vaccines are fundamental tools for preventing infectious diseases, and low vaccination rates can threaten the health of canadian and international communities. as the ongoing covid-19 pandemic has shown, complex factors influence the decision to accept vaccines. some of these factors are dependent on science literacy levels and others are personal or societal. achieving widespread vaccine acceptance requires an understanding of the need for vaccines, an understanding of the safety of vaccines, the removal of barriers to access vaccines, and greater confidence in vaccines. canadians need reliable and trusted sources of evidence to inform their decisions about vaccines.

to meet this need, encouraging vaccine confidence in canadapromoscience grants support organizations with strong track records of science and/or health promotion to deliver evidence-based, vaccine-promoting information to key communities and groups and/or to build capacity in the community to promote confidence in vaccines. jointly administered by the natural sciences and engineering research council (nserc), the social sciences and humanities research council (sshrc), and the canadian institutes of health research (cihr), it is expected that funded activities will mobilize knowledge to improve public understanding of vaccines and help canadians to make evidence-based decisions, especially among populations that are hesitant about vaccines. activities supported by these grants should encourage participants to become discerning consumers of natural sciences and engineering, humanities and social sciences, and health information. through their proposed activities, organizations should aim to build on existing networks, infrastructures and relationships with canadian and international partners where possible.

your application must describe activities that:

• deliver information on the safety and effectiveness of vaccines to key communities and groups, and/or
• build capacity in the community to promote the acceptance of vaccines

all activities should be interactive and should be delivered to a relevant subset of the canadian population, which you will define in your application. collaboration with trusted community leaders is strongly encouraged to ensure activities are appropriate and designed to reduce and/or remove barriers, particularly in instances where the intended audience is an underserved or vulnerable group. funds may be used for new activities, or for improvements (including increased scope) to content or delivery of existing activities. the activities may address specific diseases, including covid-19, or may broadly address vaccination.

examples of eligible activities include:

• providing scientifically sound information about vaccines via social media, hotlines, webinars, forums or websites in a way that addresses beliefs and fears
• developing, translating and disseminating easy-to-understand and engaging materials on vaccine acceptance and adoption of public health measures in a culturally appropriate way
• delivering workshops to train community leaders on promoting vaccine confidence and sharing best practices for evidence-based decision making
• mobilizing social sciences and humanities knowledge to address cultural and societal determinants of vaccine hesitancy in order to better ensure vaccine confidence
• sharing historical perspectives on pandemics and vaccine development to build trust and confidence in the community
• providing techniques for identifying reliable sources of information versus misinformation pertaining to vaccines

this call is designed to increase access to education for refugee and displaced children and youth. targeted capacity building, combined with small grants for core activities, locally driven education-related programming and policy engagement, would amplify the voices of refugee and internally displaced people (idps) and those of organizations that represent them and are led by them. through innovative solutions, the call aims to increase access to quality education by providing additional funding for organizations that are best placed to understand the needs of their communities and are on the front lines of providing essential education services for refugees and idps. this call will enable dynamic partnerships between canadian organizations, national organizations, host communities, and refugee-led organizations (rlos) and idp-led organizations. it will be an important contributor to the emerging evidence base and global learning on the role of rlos and idp-led organizations in directly enhancing education outcomes of refugee and idp children and youth. context-specific, locally driven solutions and conflict-sensitive design will be critical in ensuring the use of adaptive and responsive approaches that integrate risk management strategies.

the call has 3 core objectives:

• facilitate organizational capacity building among local rlo and/or idp-led organizations* working in the education sector to strengthen their empowerment and organizational effectiveness
• provide grants** to local organizations, particularly rlo and/or idp-led organizations, to strengthen gender-responsive education programming for refugee and internally displaced children and youth, particularly girls and adolescent girls, and ensure due diligence and monitoring of grants
• amplify the voices of local rlo and idp-led organizations working in the education sector, including women-led organizations, through their collective action with key education stakeholders, governments and host communities

* rlos and idp-led organizations are defined as community-based organizations (cbos), including women-led organizations, working in the education sector that are either founded and/or led by refugees and/or idps as decision makers. while some rlos and idp-led organizations are officially registered with the host state, others cannot register due to legal barriers. both registered and non-registered organizations can receive assistance within the context of this call. organizations must be active in providing protection and assistance to refugees and idps, with their activities including but not limited to advice and programs on inclusion, integration, meaningful participation, education, empowerment and self-reliance.

