Sponsor
The International Joint Initiative for Research Harnessing Disruptive Technologies to Address Global Challenges represents a collaboration among research funders from the Åland Islands, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom.
The Canadian research funder is the Tri-Agency Institutional Programs Secretariat (TIPS), on behalf of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).
Program
For More Information
Notice of Intent to Apply Guide
Letter of Intent to Apply Guide
Merit Indicators for the Review of Applications
Best practices in equity, diversity and inclusion in research practice and design
To connect with other researchers interested in this call, please join the official contact list by completing this survey before February 9, 2026.
For additional information, researchers are encouraged to attend the informational events below. No registration is necessary. Please save the dates in your calendar and join using the links below.
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Information Webinars:
- English webinar: February 3, 2026, 9:30am to 11:30am (Join webinar)
- French webinar: February 4, 2026, 9:30am to 11:30am (Join webinar)
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Drop-in question session
- English/French: February 11, 2026, 1:00pm to 2:00pm (Join webinar)
Description
The International Joint Initiative for Research Harnessing Disruptive Technologies to Address Global Challenges represents a collaboration among research funders from across Europe, the Americas, and Asia to support international, interdisciplinary and transformative research aimed at harnessing disruptive technology to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There has been global recognition that the world is behind on achieving the SDGs by their 2030 target date.
This call aims to harness the potential of disruptive technology to offer novel solutions to global challenges and accelerate progress towards achieving the SDGs. More research is needed on how disruptive technologies can be used in contextually appropriate interventions to have transformative economic or societal impacts to improve the lives of people and the planet.
In this call, “disruptive technology” is defined as “an innovation whose application replaces or radically alters systems, processes and/or behaviours to have transformative economic or societal impacts. The impact may be localized or far-reaching. Disruptive technology may include cutting-edge and novel innovations, or the application of an existing innovation in a new context, bringing about substantial change or paradigm shifts.”
Research harnessing disruptive technologies to address global challenges requires an interdisciplinary approach involving expertise across disciplines—including the natural sciences, engineering, health sciences, social sciences and humanities—and across sectors, including academia, government, not-for-profit organizations, community organizations and private industry. Co-development of research and solutions in partnership with affected stakeholders is essential for long-term success.
Eligibility
The project team must include a minimum of three principal investigators, each eligible to receive funding from a different participating international funding organization. At least one of the three principal investigators must be eligible to apply to the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) program. The principal investigators eligible for the three funding organizations will be co-PIs on the proposal. Please see additional eligibility rules for international funding organizations on the program website.
Each co-PI may only participate in one project in this competition as a co-PI.
Project teams must be interdisciplinary, involving disciplines from at least two of the following three areas: natural sciences and engineering; social sciences and humanities; and health and life sciences. It is strongly recommended that all project teams include at least one expert in social sciences or humanities among the co-principal investigators (co-PIs), fostering successful implementation for maximum impact.
Projects in this call must directly address at least one of the SDGs.
Applications submitted to NFRF are subject to Canada’s Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern. The policy prohibits funding of research that advances a sensitive technology research area if any of the researchers involved are affiliated with or in receipt of funding or in-kind support from a university, research institute or laboratory connected to military, national defence, or state security entities that could pose a risk to Canada’s national security. For proposals that fall under a sensitive technology research area, the research team members will need to provide an attestation as part of their submission, if they are invited to the full application stage.
Funding Availability
Funding is available for three-year projects. The total amount of funding available for each project will depend on the funding organizations supporting the project. Please see the program website for more information on the level of financial support available and eligibility of expenses from each funding organization.
The invited proposals’ funding requests must not exceed three times the available budget of each funding organization.
Project Duration
Three years
Special Notes
LOIs will be evaluated using a distributed peer review process. In this process, applicants are also the reviewers and review other proposals submitted to the same funding opportunity. By submitting an LOI, applicants agree to act as reviewers and to have their proposal reviewed by other applicants to the call. For this competition, all co-PIs must be available and willing to act as reviewers.
