Interdisciplinary Capacity Enhancement Grants - Reducing Health Disparities and Promoting Equity for Vulnerable Populations (Archived)

Institute of Gender and Health
Institute of Population and Public Health
In partnership with:
Health Canada
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
Institute of Aging
Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health
Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health
Institute of Genetics
Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health
Institute of Infection and Immunity
Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis
Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction
Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes

Summary

Part of CIHR's mandate is to harness research to improve the health status of vulnerable populations. The purpose of this Request for applications is to provide support for new or existing groups conducting multi-disciplinary research on themes that align with this strategic initiative. The grants will enable teams to build capacity and add expertise to their core capacities and develop strategies for knowledge translation.It is expected that this targeted investment will lead to understanding and addressing health disparities, and improving the health status of vulnerable populations.

Timeline

Value and Duration

Table of Contents

Summary
Background
Partners
Objectives and Eligible Research Areas
Funding Information
Eligibility
Evaluation Criteria and Process
General CIHR Guidelines and Conditions of Funding
Communications Requirements
Monitoring, Performance Measurement and Evaluation
How to Apply
Contact Information UPDATED
Description of Partners

Background

The CIHR Reducing Health Disparities Initiative is a cross cutting strategic research initiative addressing the reduction of health disparities and the promotion of equity for vulnerable populations. With an emphasis on high quality research, the involvement of policy makers, practitioners and general community, and the transfer of useful knowledge, the Initiative aims to exert a national as well as international impact on health status, health behaviours and the use and delivery of health services.

In partnership with Health Canada, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Heart and Stroke Foundation, the National Secretariat on Homelessness, and a number of international agencies, the Initiative has pursued its stated goals through a program that includes: research project support; building research capacity by promoting interdisciplinary teams and the encouragement of alliances between institutions of higher learning, policy makers, practitioners and the general community; and translating research knowledge into information that will inform programs, policies and practices in health and health related sectors.

The current RFA is intended to provide support for new or existing interdisciplinary research teams to describe, investigate and ultimately help reduce health disparities. The grants will support the creation of new teams, will enable existing teams to expand their membership and expertise, and will encourage the development of strategies for knowledge translation.

A May 2002 RFA for one-year Research Program Development Grants focused on reducing health disparities and promoting equity for vulnerable populations was met by enthusiastic response. The RFA results underscored the need for further development of research capacity and the support of innovative research. In 2003, two subsequent RFAs, one to support Research Program Development and the second to support Pilot Projects, were also highly successful. The current Interdisciplinary Capacity Enhancement Grant, an extension of the 2002 and 2003 one time, one year RFA's, will provide multi-year funding to carry out innovative research, to permit teams to expand capacity by encouraging interdisciplinary work, and to focus on knowledge translation.

Vulnerable Populations

Canada's Health Act arguably envisions a healthy society with no disparities based on sex, age, socioeconomic or ethnocultural status; however definable groups in Canada - vulnerable populations -- suffer a disproportionate burden of illness. On average, the wealthy live longer than the poor, and have a better chance of staying in good health throughout their lives. According to Statistics Canada, 18% of Canadians live in low-income circumstances and income inequality is on the increase. Canadians who live in poverty suffer poorer health than their socio-economically advantaged counterparts, regardless of the health measure employed: self-rated health, mortality, morbidity (including chronic illnesses, obesity, and mental disorders) or activity limitations.

Poverty interacts with, but is not synonymous with vulnerability. An international gathering of experts meeting under the auspices of the CIHR Reducing Health Disparities initiative and bodies such as the Canadian Policy Research Network (CPRN) have arrived at remarkably similar definitions of populations particularly vulnerable to both poverty and poor health. These include Aboriginal peoples, recent immigrants, people with disabilities, the homeless and single mothers. According to the CPRN, 25 percent of people in these high risk groups lived in poverty in the period 1996-2000, as compared to fewer than 5 percent of people in the non high-risk groups. Twenty-eight percent of children in the identified high risk groups lived in sustained poverty.

Although neonatal death rates for Aboriginal babies have fallen in recent years to a point where they now approximate national levels, an Aboriginal baby is almost three times more likely to die during the first year of life than her/his non-Aboriginal counterpart. Aboriginal adults suffer chronic illnesses at a rate three times higher than the population at large.

Newly-arriving immigrants are, on the whole, in better health than native born Canadians. During their first decade in Canada, however, they are far more likely than indigenes to develop tuberculosis. Over their total life span, some immigrant groups are at particularly high risk for cardiovascular disorders, as well as cancer of the colon.

