CIHR Team Grant : Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA) Phase III: Research Teams – Registration

Well-being, Health and Biomedical Discovery

Deadlines

Academic Unit: Inquire with unit

Memorial Deadline: RIS review not required for registration

External Deadline: Wednesday 6th, November 2024

Description

The Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration in Aging (CCNA) is the national consortium for research involving neurodegenerative diseases that affect cognition in aging, including Alzheimer’s disease. CCNA was established in 2014 (Phase I) and developed the infrastructure and support to facilitate collaboration amongst dementia researchers and clinicians across Canada.

CCNA entered a second phase of funding in 2019 (201901CNA), which ended early 2024. Phase III of the CCNA (2024-2029) includes a refreshed design and scoped strategic priorities based on feedback and recommendations from advisory, oversight and governance committees in Phase II. Phase III modifications will enable the Consortium to advance a focused vision to achieve transformative change and better respond to the current dementia research landscape, which has evolved since 2014, and to support the objectives of the National Dementia Strategy (NDS): A Dementia Strategy for Canada: Together We Aspire (2019). Importantly, the CCNA themes are aligned and poised to deliver upon the three national research objectives of the NDS, to prevent dementia, advance therapies and find a cure, and improve the quality of life of people living with dementia and care partners. CCNA Phase III is also an important part of the CIHR Brain Health and Cognitive Impairment in Aging (BHCIA) Research Initiative, contributing to its objectives.

While the CCNA was previously funded as one large, directed grant, inclusive of the research teams, CCNA Phase III has been launched over two stages:

• Stage 1: A Directed Grant for the CCNA Operations Centre, including modifications to optimize central network capacity (including research/data platforms) to support the neurodegenerative disease research community. The CCNA Operations Centre was recently funded for five years, in the amount of $20,600,000, starting April 1, 2024.
• Stage 2: An open strategic funding competition, with a rigorous peer review process, to fund CCNA Research Teams.

CCNA Phase III: CCNA Research Teams (Stage 2)

This funding opportunity (FO) is open to the diverse neurodegenerative diseases research community to carry out research projects that align with the NDS and the three CCNA research themes (primary prevention, secondary prevention and treatment, quality of life). A staggered funding start for the CCNA Research Teams (Funding Start Date: April 1, 2025) will allow the CCNA Operations Centre (Funding Start Date: April 1, 2024) to solidify its operating centre capacity, including data and biological samples availability through research platforms, and central research supports.

All applicant teams are required to leverage the CCNA Operations Centre’s Central Resource Supports, however, they are not required to use CCNA data sets. Researchers may propose projects using primary data collection methodologies, and/or may propose projects using CCNA research platforms [i.e. the Comprehensive Assessment of Neurodegeneration and Dementia (COMPASS-ND) Study], and/or other data sets/cohorts to answer or enhance the scope of research questions.

For projects using existing datasets, researchers proposing to use non-CCNA data will have to demonstrate data availability at the time of the application, and data accessibility by the start of funding. Applicants must comply with all policies and requirements of their chosen data sets/cohorts. Please see “Conditions of Funding” and “How to Apply” for more details.

To learn more about the CCNA Operations Centre and its Central Research Supports and Data and Biological Samples holdings, please review the following Applicant Guide.

See ResearchNet for more information.

Funding Sources

Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR)