CIHR: Indigenous COVID-19 rapid research funding opportunity

Sponsor

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

For More Information

For additional information, please visit the CIHR website for

• Program guidelines
• Application forms
• Evaluation criteria

Description

This funding opportunity will provide research funding for Indigenous communities (i.e., First Nations, Inuit, Métis and/or Urban Indigenous communities), Indigenous organizations and researchers of Indigenous ancestry (or researchers who provide evidence of having meaningful and culturally safe involvement with Indigenous Peoples)in Canada who are responding to the unique health and well-being needs of Indigenous Peoples as they relate to the COVID-19 pandemic. More specifically, this opportunity will support strengths-based, solutions-focused research that is bold, innovative, Indigenous community-led, and that addresses the immediate, intermediate, and/or long-term consequences of COVID-19 and/or informs future preparedness. To this end, research supported by this funding opportunity must include a knowledge translation and knowledge mobilization component to ensure that results can be used by Indigenous communities, researchers and decision-makers.

Research Areas

This funding opportunity will support projects relevant to one or more of the following research areas:

• Indigenous Peoples’ Understanding and Experience with Respect to COVID-19, including cultural responses grounded in Indigenous Knowledges and self-determination; intersections with, and impact on, on-going health, social, economic and climate crises; and/or perspectives of (or participation in) vaccine research, sero-surveillance studies, and clinical trials.
• Delivering COVID-19 Testing, Contact Tracing, Self-Isolation and Other Management Practices, and Policies Related to Indigenous Peoples and the COVID-19 Pandemic, including culturally safe approaches and challenges.
• Culturally Safe COVID-19 Prevention, Preparedness, Response and Recovery for Indigenous Peoples, including design and delivery of programs and services that are grounded in Indigenous Knowledges, self-determination, and local community context.

This funding opportunity will provide funds for two streams of research:

1. Knowledge Synthesis Grants: This stream will fund knowledge synthesis activities related to COVID-19 such as literature reviews (e.g., integrative review/structured review; synthesis of qualitative research; realist review; meta-analysis of quantitative research; systematic review; and scoping review), needs assessments, environmental scans, and knowledge gaps or strength identification (including community engagements, or arts-informed events, with Indigenous Elders and/or Knowledge Keepers, youth, decision-makers, etc.). See National  Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health for other knowledge synthesis ideas.
2. Evaluation and Assessment Grants: This stream will fund the evaluation and assessment of new or on-going initiatives, programs, policies or interventions related to COVID-19, including but not limited to, community-based and/or cultural initiatives, arts-based interventions, proof of concept, pilot studies, and social or economic impact studies.

Sex and gender differences exist in the research areas above, making sex and/or gender issues an important component of this research initiative. CIHR will require applicants to consider sex as a biological variable and gender as a socio-cultural factor in their research.

Eligibility

This funding opportunity seeks applicants who self-identify as Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit or Métis) or provide evidence of having meaningful and culturally safe involvement with Indigenous Peoples in order to:

1. Prioritize First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples and communities, including Urban Indigenous communities, in leading their research agendas;
2. Promote cultural safety of and appropriate engagements by researchers working with Indigenous Peoples in meaningful ways to ensure that respectful relations are established;
3. Add value to the research through the use of Indigenous culturally relevant theoretical and conceptual frameworks, and Indigenous culturally relevant research protocols, including Indigenous methodologies; and
4. Promote equity and development of trainees, researchers and knowledge users who are of Indigenous ancestry.

For an application to be eligible:

1. The Nominated Principal Applicant must be:

   1. an Indigenous non-governmental organization in Canada with a research and/or knowledge translation mandate.

      OR

   2. an individual affiliated with an Indigenous non-governmental organization in Canada with a research and/or knowledge translation mandate.

      OR

   3. an individual (an independent researcher or a knowledge user) affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary institution and/or its affiliated institutions (including hospitals, research institutes and other non-profit organizations with a mandate for health research and/or knowledge translation).

      OR

   4. an individual (an independent researcher or a knowledge user) working in a municipal, provincial or territorial government in Canada where the activity which forms the subject matter of the funding is not being funded by specific programs of those municipal, provincial and territorial governments.

2. The Nominated Principal Applicant must have their substantive role in Canada for the duration of the requested grant term.

3. The team must include at least one (1) team member from each of the following categories:

   1. an Indigenous Elder and/or an Indigenous Knowledge Keeper* identified on the application as a Principal Knowledge User or Knowledge User.

   2. a Sex and Gender Champion identified on the application in any role, with experience in meaningful and culturally safe sex and gender-based analysis or gender diversity in Indigenous communities.

4. The Nominated Principal Applicant and Sex and Gender Champion must have successfully completed one of the sex- and gender-based analysis training modules available online through the CIHR Institute of Gender and Health and submit a Certificate of Completion. See How to Apply for more details. Select and complete the training module most applicable to your research project. Applicants are encouraged to review the “How to integrate sex and gender in research” section on the CIHR website.

*A Knowledge Keeper (also known as a Knowledge Holder or a Knowledge Guardian) is an Indigenous person, regardless of age, who possesses the Indigenous cultural knowledge necessary for the proposed research project or activities, as recognized, validated, and authenticated by the Indigenous community.

Funding Availability

The total amount available for this funding opportunity is $2,000,000, enough to fund approximately 15 grants.

Maximum Project Value

• Up to $1,000,000 is available to fund applications relevant to Knowledge Synthesis Grants. The maximum amount per Knowledge Synthesis Grant is $100,000 per year 
• Up to $1,000,000 is available to fund applications relevant to Evaluation and Assessment Grants.  The maximum amount per Evaluation and Assessment Grant is $200,000 per year 

Indirect Costs

0%

Project Duration

One year for both grants

Special Notes

Please note that research activities carried out in the context of COVID-19 need to adhere to the University of Guelph COVID-19 research principles, policies, guidelines and processes as they may be updated from time to time and communicated on the Office of Research web-page.