Funding Road Map

Users' Guide to Navigating Canada's Large Granting Agencies

Each of Canada’s large granting agencies has its own mandates and positions relating to health, research, and work with low- and middle-income countries. It is important that you as a potential applicant understand where they are coming from so you can ensure that your envisioned project is a good match for the funding you plan on applying for. This page describes the perspectives of CIHR, IDRC and CIDA, as well as GHRI, a collaboration between CIHR, IDRC, CIDA and Health Canada.

CIHR - Canadian Institutes of Health Research

Approach to Global Health

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research is comprised of 13 institutes: Aboriginal Peoples’ Health; Aging; Cancer Research; Circulatory and Respiratory Health; Gender and Health; Genetics; Health Services and Policy Research; Human Development, Child and Youth Health; Infection and Immunity; Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis; Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction; Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes; and Population and Public Health. Each of these has its own agenda in terms of meeting its respective health needs. However, CIHR has a sort of “umbrella” policy relating to global health that spans all of its institutes. CIHR’s statement on International Collaborations in its 2005-2006 Awards Guide declares that “CIHR encourages applications in the field of global health, which demonstrate that the proposed research project has the potential to improve the health of people in Canada and the World.” (www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/22632.html#3-A1) As part of their mandate to support global health, CIHR has become involved in a cooperative agreement with Canada’s other large granting agencies, called the Global Health Research Initiative. Please see below for more information about this.

If you are interested in applying to CIHR for funding that relates to global health work, it would be valuable for you to mention their commitment to international health and collaboration in your application.

Practical Considerations When Applying to CIHR

Announcements for CIHR competitions will be listed in the newly launched Funding Opportunities Database. (Alternatively, you can go directly to the different competitions’ websites through our links in the Funding section.) Within this section you can call these up by Institute, program type, target applicant, and also search for specific term(s). The open competitions for which you are eligible to apply with a global health project consist of the doctoral awards, clinician scientist awards, fellowship awards, operating grants, and RCTs.  Requests for Proposals for competitions that are not regular will also be made within this database.

Before you can begin any application process with CIHR, you must obtain a CIHR PIN and register with the Common CV network. This will allow you to access the Webforms and Common CV forms you’ll need to complete and submit as part of your application process. The application package (see below) for the particular award you are applying for will tell you which Webform modules you need to complete. Check with the particular Request for Application, but for the most part the application process for Strategic Funding Opportunities follows the Operating Grants application process.

**CIHR is in the process of switching over to an automated application process. Some opportunities continue to require use of Webforms, while others are now using the ResearchNet approach. In cases of the latter, the “How to Apply” section of the opportunity website will explain the steps required.

Please see How to Apply for Funding: www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/795.html and Application Packages: www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/798.html

IDRC - International Development Research Center

Approach to Global Health

The International Development Research Centre focuses its research activities on four areas: Environment and Natural Resource Management; Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Development; Innovation, Policy and Science (IPS); and Social and Economic Policy.  Each of these has specific Program Initiatives, and if you are interested in applying to IDRC for funding you should make sure that your envisioned project corresponds with the goals and objectives of one of IDRC’s Program Initiatives.

For the period of time between 2005-2010, one of the themes under the Social and Economic Policy area is Equitable Access to Health and Social Services, which encompasses the Governance, Equity and Health (GEH) and Research for International Tobacco Control (RITC) Program Initiatives. Additionally, the Ecosystem Approaches to Human Health Program Initiative within Environment and Natural Resource Management also pertains specifically to global health.

If you'd like to learn more about these programs, go to IDRC's main site (www.idrc.ca) and click on Research Programs on the left task bar.

Practical considerations when applying to IDRC

IDRC offers funding in the form of specific competitions as well as general grants. The specific competitions each have their own application form that you must complete or procedure that you must follow, and links to this information can be found within each individual competition’s site in the Funding section of the Road Map.

In order to apply to IDRC for general funding, it is strongly recommended that you first contact a program officer working in the area that your project falls into to discuss your ideas. He or she will be able to tell you whether or not there is a good fit between your project and IDRC’s current priorities. You may then submit a “project idea” to IDRC, and can begin to develop a preliminary proposal. A peer evaluation process will determine whether or not IDRC would like to submit a detailed project proposal.

IDRC prefers to fund projects that are proposed by research institutions in developing countries, but it also supports North-South partnerships.

Please see How to Apply to IDRC for Funding: www.idrc.ca/en/ev-56861-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

CIDA - Canadian International Development Agency

Approach to Global Health

CIDA’s programming is concentrated in five primary sectors: governance, health, basic education, private sector development, and environmental sustainability, with a cross-cutting theme of gender equality.

Please see Global Issues for more information about these priorities:
www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/cidaweb/acdicida.nsf/En/NIC-53131840-NB8

Practical considerations when applying to CIDA

CIDA funds internships as well as provides more general funding for projects that can be applied for through the Bilateral Responsive Mechanism. As with IDRC, your chances of receiving funding through the BRM are improved if you first approach CIDA personnel with your ideas before submitting a proposal. CIDA has program priorities for the regions that it provides assistance to, and you are advised to first contact the bilateral country or regional program desk of the area you are interested in working in to see if there is a match between your interests and theirs.

Please see A Guide to CIDA’s Bilateral Responsive Mechanism (Unsolicited Proposals):
www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/CIDAWEB/acdicida.nsf/En/ANN-4241556-QDR

GHRI - Global Health Research Initiative

The Global Health Research Initiative is a collaboration between four Canadian partners: the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Health Canada, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). This partnership was established in order to enhance the way that global health research activities are approached in Canada, as each organization has particular strengths and areas of expertise that it is able to contribute. One way in which the GHRI will play a role in improving global health will be to provide support for projects through collaborative funding, from at least two of the participating organizations (Government of Canada 2003).

GHRI Funding Opportunities will be announced on its website: www.ghri.ca

 

Funding Roadmap SignFunding Road Map contains summary information about funding sources for global health projects, including eligibility criteria, application procedures and contact information.

This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Ottawa, Canada.

Global health research can often fall within the scope of more broad fields. Consequently, this roadmap includes funding sources that support specifically global health research, as well as those that support global research projects that involve health elements and global health projects that involve research elements. Similarly, training opportunities may be for specifically global health research projects, or opportunities that involve health or research components.