CIHR Operating Grant : Pandemic Research Platforms Interim Funding – Full Application
Well-being, Health and Biomedical Discovery
Deadlines
Academic Unit: Inquire with unit
Memorial Deadline: Thursday 30th, January 2025
External Deadline: Tuesday 4th, February 2025
Description
The Centre for Research on Pandemic Preparedness and Health Emergencies (CRPPHE) is housed at CIHR with a mandate to grow Canada’s research leadership in preparedness, prevention, response, and recovery from pandemics and other public health emergencies, including by building and supporting Canadian research capacity in the field.
There was an unprecedented investment from federal and other funders in the research response to the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., since March 2020, CIHR has invested approximately $414M in COVID-19 research). Of these investments, a significant portion has gone to supporting the creation, scaling and adapting of existing research platforms to conduct COVID-19 research. Much of the funding that was distributed for COVID-19 research was for one- or two-year grants that have ended or will end in 2024.
The importance of sustaining research infrastructure in inter-pandemic periods to avoid rebuilding with every new health emergency is a critical lesson learned by many countries including Canada, and which underpins the recently launched CRPPHE Interim Investment Plan. Much of the research infrastructure that is most critical during emergencies involves rapid application, customization and/or scaling of standard public health functions (e.g., surveillance, risk assessments, science communication) or health system programs and tools (e.g., databanks, patient engagement platforms). It also requires that public health tools and methodologies related to responding to emergencies are continuously improving through interdisciplinary research and innovation. The CRPPHE Interim Investment Plan outlines short-term activities to be undertaken by the CRPPHE to continue to build up an emergency-ready health research ecosystem in Canada, including maintaining readiness within the research system by supporting research infrastructure that is most critical to leverage during pandemics and other acute infectious or communicable disease events.
This funding opportunity serves as the first commitment under the Investment Plan Strategy #1: “Maintain readiness by supporting major investments” and aims to prevent the loss of key pandemic and public health emergency infrastructure by supporting existing research platforms and enabling rapid activation of said platforms in emergency scenarios, such that critical research evidence for Canada’s ongoing pandemic response needs will continue to be available.
See ResearchNet for more information.
| Competition | Letter of Intent (202412PIF) | Full Application (202502IFP) |
|---|---|---|
| Application Deadline | 2024-12-05 | 2025-02-04 |