People with physical and mental disabilities have a double disadvantage, having to cope not only with the disability itself, but with the too frequent, added burdens of compromised health, and of inadequate health care. Stigma and public censure create additional distress and erect obstacles to care for persons suffering from chronic mental disorders such as schizophrenia, and from various forms of addiction.

Homelessness, a growing problem in Canada, has been associated with early mortality, substance abuse, mental illness, infectious diseases, and difficulty accessing health services. The homeless suffer not only from material disadvantage, but from health risks resulting from exposure to the elements, poor diet, and personal danger.

Other vulnerable populations include single parents, children and youth in disadvantaged circumstances, women, the elderly and unpaid caregivers, gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people. Women experience particular health risks since health research and the health system have not always taken into account, or addressed the factors that influence the health status of women, and, in particular, the circumstances of single mothers. Secular change is also affecting women's health. Although fewer men are smoking today than in previous years, the rates of smoking among certain groups of women are increasing at an alarming rate, as are its consequences such as cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular disorders.

International Comparisons

Health disparities are not unique to Canada. Vulnerable populations in other countries also face barriers in their ability to live full and healthy lives. Differing international contexts provide important opportunities for "experiments in nature" to illuminate health disparities in whole societies. For example, in both the US and Canada, homelessness has been found to be accompanied by an increased risk of death (Journal of the American Medical Association, April 2000). However, the risk of death for the homeless versus the non-homeless in the US is much greater than the corresponding relative risk in Canada. This funding opportunity exists as a mechanism for Canadian researchers to explore or strengthen international collaborations in mutual areas of health research priorities to CIHR and/or the Institutes, and the foreign researcher(s).

The Research Challenge

According to recent Federal/Provincial/Territorial documents, reducing socioeconomic, gender-related, ethnic and geographic inequalities in health (through reducing inequalities in access to such fundamental determinants of health as literacy and access to education, food, housing, safe living and working conditions, and health services) is likely to yield health benefits similar in magnitude to those accruing from reductions in conventional 'lifestyle' risk factors for the major chronic diseases.

Establishing the links between social position and health behaviours, health status and the use of health services across the lifespan, and establishing causal directions governing these linkages is a challenge to researchers across the full spectrum of health research (including, for e.g. epidemiology, medicine, sociology, anthropology, health policy, economics, genetics, physiology, nutrition, cardiovascular health, mental health, neuromuscular health, cancer, health over the life span, occupational and environmental health). For example, genomics holds out great promise for the understanding, prevention and cure of a great many illnesses. However, as the Canadian Policy Research Network points out, genomics alone cannot account for health. There is a need to understand how more than 30 million unique genomes in Canada interact with neonatal, physical and social environmental factors to determine health status. Some scientists have, for example, posited the evolution of a "thrifty gene" to help deal with food shortage. Moving from conditions of shortage to conditions of plenty -- particularly when the foods in plentiful supply are high in fats -- may be one of the explanatory mechanisms for obesity in certain groups. Aside from genetically-based susceptibility, prior exposure to disease agents may help explain predisposition in some vulnerable groups. Previous exposure has, for example, been implicated to explain why immigrants, who make up about 18 percent of Canada's population, account for 60 percent of the country's total burden of tuberculosis. Although most experts agree that reactivation is the most likely explanation, the conditions accounting for reactivation are still poorly understood. Canada must encourage the development of comprehensive interdisciplinary research programs that investigate ways in which biologic determinants of health, in interaction with social, economic and cultural contexts, create and sustain health disparities.

Canada is a "knowledge society," whose members, according to the CPRN, are not content to abdicate total responsibility for the conduct of science to socially hierarchical structures, or to rely solely on entrenched authority to ensure health and well being. Instead, the health sciences must engage the public in meaningful discourse to ensure that citizens feel they are being heard and that what they say makes a difference. The Reducing Health Disparities initiative includes research and other activities dedicated to knowledge transfer, to examining the implications of research for policy and practice, and to addressing public concerns about health disparities, and their ethical and legal implications. The initiative encourages knowledge transfer through the innovative use of technology; stake-holder conferences; communication through both "mainstream" and community media; grass-roots forums involving affected communities, service providers and policy makers, and other creative strategies.

