of research. No funding is to be used for indirect costs of research including but not limited to general operation and maintenance of facilities (from laboratories to libraries), the management of the research process (from grant management to commercialization), regulation and safety compliance (including human ethics, animal care and environmental assessment). 

Payments

The Financial Officer of the supervisor’s university will receive the cheque. Please include the correct name and address of the Financial Officer responsible for administering the award in the application. 

Payments will be made in two instalments in September 2026 and March 2027 (unless otherwise agreed upon).

A progress report and copy of institutional ethics approval must be submitted in February 2027 before the second instalment is paid. The report will be reviewed to determine whether sufficient progress has been made. If adequate progress has not been made, the second instalment will not be released. 

A financial statement by the Financial Officer and final report by the awardee are required at the end of the funding period. 

Refunds and reimbursement

The Canadian Lung Association reserves the right to terminate further payments and request a refund of the award in the event that the recipient fails to fulfill the conditions specified. 

The award recipient (or the institution on his/her behalf) shall, if the need arises, immediately notify the Canadian Lung Association in writing of his/her inability, for any reason, to continue in the educational program for which support was awarded. 

In the event of termination of research training and/or graduate study during the award period, the recipient must immediately notify the Canadian Lung Association in writing. Unspent funds in the fellowship account must be refunded to the Canadian Lung Association. The recipient must contact the University Financial Officer and request that the funds be reimbursed. 

Any commitments (or expenditures) incurred by an award recipient either in excess of the current training funds or beyond the term of the training award are the responsibility of the recipient. 

A 1-year, no cost extension may be allowed for leaves of absence for personal or medical reason upon written request to research@lung.ca prior to the leave being taken.

The applicant must be a respiratory health professional from a recognized clinically based discipline, such as one of the following: 

• registered nurse
• nurse practitioner
• physiotherapist
• respiratory therapist
• pharmacist
• cardio-pulmonary technologist
• polysomnographic technologist
• kinesiologist
• dietician
• occupational therapist
• social worker
• psychologist 

MDs are not eligible for Canadian Lung Association Allied Health Fellowship.

The applicant must be enrolled in a graduate (thesis-based) program at the Masters or Doctoral level during the funding period (September 2026 – August 2027). Individuals who have applied to a graduate program but have not received acceptance may apply for a Fellowship however the award will be conditional on acceptance into the program. The award supports studies in a program at specific Canadian institutions. Transfers to another institution are not normally permitted during the course of funding.

The applicant must be pursuing a research study with respiratory health as the major focus.

Individuals who currently hold and/or are being supervised by individuals holding funding from the tobacco, vaping and/or cannabis industries are not eligible.

An applicant may apply for both an Allied Health Fellowship award, Canadian Lung Association Studentship Award, or Allied Health research operating grant in the same competition providing the applicant meets the eligibility requirements of each competition.

The review process

The application will be reviewed in detail by at least two reviewers. The reviewers rank the applications according to: 

• The applicant’s potential for successful program completion.
• The strength of the postgraduate program and research project.
• The applicant’s leadership and commitment to respiratory care area and professional development. 

The application that receives the highest score by the review committee and who supports the mission of the Canadian Lung Association is given funding priority. Once the review committee makes its funding recommendations, funding announcements are anticipated to be made in August. A letter of notification including rationale for the decision regarding funding is sent to all applicants via email.

It is important that all required details and documents are provided to facilitate the review process.

Evaluation criteria

Academic Achievement, Awards, Publications, Abstracts, and other KT Activities (Section 4a – 4e of the Application)

35% 

Career Aspiration (Sections 5a & 5b)

10% 

Research Proposal (Sections 6a – 6c)

30% 

Research Environment and Referee Assessment (Section 7a & 7b)

25%

Progress report and ethics

A progress report and copy of institutional ethics approval must be submitted in February 2027 before the second instalment is paid. The report will be reviewed to determine whether sufficient progress has been made. If adequate progress has not been made, the second instalment will not be released. 

At the end of the funding period

The Canadian Lung Association requires a final report upon completion of the award. A template will be provided. The report should include a description of contributions to respiratory health and the future commitment to the field. Please provide a brief summary of any course work or study carried out that relates to respiratory health, detailing results and implications. A list of relevant publications and presentations should be appended. 

A financial statement by the Financial Officer and final report by the awardee are required at the end of the funding period.

Successful applicants may be requested to complete a survey (Fellowship/Grant Funding Impact Form) three to six years following receipt of funding support. This information will be used to develop reports on the impact of The Canadian Lung Association’s National Research Program for the Canadian Lung Association’s Board of Directors and the public.