** grants can be used to fund:

• core activities of the rlos and idp-led organizations that operate in the education sector
• education-related programming in line with the rlo/idp-led organizations’ mandate or objectives
• flexible response fund for adaptive activities in the event of unforeseen events (i.e., conflict, health pandemic)

as an organization can only submit one application to this competition, interested applicants are asked to notify the office of research of their interest in applying to this opportunity by march 12, 2021 by sending an email to ahacquo1@lakeheadu.ca.

please note that to be eligible to the competition applications must address both objectives and respond to at least one (1) of the fifteen (15) subtopics under the six (6) research areas.

the specific objectives of this funding opportunity are to:

1. accelerate the availability and use of high-quality and real-time evidence and/or solutions to support canada’s ongoing response to the pandemic in order to better prevent, detect, treat and manage covid-19; and
2. generate evidence related to one or more diverse population(s), including for instance: health equity considerations, health status (e.g. high risk populations, individuals with comorbid conditions), sex and gender, a life cycle approach (from children to aging adults), and/or racialized or first nations, inuit, metis and urban indigenous populations.

note: it is expected that, where appropriate, projects will enhance local, national and/or international collaborative efforts, including in low- and middle-income countries, to mitigate the rapid spread of covid-19 and related negative consequences.

research areas (6) and subtopics (15)

1. variants

   this research area extends cihr’s existing suite of investments in emerging sars-cov-2 variant research by providing funding to:

   • subtopic 1: understand the impact of the new variants on disease progression and/or severity.
   • subtopic 2: phenotype circulating viral variants, particularly those that may affect response to medical countermeasures (e.g. vaccine, therapeutics) and diagnostic tests.

2. vaccines

   this research area complements existing federal investments in vaccine safety and effectiveness research by providing funding to:

   • subtopic 3: determine the efficacy and long-term durability of the response of the vaccines with respect to the emerging variants of concern, with additional focus on possible immune escape mutants.
   • subtopic 4: determine the immune correlates of protection (humoral and cellular), which can be used to understand natural immunity and compare it to vaccine-mediated immunity.

3. confidence in science

   this research area is focused on building trust in public health and science by providing funding to:

   • subtopic 5: examine drivers of vaccine hesitancy and approaches to improve vaccine confidence.
   • subtopic 6: develop and test broader strategies that can be used to improve uptake of public health and safety measures, including the wearing of masks and vaccines.
   • subtopic 7: identify approaches to improve overall trust in public health and the health care workforce among the general population and among various sub-populations in canada.

4. post covid-19 condition

   this research area is focused on identifying, defining and addressing the post covid-19 condition (i.e. long-covid, long-haulers) to understand the biological and psychological impacts by providing funding to:

   • subtopic 8: understand underlying causes and biological factors, including biomarkers or biological correlates to strengthen causal links with sars-cov2 infection.
   • subtopic 9: improve recognition and diagnosis - including the heterogeneity of presentation and/or barriers resulting in under-diagnosis or misdiagnosis.
   • subtopic 10: understand the inter-relationship between existing comorbidities and the occurrence of the post covid-19 condition.
   • subtopic 11: develop and testing treatment, including interventions that characterize and mitigate the role of immune responses in long-term persistence of inflammation.
   • subtopic 12: improve strategies to manage the post covid-19 condition including understanding lessons learned for patient care both in and out of hospital and understanding related psychological, social impacts, and culturally safe care.

5. testing models and surveillance

   this research area is focused on improving testing models for various congregant settings, including for example schools, workplaces, border crossings, long term care homes, prisons, by providing funding to:

   • subtopic 13: examine testing models (e.g. olfactory; nasopharyngeal; salivary) that could be used as surveillance in different settings
   • subtopic 14: identify and evaluate low cost rapid diagnostic approaches that can be used in congregate settings (e.g. schools, workplaces, long term care homes, prisons).

