the ontario spor support unit (ossu) is inviting proposals from qualified groups for additional knowledge translation and implementation funding to empower patient oriented research projects to achieve broader impacts on health, health policy and health system for ontario. the empower awards (engaging multi-stakeholders for patient oriented research wider effects & reach) provide a structure (integrating the ontario spor support unit and its research centres) and funding (up to $25,000) to allow existing patient-oriented research projects that require additional support to have impacts. applications are invited from research teams that have completed or are completing patient-oriented research studies that have demonstrable patient partnership. empower awardees will be expected to also build patient partnership into their empower award. empower awards are for a maximum duration of six months.

in the empower awards iii, ossu is soliciting proposals that relate patient-partnered and citizen/public engaged research that has the capacity to deliver impacts related to covid-19 challenges in ontario. the original patient partnered research need not be on the subject of covid-19 itself, but the application and impact of the work should be relevant to the needs of stakeholders in the province (from patients, to healthcare practitioners, to health policy and the health system).

click here for more detailed information and related documents.

partnership engage grants are expected to respond to the objectives of the insight program and the connection program. however, partnership engage grants cannot respond exclusively to the objectives of the connection program.

these grants provide short-term and timely support for partnered research activities that will inform decision-making at a single partner organization from the public, private or not-for-profit sector. the small-scale, stakeholder-driven partnerships supported through partnership engage grants are meant to respond to immediate needs and time constraints facing organizations in non-academic sectors. in addressing an organization-specific need, challenge and/or opportunity, these partnerships let non-academic organizations and postsecondary researchers access each other’s unique knowledge, expertise and capabilities on topics of mutual interest.

sshrc welcomes applications involving indigenous research, as well as those involving research-creation.

for tools and resources to assist in the planning and implementation of your partnership, see sshrc’s partnerships tool-kit.

sony has recently announced their research award program for 2020. there are two funding opportunities available:

1. the faculty innovation award
https://www.sony.com/electronics/research-award-program#facultyinnovationaward 

the social sciences and humanities research council of canada (sshrc), in partnership with the future skills centre of canada, has launched a knowledge synthesis grants competition to assess the state of research knowledge on the topic of “skills and work in the digital economy.”

working in the digital economy is one of 16 global future challenges identified in 2018 through sshrc’s imagining canada’s future initiative. working in the digital economy is also a major focus for canada’s new future skills centre, a forward-thinking centre for research and collaboration dedicated to preparing canadians for employment success and meeting the emerging talent needs of employers.

the deadline for applications is september 3, 2020.

the fy20 defense appropriations act provides funding to the department of defense scleroderma research program (srp) to support innovative, high-impact scleroderma research.  as directed by the office of the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, the defense health agency j9, research and development directorate manages the defense health program (dhp) research, development, test, and evaluation (rdt&e) appropriation.  the managing agent for the anticipated program announcements/funding opportunities is the congressionally directed medical research programs (cdmrp) at the u.s. army medical research and development command (usamrdc).

the fy20 srp program announcements and general application instructions for the following award mechanisms are posted on the grants.gov website. 

applications submitted to the fy20 srp idea development award must address one or more of the following focus areas:

• development of clinical trial platforms that enable the rapid comparison of different therapeutic approaches on a pilot basis
• define biomarkers (‘omics and/or molecular markers, cell subsets, imaging, patient-reported outcomes) that help inform choice therapeutics (immunosuppressive/anti-fibrotic) or predict course (morbidity, mortality) and quality of life
• secondary analysis of genomics and other datasets (scleroderma and datasets from other similar diseases), integration to identify novel targets and biomarkers to create a more analyzable set of data that can be validated in existing or new models

applications submitted to the fy20 srp translational partnership research award must address one or more of the following focus areas:

