Women's and Newborn Health Research Action Grant (WHRI Leveling Up)

Women's and Newborn Health Research Action Grant (WHRI Leveling Up) is sponsored by Women's Health Research Institute (WHRI) in partnership with the BC Women's Hospital + Health Centre Foundation. This competition supports previously pilot-tested women's and newborn's health research projects involving screening or diagnostic tools, or treatment interventions.

Leveling Up: Women’s and Newborn Health Research Action Grant – Women's Health Research Institute Letter of Intent (LOI) Deadline: September 4 , 202 6 11pm PDT Application Deadline: October 7 , 202 6 11pm PDT Anticipated Notice of Decision: November 30 , 202 6 Funding start date: December 1 , 202 6 The Women’s Health Research Institute (WHRI), in partnership with the BC Women’s Health Foundation, is pleased to announce the 2026 WHRI Leveling Up: Women’s and Newborn Health Research Action Grant competition to support previously pilot-tested women’s * and newborn’s health research projects involving a) screening or diagnostic tools; or b) treatment interventions.

These tools/interventions must have proof-of-concept pilot data and be ready to advance to the next stage of empirical testing, or a larger-scale trial, or scale-up, or implementation. One grant will be awarded at $100,000 for a two-year period. The WHRI Leveling Up Grant competition is distinct from the WHRI Catalyst Grant program in that it is intended to fund the next phase in the research discovery pipeline.

As such, it is a requirement that the applicant demonstrate how the proposed project represents the “next level”. Awards are open to BC researchers at a university or research hospital setting, but candidates must be a member of the WHRI and cannot have held a Catalyst Grant as a Principal Applicant in the past three cycles, including the current Catalyst Grant competition.

Eligible researchers include academic researchers and clinician scientists. * We define women’s health as encompassing both sex-specific conditions, sex differences across conditions, and gendered experiences affecting cis and trans women, and gender diverse people assigned female at birth.

↓2026 Women’s Health Research Institute Leveling Up: Women’s and Newborn Health Research Action Grant Application Instructions Package The application process for this funding opportunity consists of a letter of intent and full application. Applications that fail to submit a letter of intent by the deadline will not be eligible for funding. The LOI is due on September 4, 202 6 at 11PM PDT .

It must be submitted using the following link: https://rc. bcchr. ca/redcap/surveys/?

s=MJFTMXFTKPFHP8LF *Please note you will not be able to save the LOI once it has been started so ensure you can complete the LOI in a single sitting. * After September 14, 2026, an email invitation to submit a full application will be sent to each Principal Applicant who meets the eligibility criteria, which will allow them to upload and submit the full application in pdf format.

Questions about the WHRI Leveling Up: Women’s and Newborn Health Research Action Grant competition or the application process can be sent to Kathryn Dewar ( KDewar@cw. bc.

ca ) Learn about past recipients: 2025 WHRI Leveling Up: Women’s and Newborn Health Research Action Grant Recipient The Women’s Health Research Institute would like to acknowledge that we are uninvited guests on the unceded ancestral territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Stó:lo, and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-waututh) Nations.

As a provincial research institute committed to improving the health outcomes of women, including those across the 2SLGBTQIA+ spectrum, we recognize our responsibility in the collective effort towards establishing culturally safe health care systems and services that address health inequities among Indigenous peoples, especially Indigenous women, girls, and Two-spirit peoples.

We encourage all people involved in research to read both the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action and the In Plain Sight Report , and reflect on ways we can incorporate the recommendations into our work. As we gather in spaces together, we encourage you to reflect on your positionality on these lands and your personal commitments to reconciliation.

Scientific Advisory Board Research Funding & Grant Development BC Perinatal Data Registry – Data Access Requests WHRI Summer Scholar Series BC Women’s Hospital Research Rounds WHRI Lunch & Learn Series Annual Women’s Health Research Symposium @WomensResearch Wellness Exchange Scientific Advisory Board Research Funding & Grant Development BC Perinatal Data Registry – Data Access Requests WHRI Summer Scholar Series BC Women’s Hospital Research Rounds WHRI Lunch & Learn Series Annual Women’s Health Research Symposium @WomensResearch Wellness Exchange