CIHR – Indigenous COVID-19 Rapid Research Funding Opportunity

Aboriginal Peoples
Community, Regional & Enterprise Development
Well-being, Health and Biomedical Discovery

Deadlines

Academic Unit: Inquire with your unit

Memorial Deadline: Thursday 3rd, December 2020

External Deadline: Tuesday 8th, December 2020

Description

 SIRI will be offering support with application development for this opportunity. Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact Jennifer Stevens (v5js@mun.ca) early during the development process to discuss the services available to them.

This funding opportunity is part of the Government of Canada’s continued rapid response to address the health challenges of the viral COVID-19 pandemic. The funding will enable rapid and timely research responsive to the current phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, which is focused on slowing and stopping the spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus and mitigating the health and social consequences of the disease. The Government of Canada will provide funding for research focused on addressing the impact of COVID-19 on the health and well-being of Indigenous Peoples.

Indigenous Peoples (i.e., First Nations, Inuit, and Métis), including Urban Indigenous communities, are dealing with the unprecedented health, economic and community impacts of COVID-19. Indigenous people experience health and social inequities, such as poor infrastructure, unsafe water to clean with and drink, crowded housing or homelessness, food insecurity, and high rates of chronic health conditions, all of which contribute to their increased risk of severe illness, complications and dying from COVID-19. In addition, the unintended consequences of COVID-19 countermeasures (e.g., social isolation, program restrictions, and restrictions on Indigenous ceremonies) are disproportionately impacting Indigenous communities and exacerbating pre-existing health and social inequities. More information related to COVID-19 and Indigenous Peoples (e.g., epidemiology, surveillance, community health needs assessments, and program evaluations) is required for Indigenous communities, the healthcare sector, and governments and decision-makers to respond optimally to the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure the health, safety, and well-being of Indigenous Peoples, including  Urban Indigenous communities.

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.

To enhance collaboration and create multi-sectoral opportunities to build capacity for, and conduct COVID-19 related research that is relevant, meaningful and culturally safe for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis, including Urban Indigenous communites, applicants are encouraged to connect with one of the 9 CIHR-funded Network Environments for Indigenous Health Research (NEIHR), and other CIHR initiatives involving Indigenous communities. CIHR initiatives could include: the Aboriginal HIV and AIDS Community-Based Research Collaborative Centre; Centres for HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C and STBBIs Research; and Canada’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR).

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.

Funds Available

CIHR and partner(s) financial contributions for this initiative are subject to availability of funds. Should CIHR or partner(s) funding levels not be available or are decreased due to unforeseen circumstances, CIHR and partner(s) reserve the right to reduce, defer or suspend financial contributions to grants received as a result of this funding opportunity.

  • The total amount available for this funding opportunity is $2,000,000, enough to fund approximately 15 grants.
  • Of this total amount:
    • 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 for up to one 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 for up to one year.
  • Additional information can be found at ResearchNet.

Funding Sources

Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR)



This opportunity was posted by: RGCS

Last modified: October 9, 2020