• understanding the different biological/metabolic pathways that differentiate subsets of patients (gender, age, genetic, clinical phenotype, race/ethnicity)
• utilizing systems biology and multi-omics approaches for understanding disease heterogeneity, primary prevention, therapeutics, interventions, and screening
• development of cohorts from diverse populations (longitudinal) to validate potential biomarkers (i.e., replication studies)
• define biomarkers (‘omics, and/or molecular markers, cell subsets, imaging, patient-reported outcomes) that help inform choice of therapeutics (immunosuppressive/anti-fibrotic) or predict course (morbidity, mortality) and quality of life
• defining epigenetic changes, multiple cell types, and molecules that mediate pathogenesis 

https://cdmrp.army.mil/funding/srp

idea development award – preproposal due september 9, 2020

independent investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent)

new investigators:

• terminal degree must be within the last 10 years.
• must not have received national institutes of health r01 funding.
• must not have received a new investigator award previously from any program within the cdmrp.
  • supports conceptually innovative, high-risk/high-reward research that could lead to critical discoveries in scleroderma research and/or improvements in patient care.
  • innovation and impact are important aspects of the award.
  • research must address at least one of the srp fy20 idea award focus areas.
  • clinical trials are not allowed.
  • preliminary data are required.
  • new investigator collaboration option:  supports the continued development of promising independent investigators that are early in their faculty appointment through collaboration with an established scleroderma investigator.
• submission of a preproposal is required; application submission is by invitation only.
• the maximum allowable funding for the entire period of performance is $300,000 for direct costs.

new investigator collaboration option

• the maximum allowable funding for the entire period of performance is $450,000 for direct costs
• indirect costs may be proposed in accordance with the institution’s negotiated rate agreement.
• the maximum period of performance is 3 years

translational research partnership award – preproposal due september 9, 2020

independent investigators at all academic levels (or equivalent)

clinicians must be an m.d., m.d./ph.d, or equivalent with clinical duties and/or responsibilities 

new investigators:

• terminal degree must be within the last 10 years.
• must not have received national institutes of health r01 funding.
• must not have received a new investigator award previously from any program within the cdmrp.
• supports partnerships between clinicians and laboratory scientists that accelerate ideas in scleroderma into clinical applications. at least one partner must be a laboratory scientist and at least one partner must be a clinician.
  • one investigator must be a new investigator.
  • research must address at least one of the sro fy20 translational research partnership award focus areas.
  • preliminary data are required.
  • clinical trials are not allowed.
  • pre-application submission is required; application submission is by invitation only.
  • the maximum allowable funding for the entire period of performance is $750,000 for direct costs.
  • the maximum period of performance is 3 years.

a pre-application is required and must be submitted through the electronic biomedical research application portal (ebrap) at https://ebrap.org prior to the pre-application deadline.  all applications must conform to the final program announcements and general application instructions that will be available for electronic downloading from the grants.gov website.  the application package containing the required forms for each award mechanism will also be found on grants.gov.  a listing of all cdmrp and other usamrdc extramural funding opportunities can be obtained on the grants.gov website by performing a basic search using cfda number 12.420. 

for email notification when program announcements are released, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under “email subscriptions” on the ebrap homepage at https://ebrap.org.  for more information about the srp or other cdmrp-administered programs, please visit the cdmrp website (https://cdmrp.army.mil).

point of contact:

cdmrp help desk

301-682-5507

help@ebrap.org

nserc invites applications for initiatives that promote the natural sciences and engineering (nse) to canada's young people, particularly to under-represented and disadvantaged groups in nse careers, including girls and indigenous peoples. the application deadline is september 15, 2020.

about the award

building upon the original goals of the bwf preterm birth initiative, a recently convened pregnancy think tank has helped shape the next generation of bwf preterm birth awards. growing evidence suggests the interrelatedness of the duration of pregnancy, fetal growth, and adverse pregnancy outcomes such as preterm birth, preeclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction, stillbirth, and maternal medical complications including maternal mortality.

other areas of interest are climate change and environmental impact on pregnancy, complications associated with art, and epigenome-wide association studies.

we seek to expand the scope of this award mechanism to capture these and other pregnancy outcomes as we believe they will be mutually informative and accelerate discovery. each award will continue to provide up to $500,000 over a four-year period ($125,000 per year).

the initiative is designed to stimulate both creative individual scientists and multi-investigator teams to approach healthy and adverse pregnancy outcomes using creative basic and translation science methods. the formation of new connections between reproductive scientists and investigators who are involved in other areas is particularly encouraged.