the objective of the idea to innovation (i2i) grants is to accelerate the pre-competitive development of promising technology originating from the university and college sector and promote its transfer to a new or established canadian company. the i2i grants provide funding to college and university faculty members to support research and development projects with recognized technology transfer potential. this is achieved through defined phases by providing crucial assistance in the early stages of technology validation and market connection.

the rti grants program provides the primary avenue for university researchers in the natural sciences and engineering to obtain up to $150,000 in support for research tools and instruments with a net cost between $7,001 and $250,000. net cost is defined as the purchase cost of the equipment after any discount from the vendor and before taxes, customs and importation fees, transportation and shipping charges, and assembly and installation costs. the vendor discount must be free of conditions, restrictions or limitations (e.g., cannot be offered in exchange for services from users benefiting the vendor company). the research community is also encouraged to explore other avenues for funding research tools and instruments, including nserc's other programs that allow the purchase of equipment as eligible expenses.

the fy19 defense appropriation provides $10 million (m) to the department of defense (dod) melanoma research program (mrp) to support innovative, high-impact melanoma 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 materiel command (usamrmc).

fy19 mrp program announcements and general application instructions for the following award mechanism is posted on the grants.gov website. 

the fy19 mrp focus areas are listed below:

• precursor lesions, melanomagenesis, host factors, and the tumor microenvironment (e.g., melanoma instigators, ultraviolet [uv] exposure, other instigators)
• melanoma primary tumor evolution (e.g., dormancy, heterogeneity, metabolism, epigenetic dysregulation, cell death)
• therapeutic prevention
• minimal residual disease
• rare melanomas (e.g., uveal, acral, leptomeningeal disease, pediatric, adolescent and young adult [aya], mucosal)

the mrp challenges the research community to redefine the concept of prevention and has issued a fy19 mrp challenge statement that should be considered when responding to the fy19 mrp focus areas and funding opportunities.

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

concept award – letter of intent due october 2, 2019

investigators at or above postdoctoral fellow (or equivalent)

• ·        supports the exploration of highly innovative, untested, potentially groundbreaking concepts in melanoma.
• ·        emphasis is on innovation.
• ·        preliminary data is strongly discouraged.
• ·        clinical trials are not allowed.
• ·        blinded review.
• ·       the maximum allowable funding for the entire period of performance is $75,000 in direct costs.
• ·       indirect costs may be proposed in accordance with the institution’s negotiated rate agreement.
• ·       the maximum period of performance is 1 year.

a pre-application (letter of intent or pre-proposal) 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 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 usamrmc 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 mrp 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

the national research council (nrc) is collaborating with transport canada (tc) to develop a 5-year r&d plan to support regulatory development for visual line-of-sight (vlos)/beyond visual-line-of-sight (bvlos) remotely piloted aircraft systems (rpas) operations and to identify technology advancements, testing and certification that will enable safe operation of rpas (also known as drone, uas or uav) in canada. the objectives are to develop and oversee the government of canada’s transportation policies and programs so that canadians can have access to a transportation system that is safe and secure; green and innovative; and efficient.

the consortium for aerospace research and innovation in canada (caric) and the consortium for research and innovation in quebec (criaq) will support transport canada and nrc to deploy a rpas r&d program, by making use of their networks with the objective to:

• stimulate, create and support opportunities for industry, academia and government to perform collaborative research activities to support canadian regulatory framework development
• support other key initiatives when required

in this context, caric, criaq, nrc, and transport canada are launching a call for projects ideas in the following themes:

• bvlos-1: detect and avoid (daa) system qualification: provide data on risk mitigation of specific detect-and-avoid (daa) systems to inform the regulator and support the issuance of bvlos special flight operations certificates (sfoc).
• bvlos-2: c2 link robustness: inform the regulatory requirement for command and control (c2) link characteristics for bvlos operations at low altitude (<500feet), by small-medium rpas.
• bvlos-3: human injury probability: inform the regulatory requirement on probability of impact of the rpas on people, in case of mishap for bvlos operations at low altitude, by small-medium rpas.
• bvlos-4: human injury severity: inform on injuries that can be caused by rpas impact on people (not limited to 50th percentile male, includes cuts, concussions, lesions, fractures, etc.) and efficiency of mitigation factors.
• bvlos-5: drone detection: development of an effective solution for rpas detection on critical section of airspace on or in vicinity of airports or aerodromes

goals of this program include development of technological breakthroughs and new enabling technologies, with significant economic benefit for canada (jobs, revenues, etc.).

interested industrial partners are invited to submit a project idea with research partners for the development of collaborative projects for this rpas specific call.

the call underscores idrc’s commitment to support a major research effort to: 

research award recipients will join idrc for a one-year paid program to undertake research on the topic they have submitted. they will receive hands-on experience in research and program management and support, grant administration, and the creation, dissemination, and use of knowledge from an international perspective.

for payroll purposes, awardees are considered full-time employees of idrc. benefits include employer contributions to employment insurance, employer health tax, the canada pension plan, and paid vacation leave. some travel and research expenses are also supported, up to a maximum of ca$15,000.

the ontario hiv treatment network’s (ohtn) hiv endgame program seeks to support people and projects that have the potential to:

• ·         meet the needs of populations in ontario most affected by hiv
• ·         drive changes in policy and practice across the hiv prevention, engagement, and care cascade
• ·         lead to more integrated health and social services
• ·         identify effective ways to address the social determinants that have a negative impact on the health of communities most affected by hiv
• ·         contribute to a rapid learning hiv health and social system.

our current funding opportunities are listed below. the letter of intent (loi) application deadline is friday, july 12, 2019.

1.         endgame leader awards: salary support for leaders at different stages of their careers who are interested in working with the ohtn to drive change.

2.         game changer awards: project funding to generate game-changing knowledge, pilot and scale-up game-changing interventions.

3.         community-based project and participatory evaluation awards: project funding for community-based agencies and people living with hiv to undertake projects and evaluation that will have a meaningful impact on programs and services for those most affected by hiv.

the cihr sex and gender science chairs initiative is expected to:

• grow the science of sex and gender research through the development and application of novel methods for elucidating the sex- and gender-related mechanisms that underpin the risk, incidence and response of various health and disease conditions in order to shape new therapies, interventions, programs and policies;
• increase visibility and position canada as a leader in discipline-specific sex and gender science; and
• support capacity building in sex and gender science among the next generation of health researchers.