Successful applicants will be highlighted on the Canadian Lung Association website under the Research section. It is understood that the name of the successful applicant, his/her field of study and some content of the lay abstract, progress and final reports to The Canadian Lung Association may be made public. 

Successful applicants are expected to facilitate knowledge translation in their field of expertise through presentations at conferences and/or workshops, including, where feasible, conferences/workshops sponsored by The Canadian Lung Association. Publication of the research in a peer-reviewed indexed journal is strongly encouraged. Please notify the Manager, National Research Programs of such publications. Acknowledgement of The Canadian Lung Association support is required in all publications or presentations. Copyright of all publications belongs to the author(s). However, any publications arising from the Allied Health Fellowship award are to include an acknowledgment of award received as follows: 

Canadian Lung Association: Allied Health Fellowship Award

Successful applicants may be requested to complete a survey (Fellowship/Grant Funding Impact Form) three to six years following receipt of funding support. This information will be used to develop reports on the impact of the Canadian Lung Association’s National Research Program for the Canadian Lung Association’s Board of Directors and the public.

Registration form

Application form

Referee Assessment Form

Award guidelines

Registration deadline: March 25, 2026 at 16:00 EST

Application deadline: April 8, 2026 at 16:00 EST

Start date: September 1, 2016

Progress report and ethics due: February 1, 2027

End date: August 31, 2027

Registration

Provide registration details and upload one (1) PDF copy of the abstract by March 25, 2026. The Canadian Lung Association will confirm receipt of your registration via e-mail on March 26, 2026. 

The maximum length of the abstract is 1 page, 12-point Times New Roman font, single line spacing, with 1.9cm (0.75”) margins. Changing page margins, table size, or using a condensed font will result in the application being rejected during the administrative review. 

File must be save using the format AHF_LastName_Registration.pdf. The maximum file size is 10Mb. 

Application: What to include

The electronic copy must include a completed copy of the application form with signatures and all the relevant documents (excluding Referee Forms, which will be sent in separately by the referee). Upload one (1) PDF copy of the application by April 8, 2026 at 16:00 EST. 

File must be saved using the format AHF_LastName_Application.pdf. The Canadian Lung Association will confirm receipt of your application via e-mail on April 9, 2026.

Do not use additional pages except where indicated. Keep the application as clear and concise as possible. Note that copies of your publications are not required. 

Applicants are expected to include within the body of their application, and not in the appendices, all essential information required to permit assessment of the application. Additional information, such as academic transcripts, are to be included in the appendices. 

Transcripts

• Up-to-date official transcripts or certified true copies of transcripts for all post-secondary education, including undergraduate, are required. Photographs or screenshots of web transcripts are not allowed.
• Transcripts can either be forwarded as a .PDF directly to the Canadian Lung Association or included with the application submission in the appendices. Transcripts that are sent directly from the educational institution must be sent to research@lung.ca. 

Supervisor's statement

• A completed statement from the proposed supervisor that provides an overview of the research and academic training environment. Please give details on resources, programs, technologies, etc. that will be made available to the candidate, and on specific knowledge and skills to be acquired.
• A complete copy of the supervisor’s (and co-supervisor’s, if applicable) CV using the CIHR Biosketch form or CIHR Narrative CV. Failure to comply or the submission of an incomplete CV Module will result in the application being rejected. For international investigators, an NIHbiosketch may be substituted for an Biosketch CCV. • A letter from the applicant’s supervisor, department, host institution, and/or a partner agency confirming the value and source of matching funds. 

Referees

Request only two referees to complete the Referee Assessment form. Reference letters will not be accepted. One referee will be your current supervisor. Your other referee should either be an academic referee, a recent, or current employer. Under no circumstances may a referee be a family member. 

Select your referees with care and have them represent what each knows best of your scholarly, research and clinical abilities, and pertinent personal characteristics. The completed forms are not to be included with the submission but emailed directly by the referees to the Canadian Lung Association (research@lung.ca . 

Ethics

All applications involving human or animal investigations must be accompanied by a letter of approval from the ethics committee of the university or other institution(s) where the work is to be undertaken. If the ethics approval is not available at the time of submission, it must be sent to the Canadian Lung Association as soon as possible. The second installment will not be made available until this letter of approval has been received at the Canadian Lung Association.

Other information

An explanation listing the period and reason for any interruption in pursuit of the candidate career either in or subsequent to training, if applicable. 

Eilean McKenzie-Matwiy, PhD

Manager, National Research Programs
Canadian Lung Association

emckenzie-matwiy@lung.ca