Many disparities in health status have already been documented, and the particular vulnerabilities of certain population groups described. Although the search for mechanisms underlying and explaining vulnerability must continue, currently available knowledge should be used to design interventions, whose effectiveness and efficacy must, in turn, be subjected to rigorous research.

Partners

The Institute of Gender and Health and the Institute of Population and Public Health are dedicated to identifying and developing collaborations with other CIHR institutes, branches or offices, funding organizations and stakeholders to enhance the availability of funding for this strategic initiative, and to create, where appropriate, opportunities for knowledge exchange and translation related to the scope of this particular initiative. Applicants are invited to visit the Descriptions of Partners to find a list of partners and their respective mandates and/or strategic interests. This list will continue to evolve as new partners join in this initiative.

Objectives and Eligible Research Areas

Objectives of the Interdisciplinary Capacity Enhancement Grant Program

The following paragraphs describe the overall objectives of the Interdisciplinary Capacity Enhancement Grant Program under this strategic initiative. It is not intended or expected that any single team applying for support through the ICE Team RFA should address all of the objectives. The specific objectives of this request are:

• To support targeted capacity building in research thematic areas identified in this strategic initiative.\
• To better position teams of researchers for accessing CIHR and other open competitions for research funding.
• To promote networking and mentoring among researchers from different disciplines and between institutions.
• To promote the development and maintenance of multidisciplinary teams that conduct trans-disciplinary research in strategic thematic areas.
• To create opportunities and initiate career paths for young and established investigators who are new to conducting health research, or transitioning to different areas of health research.
• To facilitate the integration of knowledge translation plans and activities into routine activities of research teams * Teams are strongly encouraged to address this objective.

Eligible Research Areas

Programs of research that focus on one or more of the following are encouraged:

A. Understanding Health Disparities:

1. Research focusing on vulnerable populations, including but not limited to: Persons with disabilities; Persons with neurological disorders, mental health and addiction problems; Persons with elevated susceptibility to infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Hepatitis C; Persons with acute and/or chronic conditions such as circulatory and respiratory conditions, cancer, diabetes, obesity, musculoskeletal disorders; Homeless people including both the visible and hidden homeless, those at risk of homelessness and their respective key sub-populations; Aboriginal Peoples; Immigrants and refugees; Ethno cultural minorities; Children and youth; Older adults; Women in marginalized or compromised situations; Gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people; Persons with low levels of literacy and/or education
   
2. Examination of Factors that Influence Vulnerability and Disparities such as:
   
   
   1. Biological factors including genetics, sex differences, developmental abnormalities, nutritional status, sensory impairments, cardiovascular health, and compromised immunological status that help account for, or may serve to reduce health disparities and the vulnerabilities of disadvantaged groups.
   2. Socio-environmental, cultural and structural factors that help account for, or may serve to reduce health disparities and the vulnerabilities of disadvantaged groups, such as unemployment or unstable employment, inadequate or poor working conditions; low socioeconomic status, low income, poverty; inadequate housing, poor living conditions; discrimination (e.g., racism, sexism); marginalized family status; limited education; exposure to violence; food insecurity; mismatch between physical environment and physical capacity; lack of security and safety; inadequate social support; barriers to appropriate health services, preventive and social services; being a member of an Official Language Minority Community; gender inequalities
      
      Applicants should consider the ways in which biological and/or environmental and/or socio-cultural determinants and their interactions result in some sub-populations in Canada becoming "vulnerable."

3. The description and analysis of health disparities at the population level, including but not limited to: the anonymous linking of large routinely collected datasets, such as census and provincial health insurance data, to depict the shape of gradients in health status in entire populations including socio-economic gradients in mortality and morbidity; factors leading to differential "steepness"/magnitudes of health gradients and disparities, whether related to socioeconomic status, gender and/or ethnicity; time trends in health disparities in Canada, their magnitude and the factors that may explain them; and valid methods for summarizing information about health disparities, including econometric indices as well as epidemiological methods, and their pros and cons.

