2026 International Joint Initiative for Research Harnessing Disruptive Technologies to Address Global Challenges: Notice of Intent to Apply Guide

On this page

• Before completing a notice of intent to apply
• Completing the notice of intent
• Required information
• Notice of intent content
• Submitting a notice of intent
• Submitting a notice of intent as the research administrator
• Contact information

This guide is intended to be used in conjunction with the information provided in the 2026 International Joint Initiative for Research Harnessing Disruptive Technologies to Address Global Challenges competition overview and review process guides.

Your NOI must be received by the fund (NFRF) by 8:00 p.m. (eastern) on the deadline date. Your institution may have earlier internal deadlines. Check with your research administrator regarding internal deadlines. The research administrator at the institution of the co-principal investigator (co-PI) eligible to receive funding from NFRF is responsible for submitting the NOI to the agency.

All team members, including co-PIs and/or co-applicants, should inform the research administrator at their institution, if applicable, of their involvement in the application.

Before completing a notice of intent to apply

• Read the 2026 International Joint Initiative for Research Harnessing Disruptive Technologies to Address Global Challenges competition overview to ensure your project fits this funding opportunity.
• See Eligibility requirements to ensure you are eligible to apply as a co-PI or co-applicant. Participants who do not meet the eligibility criteria, including by participating on more than one application as a co-PI, may have their status changed or be removed from an application. If none of the co-PIs is eligible to receive funds from NFRF, the application will be withdrawn from the competition.
• If you are the NFRF-eligible co-PI, consult the research administrator at your institution’s research grants office about internal deadlines. The research administrator at your institution is responsible for submitting your NOI by 8:00 p.m. (eastern) on the deadline date. Late NOIs will not be accepted. An NOI cannot be changed after the research administrator has submitted it.
• Check that your proposed project meets all the basic eligibility requirements:
  • The team consists of at least three co-PIs, with a project lead identified.
  • Each co-PI is participating in only this project in this competition as a co-PI.
  • The team, as a whole, is eligible to receive funding from at least three different funding organizations, with:
    • at least one co-PI eligible to receive funding from each selected funding organizations; and
    • at least one co-PI eligible to apply for funding from NFRF.
  • The proposed project is 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.
  • The project focuses on harnessing disruptive technology, as defined in the competition overview.
  • The project will clearly address at least one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), or can justify how it addresses another global challenge.

Completing the notice of intent

You must complete the NOI using the Convergence Portal. The portal is supported only on the latest versions of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox. The portal may appear to function in other browsers, but technical problems can occur, such as information being improperly captured in the system without the user being aware. Use of an unsupported browser is strongly discouraged.

If you do not have a profile on the Convergence Portal, you will be prompted to create one the first time you access it. If you have a Research Portal account, you can use the same username and password to log into the Convergence Portal. If you are not sure that you have already created a Convergence Portal account, contact NFRF staff.

Follow the instructions provided in the Convergence Portal to complete the NOI. The information needed to complete the NOI is outlined below. All sections of the NOI must be completed in the Convergence Portal and submitted via the research administrator at the NFRF-eligible co-PI’s institution.

The co-PIs and co-applicants, if applicable, must each complete their own profile before the NOI is submitted to the research administrator. All co-PIs have full access to all sections of the NOI. Co-applicants will be able to see all sections of the NOI, but will not have edit access. Only the NFRF-eligible co-PI can initialize, finalize and submit the NOI.

Required information

The following information is required to complete an NOI:

Completed profiles for research team members

Applications to this call must be submitted by a team of at least three co-PIs and any number of co-applicants. Each project team must be eligible to receive funds from at least three funding organizations. Additional team members (co-PIs, co-applicants and/or collaborators) can be added at this stage, or at the letter of intent (LOI) and/or full application stages. Each co-PI or co-applicant must include the following in their profile:

1. Eligibility profile

   Information about your participation in any other International Initiative applications, your consent for the application to be shared with other funding organizations, as well as your affiliations and the eligibility of their institution.

2. Equity, diversity and inclusion

   In setting up their profile, each participant must complete the equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) self-identification form. The Canadian funding agencies collect self-identification data to monitor the equity of their programs and strengthen EDI in the research enterprise. The questions are framed from the Canadian perspective and may not be applicable to all participants. You may select “Prefer not to answer” for any or all questions.

