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Suicide Prevention Targeting Aboriginal People - New Emerging Team (Archived)

Request for Applications

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Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health and
Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction Health Canada,
First Nations and Inuit Health Branch

Summary

The Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR): The Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health; The Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction and Health Canada, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, invites applications for "Suicide Prevention Targeting Aboriginal People - New Emerging Team." This research tool was developed for the purpose of building capacity in new and developing areas of research; to build new research teams; and to give researchers a building block for applying for research funding in future years. Research themes include those that are suicide-related or central to the reduction of suicide in Canada as they relate to the aboriginal community. They may vary in scope but should be focused enough to enable identification of appropriate culturally-sensitive approaches or methodologies. This RFA will be funded as a strategic initiative - New Emerging Team and is designed to solicit grant applications with duration of up to 5 years. The maximum fund available per grant is $1,500,000 over five years.

Deadlines
April 1, 2004	Registration Deadline - Registration packages must be courier stamped by this date. (Please refer to "How to Apply" section of this document.)
June 1, 2004	Full proposals must be courier stamped by this date. (Please refer to "How to Apply" section of this document.)
January 2005	Notification of decision
February 15, 2005	Anticipated start date
Duration of projects	Up to 5 years
Funds available	Up to $600, 000 per year. The maximum amount per grant is $300, 000 per year.

Introduction
Background
Partners
Specific Objectives and Eligible Research Areas
Eligibility Criteria
Specific Eligibility Requirements
Mechanism of Support
Funds Available
Allowable Costs
How to Apply
Evaluation Process and Criteria For Peer Review
General CIHR Guidelines and Conditions of Funding
Performance Measurement and Evaluation
Address for Submitting Application and Contact Information

Introduction

The goal of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research -Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health (CIHR-IAPH) is to lead a national advanced research agenda in the area of Aboriginal health, and to promote innovative research in this field that improves the health of Aboriginal peoples living in Canada. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research - Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (CIHR-INMHA) will support research to enhance mental health, neurological health, vision, hearing, and cognitive functioning and to reduce the burden of related disorders through prevention strategies, screening, diagnosis, treatment, support systems, and palliation. Associated research will advance our understanding of human thought, emotion, behaviour, sensation (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell), perception, learning and memory.

The essence of New Emerging Team (NET) grants is to provide support for new or existing groups who can demonstrate that they are committed to engendering a trans-disciplinary research culture and to attracting into, engaging and mentoring junior researchers (faculty and post-doctoral fellows not otherwise funded) or established researchers who have not worked extensively in suicide prevention research targeting aboriginal peoples in the past, within teams or networks working on suicide prevention research targeting aboriginal peoples themes. The creation or enhancement of teams likely to develop new, or refine existing, research methods or tools, is encouraged.

Background

Suicide in the aboriginal community is a major issue, as addressed in the report entitled, "Acting on What We Know: Preventing Youth Suicide in First Nations-The Report of the Advisory Group on Suicide Prevention" (released in 2003). Suicide among First Nations youth has been occurring at an alarming rate in recent years. Statistics show an Aboriginal suicide rate two to three times higher than the non-Aboriginal rate for Canada, and within the youth age group, the Aboriginal suicide rate is estimated to be five to six times higher than that of non-Aboriginal youth.¹

A recent report entitled "Workshop on Suicide-Related Research in Canada" ² documents that there is a need for pan-Canadian research for suicide and related behaviour. This translates into uncertainty in relation to common research enterprises, thereby making it difficult to translate research findings that are meaningful to communities. Communities need to be involved in the design and implementation of research in order to adopt and sustain recommendations based on findings. In response to this, participants at the CIHR funded "Workshop on Suicide-Related Research in Canada" developed potential suicide-related research themes (in alphabetical order, not priority order).

Data Systems: Improvement and Expansion
Evidence-based Practice
Mental Health Promotion
Multidimensional Models for Understanding Suicide-Related Behaviours
Spectrum of Suicide Behaviours, including Suicide Attempters
Suicide in Social and Cultural Contexts

A common determinant of health embedded through these research themes spoke to the role of biology and genetic endowment in relation to neuroscience and mental health.

Partners

The partners supporting this initiative include:

CIHR Institute of Aboriginal Health
CIHR Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addictions
Health Canada, First Nations and Inuit Health Branch

Specific Objectives and Eligible Research Areas

Health researchers in aboriginal suicide prevention are currently faced with the challenge of addressing a growing number of important research questions in the face of critical deficits in research capacity. Therefore the purpose of this RFA is to address this challenge by building capacity among teams of investigators who are poised to conduct research and translate new knowledge in suicide prevention research targeting aboriginal peoples. The funding associated with this RFA is intended to enhance the capacity of groups of researchers to address key research themes related to suicide prevention research targeting aboriginal peoples through the creation of strong intra- and inter-institution mentoring arrangements to add expertise to their core capabilities. Important aspects of this capacity-building program are the objectives of forging multidisciplinary teams around a suicide prevention research targeting aboriginal peoples and attracting researchers from relevant disciplines who have not been primarily (or at all) previously involved in this area of health research.

The specific objectives of this request are:

Other CIHR Institutes may fund proposals depending on research areas.
Foster cross-theme research in suicide prevention targeting aboriginal peoples with an emphasis on a multidisciplinary approach while providing relevance and an integrative approach to aboriginal communities identifying specific developmental-stages of the lifecycle (i.e. youth, elderly, etc).
Create a team environment that favours the development of excellent and innovative research projects that will advance our understanding of suicide prevention targeting aboriginal peoples in comparison to the non-aboriginal population.
Train and establish new investigators capable of undertaking research relevant to understanding suicide prevention targeting aboriginal peoples.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility criteria for all CIHR research funding (grant) programs apply. The business office of the institution of an eligible Nominated Principal Applicant generally administers CIHR funds. Please refer to the General Guidelines for All CIHR Programs under CIHR's Grants and Awards Guides on the CIHR website, regarding the eligibility requirements for individuals and institutions.

Specific Eligibility Requirements

This RFA requires applications from interdisciplinary teams. Each eligible team will include:

A team leader who must meet the criteria of "Nominating Principal Applicant" as described in the CIHR Eligibility for CIHR Grants and Awards guidelines. The team leader is the person who will act as research program director and assumes administrative responsibility for the grant.

In addition to the standard CIHR eligibility requirements, the following special conditions apply:

It is anticipated that New Emerging Teams will consist of 3 to 6 independent investigators. The specific contribution of each team member must be described.
At least two of the investigators must have an established research track record in areas related to the collaborative project(s) proposed. Ideally, the investigators should have complementary expertise in at least three of the four CIHR themes (biomedical, clinical, health systems and services, and the social, cultural and other factors that affect the health of population). For example: recent breakthroughs in genetics, especially the Human Genome Project, exciting developments in brain imaging and the explosion of knowledge in neuroscience and epidemiology now make it possible to use successfully a multidisciplinary, biopsychosocial approach to discover the causes of neurological, psychiatric and addictive disorders. This integrated approach (from clinical, biomedical models to social-psychological and population health) should lead to the development of truly effective treatments and of improved care for a variety of conditions related to suicide in the aboriginal population. ³
Capacity building may be in the form of training doctoral and post-doctoral trainees. However, teams may also want to train and establish New Investigators.
The members of the team may pursue other avenues of research in addition to their commitment to the Team, however each individual investigator must contribute sufficient time to the Team to ensure the achievement of its research objectives.
Members of a Team may be located in one or more departments, faculties or institutions in Canada.
The team, as a whole, should not, at the time of submission, benefit from any major infrastructure program designed to facilitate group activities, including programs of the CIHR (e.g. IHRTs, CAHRs, Groups program) or of any other federal or provincial agencies. Teams with small amounts of prior infrastructure must provide clear justification for the expansion of this support through the NET program. Any overlaps in support must be clearly described.
Individual team members may be part of other research teams or groups, as long as there is minimal to no overlap in the research programs.
The Team Leader must be a researcher with proven leadership capabilities.

Mechanism of Support

This RFA is funded as a strategic initiative and is designed to solicit project grant applications with the duration of up to 5 years.

Funds Available

The maximum amount awarded for a single grant is $300, 000 per annum for up to 5 years, including equipment.
The total amount available for this initiative is $3,000,000 over a 5-year period. This amount may increase if additional funding partners decide to participate.

Allowable costs

Applicants should review the "Eligibility of Expenses, Employment under Grants" section of the General Guidelines for all Research Funding Programs for a complete listing and description of allowable costs and activities.

The full application must provide a detailed justification of all costs.

Grants should not be used:

As bridging or emergency funding
To support ongoing studies

Funds should be aimed at methodological or intellectual content innovations as opposed to personnel or training innovations (the latter being supported by CIHR elsewhere).

A New Emerging Team grant cannot be used to purchase major equipment (over $20,000). All team members listed on the NET grant application cannot receive a salary, stipend, or honorarium from CIHR grants on which they are Principal applicant or Co-applicant.

