CIHR Operating Grant: Collaborative Health Research Projects (NSERC Partnered) 2018-2019

Sponsor

This Collaborative Health Research Projects (CHRP) Initiative funding opportunity is offered by CIHR in partnership with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and in collaboration with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Description

The CHRP Initiative funding supports innovative, interdisciplinary, collaborative research projects, requiring participation from the natural sciences or engineering community together with the health sciences community. The CHRP Initiative funding requires the translation of the research results to knowledge/technology users (KTUs) and related stakeholders outside the academic or training environment. As such, the proposed research projects must have a strong focus on knowledge translation (KT) and lead to health and economic benefits for Canadians, more effective health services and products, and/or a strengthened health care system. KTU organizations should be meaningfully engaged throughout the research process, as appropriate, to inform research planning and design. For more information on KT at CIHR, please see About KT. Applicants are also encouraged to refer to CIHR’s Guide to Knowledge Translation Planning at CIHR: Integrated and End-of-Grant Approaches. For additional guidance regarding knowledge/technology users, please consult CHRP - Frequently Asked Questions.

In addition, a special call: Artificial Intelligence (AI): Health and Society is being supported by CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC within this funding opportunity. A portion of the total available funds for this year’s funding opportunity will be devoted to supporting projects relevant to this special call. Successful projects from this call will bring together researchers from natural sciences and engineering; health sciences; social sciences and humanities to collaborate on innovative artificial intelligence research applied to health and to investigate ethical, legal, and/or societal impacts associated with the development, scale, and spread of AI in the health sector.

Eligibility

For an application to be eligible:

• The proposal must include at least two (2) Principal Applicants (including the Nominated Principal Applicant), one from the natural sciences or engineering community, and one from the health sciences community.
• Both the above Principal Applicants must:
  • hold an academic appointment at an eligible Canadian university; and
  • be independent and authorized to oversee trainees.
• There is otherwise no limit to the number of applicants participating on CHRP Initiative grants.
• The application must include trainees, the number should be commensurate with the size of the project.
• The application must include a partnership with at least one (1) eligible, non-academic knowledge/technology user (KTU) organization with an expressed interest and demonstrable ability to use the end products of the research. See Eligibility of Partner(s) below.
• The application must include at least one (1) representative from a KTU organization in the applicant role of “Principal Knowledge User”.* This person must have the authority to represent their organization, and their role may vary accordingly (e.g. chief scientific officer at a company, decision maker at a hospital, provincial government policy maker, etc.).

*In cases where an individual could assume roles in the project as either a researcher-applicant or a representative from the KTU organization, the individual must choose the most appropriate function and may only assume one role in the application.

Eligibility of Partner(s)

The guidelines for partnership are:

• One (1) organization must be designated as the Principal KTU in the Letter of Intent (LOI). Other KTUs may be described in the LOI Knowledge Translation plan, as appropriate. KTUs can be from the private, public or voluntary sectors.
• At both the LOI and full application stages, applicants must demonstrate the capacity of the Principal KTU organization to use the knowledge generated by providing relevant details in a Knowledge Translation plan. Failure to do so may result in withdrawal of the application. Activities focused on sharing the research findings or brokering relationships with stakeholders are not typically sufficient for the Principal KTU role.
• The Principal KTU must be actively involved in all stages of the project, therefore in-kind contributions are required. Contributions from the Principal KTU cannot be in the form of discounted prices. Cash contributions are not a requirement but may be appropriate.
• The Principal KTU established at the Letter of Intent stage must be maintained in the full application; change of Principal KTU will be permitted on a case-by-case basis. Applicants may add additional KTU organizations to their full application;
• The Principal KTU must be Canadian*;
• Multinational organizations may be eligible as Principal KTU if it is clear within the application that they have Canadian-based activities that meet the criteria above and if the funded activity leads to research results that will be exploited in Canada.
• Applicant ownership of the partner organization is generally not permitted; exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis if an arm’s length relationship between the applicants and partner organization can be demonstrated. Please refer to NSERC’s Guidelines for Organizations Participating in Research Partnerships. Contact CIHR’s contact centre to inquire further.

Note:  Government research laboratories, foreign research institutions, venture capitalists, technology transfer offices, or potential investors are not eligible as the principal Knowledge/Technology User. Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE, CECR, BL-NCE, or their affiliated entities) are also not eligible. However, these entities can be included in addition to the principal KTU partner at the full application stage to broaden the impact of the Knowledge Translation plan.

Funding Availability

• The total amount available for this funding opportunity is $24.875 million. This amount may increase if additional funding partners participate.
• Of the $24.875 million, up to $5.975 million may be available from CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC to fund applications relevant to the special call Artificial Intelligence: Health and Society. This amount may increase if additional funding partners participate.
• Of the $5.975 million, up to $3.725 million may be available from CIHR institutes in the following research areas:
  • $500,000 is available from CIHR-IA to fund applications that align with its relevant research areas.
  • $750,000 is available from CIHR-ICR to fund applications that align with its relevant research areas.
  • $1,200,000 is available from CIHR-IHDCYH to fund applications that align with its relevant research areas.
  • $750,000 is available from CIHR-INMD to fund applications that align with its relevant research areas.
  • $375,000 is available from CIHR-INMHA to fund applications that align with its relevant research areas.
  • $150,000 is available from CIHR-IPPH to fund applications that align with its relevant research areas.

Indirect Costs

0%

Project Duration

The maximum duration of support for any one grant is three years.

Information For Co-applicants

If you need to meet a deadline set by the lead institution for this opportunity, please ensure that you provide the Office of Research with at least five days in advance of the lead institution’s deadline to review the application, or your proposed component of the project. Please be in touch with the Office of Research (contact information below) ahead of the deadline if it looks like it will be difficult for you to submit all the required documentation on time (i.e. budget, proposal, OR-5 Form).