   The self-identification information is collected as part of your user profile when you register in the Convergence Portal. It is not part of your application and is not accessible to, or shared with, reviewers. Access to the information is also restricted to most agency staff; the information is only used in aggregate, following competitions.

3. Fields of research

   The fields of research here relate to the individual’s area of expertise and do not need to be directly related to the project. Select a minimum of two fields of research, of which at least one must be a primary area of research.

4. Keywords

   List between two and 10 keywords that best describe your main areas of research.

After co-PIs and co-applicants have completed their profile, they will be listed on the Participants screen with a status of “Complete.” While a participant’s status may show as “Accepted” in the List of Invitations, a status of “Pending eligibility” in the Participants screen indicates they have not completed their profile.

Notice of intent content

1. Application title

   Provide a short, descriptive title that can be used for publication purposes. You can use common abbreviations (e.g., DNA), but avoid uncommon or discipline-specific abbreviations, as well as company and trade names.

2. Language of the application

   Indicate whether the NOI, LOI and full application will be written in English or French (Canada’s official languages). This information helps reviewer recruitment efforts. You may change this selection between stages.

3. Indigenous research

   Indicate whether the project involves Indigenous research.

4. Sustainable Development Goals

   Indicate to which SDG(s) the research is related.

5. Funding organizations—supplement / joint initiative

   Indicate from which funding organizations you are seeking funding support for this project. You must select a minimum of three funding organizations. At least one co-PI must be eligible to receive funds from each of the selected partners.

6. Participants

   Identify the co-PI who will act as project lead for the project overall.

7. Collaborators

   List the collaborators on the project. Collaborators do not need to create an account in the Convergence Portal.

8. Socio-economic objectives

   Select the socio-economic objective from the CRDC codes that relate to the potential outcomes of the research. This selection is for information purposes only and will not be used in the review process.

9. Up to five fields of research

   Select the fields of research from the Canadian Research and Development Classification (CRDC) codes that relate to the proposed research. You must include at least two disciplines as primary fields of research (as defined by a group-level classification based on the CRDC codes).

10. Keywords

    List between five and 10 keywords to describe the proposed research.

11. Summary of the proposal (maximum 2,500 characters)

    Include the objectives of the proposed project and a summary of the approach. Describe how disruptive technology is central to the project. Indicate which of the SDGs the proposal addresses, and how the anticipated changes and impacts stemming from the project will contribute to addressing a global challenge.

    If your application is successful, this summary may be used for promotional purposes outside the research community to inform government, media and members of the public who request information about research funded by this call.

12. Supporting documents (if applicable)

    Each of these documents must be uploaded as a separate attachment following the instructions for attachments.

    FAPESP (Brazil), the Dutch Research Council (NWO), the International Development Research Centre, the Taiwan National Science and Technology Council (NSTC), the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI), Research Ireland and the Swiss National Science Foundation (Switzerland) require additional documents for determining applicant eligibility, such as CVs, to be uploaded at the NOI stage. See each organization’s funding annex for details on what is required and the correct format.

Submitting a notice of intent

Only the NFRF-eligible co-PI is able to submit the NOI.

Review the NOI to ensure it is complete.

From the Finalize Application section in the Convergence Portal, follow the prompts to submit the NOI.

After accepting the terms and conditions, the status of your submission will change to Received by Administrator. If you want to make any changes at this point, you may request that your research administrator return the application to you.

Once your research administrator has approved and submitted your application, the application status will change to Received by Agency. No changes can be made at that point, and the NOI will not be returned to you.

Submitting a notice of intent as the research administrator

When you receive an NOI submitted by a NFRF-eligible co-PI at your institution, you will be asked to approve the application and submit it. Before being able to submit the application, the research administrator, on behalf of the institution, will be required to confirm that the:

• NFRF-eligible participants meet the eligibility requirements; and
• proposed research project meets the eligibility requirements.

Contact information

If you have questions:

• about the NFRF program, contact NFRF-FNFR@chairs-chaires.gc.ca
• about the Convergence Portal, contact the Online Services Helpdesk at websupport@convergence.gc.ca or 613-995-4273