NOTE: If the application includes a request for equipment, it must be indicated as expenditure for the first year. The first installment of the grant may then include a one-time payment of up to $20,000 for equipment.

How to Apply

To access CIHR application forms, including CVs, all applicants and co-applicants must acquire Personal Identification Numbers (PIN). There will be a delay of approximately one working day to receive confirmation of a PIN. More than one working day may be required in peak periods - late January and early August.
Applicants are advised to refer to the "Guidelines for Completion" specific to each application module, and the instructions on 'How to Apply', including the applicable Grants and Awards Guides. Note that the proposals must address the criteria described under the "Evaluation Process and Criteria for Peer Review" section in the text of the RFA.
The following special instructions apply to this RFA:

To ensure that your registration and application are forwarded to the appropriate CIHR staff, the words 'Suicide Prevention Targeting Aboriginal People', Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health' under the heading "Name of Industrial Partner(s) OR Partnership Program OR Special Program (if applicable)" in the General Information section of the Research Module (page 7 of the PDF form).

There are two steps to applying for this RFA. Applicants are encouraged to use the Webforms.

Register your intent to apply, using the CIHR Operating Grants registration package, which consists of pages from the CIHR Research Module, in addition to pages one and two of the Common CV for each applicant and co-applicant participating in the research project. If you are using the Webforms, after entering your PIN and password, create a new application, and then complete the "Operating" section under the Research Funding Programs heading. Once you have completed this section, Save and Exit, then choose the print option for "Registration Pages Only." Send the original plus one copy of both the registration pages and the CV pages to CIHR by courier by the registration deadline indicated in this RFA document, which may be different from the Operating Grants registration deadline.
Complete the full application using the CIHR Operating Grants application package, which consists of the CIHR Research Module, the CIHR Operating Budget Module and a Common CV for each applicant and co-applicant participating in the research project. When completing the CIHR Operating Budget Module provide a detailed justification of all project costs. Costs to be covered by CIHR's funding partners should be listed in the "Other Funding Sources" column on Page 1 of the Budget Module. Courier the original, plus eight copies of the full application by the application deadline indicated in the text of this RFA document.

All Forms and Guidelines for Completion are available on the CIHR web site.

Evaluation Process and Criteria for Peer Review

Each proposal must describe how the grant will address one of the important health issues described under "Specific Objectives and Eligible Research Areas" above. The appropriate Institute and/or Partner representatives may evaluate proposals for relevance/responsiveness to the RFA.

The Peer Review committee may be drawn from one of CIHR's pre-existing committees or may be created specifically for this Initiative. Committee members are selected based on suggestions from many sources including the Institute(s) and partner(s). Names of committee members are published on the CIHR website. The committee will follow the CIHR Peer Review Process.

Proposed New Emerging Teams will be evaluated as a single integrated entity. While each research component included in the application must be meritorious, it is critical to demonstrate that the Team brings added value, which would not be possible if the components were to be carried out in isolation as a series of separate operating grants. The scientific merit of the new collaborative research projects will be evaluated. It is important to note that these projects must not be funded by any other agencies at the time of submission.

General criteria for assessing applications are listed below. It is understood that referees and committees will weigh questions such as these differently from one application to another in addition to the general evaluation criteria outlined in the CIHR peer review process for grants, applications will be evaluated on the following:

Relevance.Applicants should describe the alignment of the proposed program with the objectives of the strategic initiative Suicide Prevention Targeting Aboriginal People - New Emerging Team.
Responsiveness to the NET program. Applicants must indicate how the proposed team meets the objectives and the eligibility criteria of the NET program.
Value Added. Applicants should emphasize the ways in which the New Emerging Team research program adds value by bringing together researchers from different disciplines, institutions, and/or themes, in a meaningful collaboration that will advance our understanding of suicide prevention targeting aboriginal people.
Innovation/Advancement. The project should challenge current research thinking and paradigms and/or address unexplored areas. Applicants should also provide a plan for effective dissemination of research findings through linkages with the appropriate user communities.
Approach. The application should describe the conceptual framework, methods, hypotheses, design and analyses for projects to be funded by this application. Brief descriptions of projects already funded, but which constitute part of complete research program should also be provided.
Team Excellence. New Emerging Teams should consist of team members who have been productive, creative and original in their approach to research. Applications should describe how the team will recruit and provide training opportunities for graduate and post-doctoral trainees and New Investigators.

