CIHR Planning and Dissemination Grants – ICS (Winter 2026)
Well-being, Health and Biomedical Discovery
Deadlines
Academic Unit: Inquire with unit
Memorial Deadline: Friday 7th, November 2025
External Deadline: Thursday 13th, November 2025
Description
CIHR’s mandate is to excel, according to internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence, in the creation of new knowledge and its translation into improved health, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened health care system. As part of that mandate, since its inception, CIHR has helped shape the field of knowledge mobilization and has contributed to bridging the knowledge-to-action gap. CIHR integrates research through a unique interdisciplinary structure made up of virtual Institutes and Initiatives. The Institutes and Initiatives are networks of researchers and engagement partners/collaborators brought together to focus on important health problems, with each Institute and Initiative dedicated to a specific area of focus, linking and supporting researchers pursuing common goals.
One of the mechanisms for Institutes and Initiatives to achieve their mandates is by offering planning and/or dissemination grants within the Institute/Initiative Community Support (ICS) Program. These planning and dissemination grants are part of CIHR’s suite of Knowledge Mobilization Programs, designed to respond to pressing health, health care, and health system priorities in Canada. This program enables the mobilization of research into real-world impact by supporting activities that enhance relevance, uptake, and collaboration among diverse knowledge users, communities, and partners. The Planning and Dissemination Grants are intended to provide support for planning and/or dissemination activities (either virtual or in-person) consistent with the mandate of CIHR and relevant to CIHR Institutes and Initiatives.
CIHR is committed to promoting the inclusion and advancement of groups underrepresented in science as one of the means to enhance excellence in research, training, and knowledge mobilization. Proposals must outline measures for how organizers of planning and/or dissemination events and activities will meaningfully engage members of groups underrepresented in science.
CIHR’s position on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) is available in the Tri Agency Statement on Equity Diversity and Inclusion.
Applicants are encouraged to complete the CIHR Unconscious Bias Learning Module.
Events/activities may focus on, but are not limited to, the following:
Planning:
- – Activities that assist potential teams of researchers, knowledge users and/or partners in working together to identify research questions or emerging issues and priorities that could form the basis of a grant application.
- – Consultations with engagement partners/collaborators, including citizen engagement activities regarding needs, gaps and opportunities in the health research landscape, priority policy issues and/or priority research questions where such common understanding is currently lacking or requires further development.
- – Initial planning and discussion of a research project among potential team members, including researchers, knowledge users and/or partners to assess the viability of the research project and the partnership.
- – Conducting an environmental scan or preliminary synthesis of relevant literature, activities or programs.
- – Early-stage planning to determine possible commercial viability of a discovery.
- – Opportunities for knowledge exchange involving engagement partners/collaborators linkages to inform practice, care, and/or policy that could potentially lead to an application to a funding opportunity.
- – Gatherings of partners, health researchers, and/or knowledge users where the main objective is to facilitate regional/national and/or international collaboration among individuals or groups from a variety of backgrounds interested in applying to a funding opportunity. For example, building new and existing multi-sectored partnerships that include a significant number of participants from outside the conventional scientific community, consensus meetings, networking and partnership development events.
Dissemination:
- – Education of groups, such as patients, health professionals, community organizations, policy makers, and the general public.
- – Knowledge dissemination that will inform practice, clinical care, partnership best practices, policy and decision making.
- – Dissemination and/or discussion of research findings at scientific meetings, workshops, conferences, congresses or symposia.
- – Development and dissemination of knowledge mobilization products and tools (e.g., written materials in various formats, plain language summaries, decision support tools, educational materials, and web sites).
Note: This funding opportunity is not intended to support the direct cost of research (e.g., pilot projects, feasibility studies or operating grants), principal and co-investigator salaries or research equipment. Primary research or primary data collection will not be supported through this funding opportunity. Any activity that may be perceived as such should be justified (e.g., surveying individuals for the purpose of the project). Coverage of salaries of research assistants working directly on the proposed planning and/or dissemination activities/events is allowed.
See ResearchNet for more information.
| Competition | 202511ACI |
|---|---|
| Application Deadline | 2025-11-13 |