Competition

* Unless explicitly noted, all times indicated for deadlines are for the appropriate NL timezone (NST or NDT)

The Canada Gairdner Momentum Award annually recognizes 2 mid-career investigators (typically 10-15 years past their first independent research appointment) working in Canada who in their last 6 active years have produced exceptional scientific research contributions with continued potential for impact on human health. The Gairdner Foundation welcomes submissions from all areas of health research including but not limited to discovery, clinical, global health, and population science and translational research.

Successful nominees will have produced a focused, cohesive body of scientific research which has made a significant impact in health research. Consideration will also be given to a nominee’s contributions to the growth and enrichment of the Canadian research community.

Quality nominations are essential to the evaluation process for this award. Nominations are active for the year of submission only and must be resubmitted in following years to be considered again. Two awards will be given each year. Awards cannot be shared.

Key Dates

Nominations for the 2026 awards are due by 11:59 pm PDT on July 15, 2025.

This is a strict deadline. Nominations received after this date will be considered for the following year.

The 2026 recipients will be announced in March/April 2026, and presented in October of 2026.

Nominators are advised to contact Ellen Steinhauer , Awards and Honours, for information on this program.

The internal selection of candidates to be nominated by the University for prestigious external awards entails the Awards Advisory Committee (AAC) reviewing several times annually, submissions of preliminary nomination materials for certain external awards. Those faculty members whose files have been selected for the preparation of the University nomination for the above award will be contacted by the Office of the Vice-President (Research) for assistance in developing the final nomination package to be submitted to external bodies.

Preliminary nomination materials must be reviewed first by the Office of the Dean of HSS prior to the deadline set by the AAC (see deadline below). Heads or individual faculty members should submit the AAC nomination template document electronically to HSS’s Secretary to the Associate Deans, Savanna Muscat (smuscat@mun.ca). The template can also be obtained from the Grants Facilitators Heather C. O'Brien or Matthew Milner.

See https://www.mun.ca/honours/institutional-awards-committees/ for more information about the internal nomination process.