By submitting an LOI, you accept the following terms and conditions:
- Selected co-PIs will receive a maximum of 10 LOIs to review; and,
- Reviewers are expected to carefully read all assigned proposals, rate them, and provide feedback that will go to the applicants, following the rules and guidelines.
Co-PIs’ completion of timely and high-quality reviews of assigned LOIs is an eligibility requirement for moving to the full application stage. Failure to complete the reviews by the deadline, or submission of reviews of consistently poor quality, will result in the proposal the co-PI is part of being deemed ineligible to proceed to the full application stage.
The outcome of the evaluation at the LOI stage is a recommendation to project teams whether to proceed with the preparation and submission of a full application. Project teams invited to submit a full application will have their proposals automatically transitioned to the full application stage in the Convergence Portal, allowing them to work on their full applications. Project teams that receive negative advice (i.e. are advised not to continue) may still choose to submit a full application. In order to continue in the competition, such project teams must reach out to the NFRF team at NFRF-FNFR@chairs-chaires.gc.ca and request access to the full application in the Convergence Portal, including a short justification for continuing against the advice received, within two weeks of receiving the outcome of the LOI stage review.
Proposals that do not pass the fit-to-program or interdisciplinarity criterion will be advised not to proceed to the full application stage. Reviewers’ ratings for the high risk, high reward and feasibility criteria will determine an overall score for each LOI. Additional proposals may be invited to ensure all funding organizations are represented in the full application stage. This means LOIs placed lower in the ranking may be invited if their invitation ensures all funding organizations are represented in the list of proposals.
Deadlines
If College-level review is required, your College will communicate its earlier internal deadlines.
| Type | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Internal Deadline | Notice of Intent to Apply Stage (NOI) The NFRF-eligible co-PI must submit their NOI through the Convergence Portal. Please submit a copy of the draft NOI along with a signed OR-5 to the Research Services Office (RSO) at research.services@uoguelph.ca by the internal NOI deadline. The NOI, reviewed and submitted by RSO, is mandatory to progress to the next stage. A complete, signed OR-5 form is required at this stage to verify eligibility, etc. Please estimate the maximum budget on your OR-5 form, and it can be updated at the Full Application stage when finalized. NOIs will be used for administrative purposes to assess indicative eligibility of the project team, and to compose the multidisciplinary/multisectoral review panel at the full application stage. NOIs are not assessed for scientific merit. The co-PIs and co-applicants, if applicable, must each complete their own profile before the NOI is submitted to RSO. Only the NFRF-eligible co-PI can initialize, finalize and submit the NOI. | |
External Deadline | RSO will submit the completed NOI directly through the Convergence Portal on behalf of the research team. | |
Internal Deadline | Letter of Intent to Apply Stage (LOI) The NFRF-eligible co-PI must submit their LOI through the Convergence Portal by the internal LOI deadline. By submitting an LOI, applicants agree to act as reviewers and to have their proposal reviewed by other applicants to the call. Failure to complete the reviews by the deadline, or submission of reviews of consistently poor quality, will result in the proposal the co-PI is part of being deemed ineligible to proceed to the full application stage. Please see 'Special Notes' section above for more information. | |
External Deadline | RSO will submit the completed LOI directly through the Convergence Portal on behalf of the research team. | |
Internal Deadline | Project teams invited to submit a full application will have their proposals automatically transitioned to the full application stage in the Convergence Portal. Project teams that are advised not to continue may still choose to submit a full application by submitting a request to the NFRF team at NFRF-FNFR@chairs-chaires.gc.ca. The NFRF-eligible co-PI must submit their completed Full Application in the Convergence Portal and notify research.services@uoguelph.ca by the internal Full Application deadline. | |
External Deadline | RSO will submit the completed Full Application directly through the Convergence Portal on behalf of the research team. |
How to Apply
Notice of Intent to Apply Guide