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The Tanaka Fund Program supports Canadian graduate students conducting research in Japan. Established in 1974 as a result of an exchange of gifts between the governments of Canada and Japan, the program has been administered by Universities Canada since 1975. Originally used to support Japanese language lectureships at Canadian universities until 2016, the Tanaka Fund was restructured in 2018 to focus support for young emerging scholars in order to foster the next generation of Japanese Studies scholarship in Canada. The program provides funding for master's or doctoral level students to conduct research related to Japan using methods in humanities and social sciences. The research must be towards a master's thesis or doctoral dissertation, supporting students for up to 3 months of research in Japan.

The International Doctoral Research Awards (IDRA) are funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and aim to strengthen the research capacity of doctoral students enrolled at Canadian universities. The IDRA program supports field research undertaken in the Global South. IDRC has helped doctoral students perform field research since 1982, with Universities Canada administering the IDRA program since 2022. All IDRA-funded field research contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and IDRC's development outcome areas including climate-resilient food systems, democratic and inclusive governance, education and science, global health, and sustainable inclusive economies. The award provides up to $20,000 CAD for up to one year of field research expenses in the Global South. Applicants must use the research findings in their doctoral dissertation or thesis, and the award cannot be used to pay tuition fees.