What is an IMPaCT training award?

IMPaCT training awards facilitate participation in a 1-year immersive learning experience with assigned mentors and deliverables. The program is designed to give you the skills and network to design, conduct, and communicate about clinical trials with pregnant people and children (neonates through adolescents).

For the 2027–28 competition, awards of $10,000 are available to Doctoral Students, Postdoctoral Fellows, and Early Career Researchers. This includes 2 dedicated awards per year for applicants who identify as Black or Indigenous, open to all eligible career stages.

Award information is available in a PDF in English and French.

Applications for the 2027–28 competition open August 1, 2026!

  • What do you get with an IMPaCT
    training award?

  • A well-developed funding application for a pediatric or perinatal clinical trial

  • Knowledge and skills aligned with key competencies in trial design, engagement, operations, and communication

  • Immersive learning funds for hands-on trial learning through exclusive opportunities across a wide range of IMPaCT partner organizations (valued at $2,500)

  • Access to a cross-sectoral mentorship network of academic, youth, and parent partners

  • Summit registration, travel, and accommodations for professional development and national networking (valued at $2,500)

What does a year look like for an awarded IMPaCT Fellow?

Detailed curriculum

  1. Location of awardee: The award must be held at a Canadian Academic Institution, and/or research institute or hospital affiliated with a Canadian University. 

  2. Career stage: Candidates must be enrolled in a doctoral program, in a postdoctoral program (any year of program) or an Early Career Researcher defined using CIHR definitions at the time of accepting the award. This includes 2 dedicated awards (per year) for applicants that identify as Black or Indigenous at any career stage. 

  3. Citizenship: This program is open to Canadians and permanent residents of Canada. 

  4. Eligible clinical trial questions: Candidates must be interested in designing perinatal and child health clinical trials. As the primary IMPaCT fellowship deliverable is to develop a funding proposal based on a new trial, the clinical trial question you submit must be in the idea/protocol development phase. The population must either include children (neonates to 18 years old) or include people who are pregnant or in the postpartum period. The condition must be specific to pregnancy or postpartum or use a novel design to otherwise include pregnant people. The intervention can be any type (drug, behavioural, vaccine, device) and can include any trial phase including early phase and pragmatic trials. Adaptive and innovative approaches are encouraged!

If you have questions about your eligibility, email us at impactrials@gmail.com

Who is eligible for a training award?

How are awards evaluated?

Please see our IMPaCT training award evaluation criteria in the shared folder that will be used to score each complete application received. Trainees will receive copies of their evaluation forms including de-identified comments from the review committee.