1. Intervention research that aims to rigorously evaluate policy and program impacts on health disparities. For example, Canada has adopted a regionalization strategy for resettling government-sponsored refugees and independent immigrants outside of major urban areas. Given the demonstrated importance of the like-ethnic community for mental health, this strategy may have health implications. Other intervention-oriented research could help to further understanding of the application of research evidence for programs, for example, various school programs that are attempting to combat obesity, or outreach programs designed to encourage the participation of ethnocultural communities in cancer screening programs. Research that examines the impacts of health policies on aging and aging related issues is yet another example.
2. Demonstration/evaluation programs of health care interventions focused on vulnerable populations that can help reduce health disparities. Research demonstrates that severe trauma - a not infrequent occurrence in the lives of refugees, Aboriginal peoples, and women in marginalized circumstances -- creates a risk for mental disorders such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as for long-standing social impairment. Although popular and widely-used, the "debriefing" of survivors in the immediate or short-term aftermath of catastrophe has either no effect, or a possible negative impact. Program evaluation is an important tool to help health care providers recognize when they may be doing the wrong thing. There is a need for demonstration/evaluation programs that build on the admittedly incomplete knowledge about health disparities available, and which can be subjected to vigorous assessment.
3. Ethical and legal issues associated with health disparities and inequalities facing vulnerable populations.

Funding Information

Mechanism of Support

This Request for Applications will follow the CIHR Research Grants Guidelines.

Allowable Costs

Applicants should review Use of Grant Funds and Eligibility of Expenses, Employment under Grants within the General Guidelines for All Research Grants for a complete listing and description of allowable costs and activities.

The full application must provide a detailed justification of all costs. Please note that salaries for professional staff, instead of students, and funds for literature reviews, are not allowable costs.

Funds Available

• The maximum amount awarded for a single grant is $200,000 per annum for three to five years, including equipment. The equipment grant is awarded in year one. The final two years of funding are subject to a satisfactory progress review in the third year of funding.
• The total amount available for this initiative may increase if additional funding partners decide to participate.

Based on the total funds available for the initiative, applications will be funded from the top-ranked down as far as budgets will allow. Applications receiving a score of less than 3.5 will not be considered for funding.

Eligibility

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility criteria for all CIHR research funding programs apply. The business office of the institution of an eligible Nominated Principal Applicant generally administers CIHR funds. Please refer to the Eligibility Requirements for CIHR Grants and Awards regarding the eligibility requirements for individuals and institutions.

According to the Grants and Awards Guideline, *a co-applicant is any health researcher, including a trainee, a research associate, or a foreign researcher that makes a substantial intellectual contribution to the proposed research project. Teams with foreign researchers are encouraged to apply.

Specific Eligibility Requirements

Eligibility requirements specific to this Request for Applications include the following:

• Teams must consist of three or more researchers. A "team" under the terms of this RFA is a group of researchers from a variety of disciplines and more than one institution or from a variety of faculties, departments, institutes or centres within a single institution, working collaboratively on projects that fall within one or more identified priority areas.
• At least one team leader must be identified, although co-leaders are permitted. Team leaders must be fully qualified independent researcher(s) eligible to apply to CIHR research funding programs as a Principal Investigator (see eligibility criteria above). The team leader is the person who will act as research program director and assume administrative responsibility for the grant. In addition, the team leader must be a researcher who holds his/her major academic appointment, whether full-or part-time, at a Canadian university or affiliated institution. The university or institution must have agreed to allow the team leader responsibility for directing research projects and supervising students.
• The research plans of the team will require an ongoing, active and substantive working relationships among researchers who would normally be associated with two or more of CIHR's health research themes:
  • biomedical
  • clinical
  • health systems and health services
  • societal, cultural, and environmental influences on health and the health of populations.

• At least 1 member of the team must be a fully qualified independent researcher employed at a Canadian not-for-profit institution or community organization.
• Teams are encouraged to include clinical researchers.

This RFA supports the development of new knowledge and the translation of research findings to reduce health disparities and promote equity for vulnerable populations. It encourages and hopes to foster partnerships from public, private sector, voluntary, international and not-for-profit organizations both as funders and as active members of the research team. Proposals must be based on an active partnership between a community organization(s) and research team(s) whose members are affiliated with local universities, hospitals or other not-for-profit institutions capable of conducting health research. The partner may also contribute funding or in-kind support to the research project (such as office space or staff time), according to its ability to do so.

* Community partners can include: school boards; health-oriented service clubs; community foundations and organizations; tribal councils; local, provincial and national health charities; hospital and research institute foundations; municipal and regional health authorities, district health councils; and provincial government agencies.

Evaluation Criteria and Process

Evaluation Criteria

Each proposal must describe how the grant will address one of the important health issues described under "Objectives and Eligible Research Areas." General criteria for assessing applications are listed below. Because different applications will emphasize different approaches to research and to knowledge translation, it is understood that reviewers and committees will weigh questions such as these differently from one application to another.