6. long term care

   this research area is focused on improving preventive measures in long term care homes by providing funding to:

   • subtopic 15: examine the efficacy of preventive measures and how they are implemented (e.g. implementing updated infection prevention and control standards, reducing trips out of the home for care, approaches to address health workforce challenges)

please note that research projects that include persons with lived and living experience from diverse communities (i.e. patient partners/engagement) are highly encouraged where applicable. as an example, researchers may consider engaging with persons with lived and living experience with post covid-19 residual symptoms beyond the hospital setting. this recognizes that many individuals experiencing ongoing post covid-19 residual symptoms may not have a documented history of sars-cov2 infection, as they were not hospitalized, did not require immediate medical attention, or did not seek a doctor's appointment as a result of initial contraction of sars-cov-2.

ams healthcare strives to improve the healthcare of all canadians by innovating education and practice, championing the history of medicine and healthcare, supporting leadership development, and advancing research in the health humanities. in recent years, ams healthcare has provided funding for activities that address two key factors of the health care system: compassionate care; and, artificial intelligence and digital health solutions. ams healthcare’s compassionate care in a technological world strategic priority focusses on promoting the integration of digital technology/artificial intelligence (dt/ai) and compassionate care in the delivery of health care services, education of health professionals as well as facilitating the leadership needed to realize the promise of technology.

click here to learn more about compassionate care in a technological world.

ams healthcare is offering grants of up to $20,000 to early and mid-career academic researchers and regulated health care professionals to support research, knowledge translation and spread and scale activities related to the impact of dt/ai on compassionate care. those interested can click on the links below to access more information about the program and application details.

full application submission deadline is 5:00 pm (eastern time) on thursday, june 3, 2021

funding opportunity

information teleconference call – 1:00 pm (eastern) on wednesday, april 21, 2021

submission template

submission guidelines

faq

ams healthcare strives to improve the healthcare of all canadians by innovating education and practice, championing the history of medicine and healthcare, supporting leadership development, and advancing research in the health humanities. in recent years, ams healthcare has provided funding for activities that address two key factors of the health care system: compassionate care; and, artificial intelligence and digital health solutions. ams healthcare’s compassionate care in a technological world strategic priority focusses on promoting the integration of digital technology/artificial intelligence (dt/ai) and compassionate care in the delivery of health care services, education of health professionals as well as facilitating the leadership needed to realize the promise of technology.

click here to learn more about compassionate care in a technological world.

ams healthcare is offering one-year fellowships of up to $75,000 to early and mid-career academic researchers and regulated health care professionals to study and develop expertise/competence in the impact of dt/ai on compassionate care. those interested can click on the links below to access more information about the program and application details.

• funding opportunity – letter of intent

• information teleconference call – 1:00 pm (eastern) on wednesday, march 3, 2021

• loi submission guidelines

• loi signature page

• loi frequently asked questions

the bbrf young investigator grant provides support for the most promising young scientists conducting neurobiological research. two-year awards up to $70,000, or $35,000 per year are provided to enable promising investigators to either extend research fellowship training or begin careers as independent research faculty. basic and/or clinical investigators are supported, but research must be relevant to serious brain and behavior disorders such as schizophrenia, mood disorders, anxiety disorders or child and adolescent mental illnesses.

please note: this season we are offering support for virtual workshops (maximum award of $5,000) and virtual conferences (maximum award of $20,000).  "in-person" workshops and conferences have a maximum award of $20,000 and must be scheduled after september 1, 2021 to be eligible for consideration.

conference and workshop grants are for amounts up to $20,000. in accordance with the mission of the foundation, priority is given to events that foster the creation of an international community of research scholars in anthropology and advance significant and innovative anthropological research.

conferences are defined as public events that are comprised primarily of oral and poster presentations to a larger audience of anthropologists. priority is given to major conferences sponsored by large international anthropological organizations (e.g., the european association of social anthropologists, european anthropological association, pan african anthropological association, and latin american anthropological association) that serve as their annual or periodic meetings. the majority of the funds granted to such conferences is expected to be used towards expenses for international scholars who are making presentations at the conference and would not otherwise be able to attend.

workshops are defined as working meetings that focus on developing and debating topical issues in theoretical anthropology. workshops involve a small group of scholars who meet for a sufficient period of time to deal intensively with the topic. priority is given to those workshops that devote the majority of time to discussion and debate rather than to the presentation of papers. it is expected that workshops will result in a publication.