On completion of the review, the Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health and its partners will receive the ranking lists, merit scores (ratings) and recommendation of the Committee, with regards to term and funding level, for the submitted applications. Based on the total funds available for the initiative, applications will be funded from the top-ranked down as far as the budget allows. Applications receiving a score less than 3.5 will not be considered for funding.

General CIHR Guidelines and Conditions of Funding

All conditions, as specified in CIHR's General Guidelines for All CIHR Programs and the strategic initiative Suicide Prevention Targeting Aboriginal People - New Emerging Team, shall apply to grants funded through this initiative. Conditions cover areas such as Applicant and Institutional Responsibilities, Ethics, Official Language Policy, Access to Information and Privacy Acts, and Acknowledgement of CIHR Support. Successful applicants will be informed of any special financial conditions prior to the release of funds or when they receive CIHR's Authorization for Funding (AFF) document.

In addition to CIHR standard guidelines and requirements, the following special conditions shall apply:

Within six months after the end of the grant's term, the nominated principal applicant is required to submit a final performance report, summarizing the results and describing how the grant funds were used. Applicants who receive funding must acknowledge the CIHR Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health and CIHR Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction and its partners in any communication or publication related to the grant.

Communication Requirement

Recipients who receive funding are required to acknowledge the CIHR Institute(s)/partner(s) in any communication or publication related to the grant as follows: CIHR-IAPH.

Performance Measurement and Evaluation

The CIHR Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health has made plans to assess performance of this initiative through ongoing monitoring and periodic evaluation. We are committed to informing Canadians about the performance of our initiatives and the results that they deliver.

The following table is intended to further clarify objectives by linking them to expected outcomes and measures. All funded applicants will be expected to participate in the evaluation strategy, contributing advice, data and reports as required for assessment purposes.

Objectives	Outcomes	Measure/Indicator
Foster cross-theme research in suicide prevention targeting aboriginal peoples with an emphasis on a multidisciplinary approach while providing relevance and an integrative approach to aboriginal communities identifying specific developmental-stages of the lifecycle (i.e. youth, elderly, etc).	Multidisciplinary and cross-theme research in suicide prevention targeting aboriginal people Linkage of scientific excellence in research with community relevance Effective treatments and of improved care for a variety of conditions related to suicide in the aboriginal population	Multidisciplinary and cross-theme nature of operating grant applications and subsequent publications Awardees opinion on the effectiveness of the program to foster multidisciplinary and cross-theme research Inclusiveness and collaboration of aboriginal people (research based on theory, literature review, research questions, data collection and analysis and summary for translation into meaningful application in aboriginal communities, i.e. program and policy development) Decreased incidence of suicide in the aboriginal populations
Create a team environment that favours the development of excellent and innovative research projects that will advance our understanding of suicide prevention targeting aboriginal population in comparison to the non-aboriginal population	Increased quality and productivity of award recipients in area of suicide prevention targeting aboriginal people	Applications to operating grants and success rate Knowledge translation activities (publications, patents, colloquia)
Train and establish new investigators capable of undertaking research relevant to understanding suicide prevention targeting aboriginal peoples	Increased number of trainees in suicide prevention targeting aboriginal people Establishment of new investigators in suicide prevention targeting aboriginal people	Number of trainees within the teams New investigators that are integrated in the teams

Address for Submitting Application and Contact Information

Send Application by Courier to:

RE: "Suicide Prevention Targeting Aboriginal People- New Emerging Team"
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Research Portfolio
410 Laurier Avenue W., 9th Floor
Address Locator 4209A
Ottawa, ON K1A 0W9

For questions on CIHR funding guidelines or how to apply contact:

Suzette Dos Santos
Program Delivery Officer
Knowledge Creation Programs Branch
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
410 Laurier Avenue West, 9th floor, Address Locator 4209A
Ottawa, ON K1A 0W9
Phone: (613) 941-0848
Fax: (613) 954-1800
Email: sdossantos@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

For questions about this initiative and research objectives contact:

Institute Representative
Earl Nowgesic BScN RN MHSc
Assistant Director
Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health
University of Toronto
100 College Street
Toronto Ontario M5G 1L5
Telephone: (416) 946-8056
Fax: (416) 946-8055
Email: earl.nowgesic@utoronto.ca

¹ Acting on What We Know: Preventing Youth Suicide in First Nations: The Report of the Advisory Group on Suicide Prevention.
² Report on the Workshop on Suicide-Related Research in Canada: Montreal, February 7,8, 2003.
³ Message from Dr. Rémi Quirion "About INMHA"

Created: 2003-11-27
Modified: 2004-04-15
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