CIHR: Early Career Investigator Grants in Maternal, Reproductive, Child & Youth Health

Sponsor

Canadian Institutes of Health Research, CIHR Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health (IHDCYH), in partnership with the Institute of Infection and Immunity (III) and the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA)

For More Information

Please visit the program's websites for:

• Program guidelines
• Application forms
• Evaluation criteria

Description

This funding opportunity is expected to support early career investigators in initiating and conducting independent research in the area of maternal reproductive, child and youth health with the goal of building research capacity in this important health research area.

The program will fund research across the four CIHR research themes (biomedical, clinical, health services, and social, cultural, environmental, and population health) that has the potential to have a significant impact on maternal, reproductive, child and youth health outcomes according to the mandates of the participating CIHR institutes. Ultimately, the program aims to strengthen Canada's capacity and knowledge to respond to challenges and needs by providing important early career development support to researchers in these fields.

This funding opportunity does not require applicants to participate in a mentoring program or have a formal mentorship plan; however, having a system of research support/advice is something that applicants should think carefully about. CIHR has a Training and Mentoring Learning Module. While the module was developed for applicants to the Foundation Grant program, there is a subsection on “Best Practices” that provides information on what makes an effective mentor and mentoring program and is generally applicable.

Research Areas

All applications in the area of maternal, reproductive, child and youth health research as per IHDCYH’s mandate will be eligible for support.

In addition, funding is available to support projects that are determined to be relevant to the following specific research areas:

• ECIs in MRCYH – Infection and Immunity: Maternal, reproductive, child and/or youth health research relevant to the Institute of Infection and Immunity’s mandate.
• ECIs in MRCYH - Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction: Maternal, reproductive, child and/or youth health research relevant to the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction’s mandate.

Eligibility

• The Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) must be an independent researcher appointed at an eligible institution
• At the time of application, the NPA must meet all of the following eligibility criteria:
  • Have held an independent research appointment for a period of less than 60 months.
  • Been awarded operating grant funding of less than $500,000 Canadian dollars in total as a NPA (or equivalent in non-CIHR competitions) through a competitive process. (Grants where the applicant’s role is not that of NPA, or equivalent for non-CIHR competitions, are not counted towards this total.)
  • Have at least 50% protected time for research.
• The NPA must have successfully completed one of the sex- and gender-based analysis training modules available online through the CIHR Institute of Gender and Health. A Certificate of Completion must be included in the full application (see How to Apply). Please select and complete the training module most applicable to your research project. Applicants are encouraged to review “How to integrate sex and gender in research” on the CIHR website. 

Note: All time spent in research appointments will be taken into consideration when determining eligibility. Should an applicant hold, or have held, a part-time appointment, CIHR will count that time as 50% (e.g., a one-year part-time appointment will count for six months towards the 60 month maximum). Leaves of absence will be considered in the calculation of eligibility (i.e. will not count towards the 60-month maximum) and must be included in your application (see How to Apply).

Maximum Project Value

Amount per grant from CIHR is $35,000 per year to a maximum of $105,000

Applicants must secure partner contribution from non-federal sources to match the CIHR contribution at a minimum of 1:1 ratio by the successful applicant's host institution and/or other partner(s), which may include but are not limited to foundations, health charities, community groups, industry and private sector.

• Matching funds must be 100% cash contributions; cash equivalent matching contributions are not eligible.
• Matching funds must be committed by the application deadline date; details must be provided in the Partnership Details form (see How to Apply section).
• Start-up funds provided to an applicant by their host institution are eligible as matching funds if some, or all, of those funds can be committed to the project. Any portion of start-up funding already committed to another research project is not eligible. The details must be provided in a letter of support (see How to Apply section).

Indirect Costs

0%

Project Duration

Up to 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).