The research proposed:

• How important, novel and/or original are the hypotheses or the questions to be addressed, and how clearly are they formulated?
• How important and original are the contributions expected from the research proposed? What is the potential for important new knowledge or impact in health research?
• How well will the proposed experiments address the hypotheses or questions? How appropriate are the methods for the conduct of the experiment and analysis of data? (For research proposals)
• How well have the applicants anticipated difficulties in their approach and considered alternatives?
• How well have applicants mixed qualitative and quantitative methodologies when appropriate?
• How critically is the relevant literature appraised and evaluated?

The applicant's productivity, experience and training:

• How appropriate to the research proposed is the training or track record of the applicant(s)? How important and original is the recent productivity of the applicant(s)? How much confidence do you have that the applicant can do the work proposed? (The proposed time commitment to the research may influence this judgment.)

In addition to these general criteria, the peer review committee will consider the criteria below:

The team should demonstrate how support through an ICE team grant will:

1. bring added capability and expertise to the group of investigators submitting the application;
2. further the objectives of increasing researcher capacity in specific areas of need identified;
3. develop new mentoring relationships and networks among groups, institutions or faculties; and
4. strengthen capacity for knowledge translation.

In addition, the review committee will evaluate the extent to which:

• key members of the ICE team are established researchers in relevant areas who have a demonstrated track record as mentors in strong and innovative training environments for graduate and post-doctoral trainees, and who can demonstrate the potential for, or history of, mentoring trainees without extensive health research background but with methodological or other skills that will strengthen the team's research;
• key members of the ICE team have a demonstrated track record at participating collaboratively and productively in research teams;
• team members have demonstrated sustained productivity, creativity and originality in their approach to research (whether in or outside health research), or have the potential to develop these attributes;
• the team has provided an original, innovative, coordinated and feasible research plan.

Evaluation Process

All personal information collected by CIHR about applicants is used to review applications, to administer and monitor grants and awards, to compile statistics, and to promote and support health research in Canada. Consistent with these purposes, applicants should also expect that information collected by CIHR may be shared as described in Use and Disclosure of Personal Information Provided to CIHR for Peer Review.

Prior to peer review, the appropriate CIHR institute, portfolio and partner representatives may first review proposals for relevance to their strategic interests. The relevance review will be based on the extent to which the proposed research relates to the mandates or strategic priorities of the Institutes, portfolios and partners. As such, representatives will have access to the anonymized project titles and summaries. This review will have no impact on the peer review process.

On completion of the review, the appropriate CIHR institute, portfolio and partner representatives will receive the ranking list, merit scores (ratings) and recommendations of the peer review committee with regards to funding level, for the submitted applications that fall in the fundable range.

A CIHR peer review committee will evaluate the full applications. The committee may be drawn from one of CIHR's pre-existing committees or may be created specifically for this Request for Applications. Committee members are selected based on suggestions from many sources including the institute(s) / portfolio(s) and partner(s), following CIHR's policy on Conflict of Interest, Confidentiality and Privacy Issues in Peer Review. For information on CIHR's peer review process, see Peer Review.

Access to Information Act and Privacy Act, and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)

CIHR as a federal entity is subject to the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act, therefore the requirements of these two statutes will apply to all information located in CIHR's premises including, without limitation, cost-sharing agreements related to this Request for Applications and all matters pertaining thereto.

The Parties, while respecting the application of the Privacy Act to federal entities, will also be bound by the PIPEDA. All personal information (as identified by the PIPEDA) collected, used or disclosed in the course of any commercial activity under cost-sharing agreements related to the Request for Applications will be collected, used and disclosed in compliance with the PIPEDA.

General CIHR Guidelines and Conditions of Funding

All conditions specified in CIHR General Grants and Awards Policies shall apply to applications funded through this Request for Applications. 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. A standard form will be provided by the Institute of Gender and Health. Final performance reports should be submitted to the Institute of Gender and Health, unless notified otherwise.

Communications Requirements

Grant recipients are required to acknowledge CIHR, its institutes and partners in any communication or publication related to the project. See CIHR General Grants and Awards Policies, Acknowledgement of CIHR's Support for details on CIHR's communication requirements. The contributing institutes / partners will be identified on the Authorization for Funding and decision letter.

Monitoring, Performance Measurement and Evaluation

CIHR is committed to demonstrating results to Canadians for the money invested in health research. Therefore, processes for monitoring progress and appropriate use of funds, as well as for performance measurement and program evaluation are in place. As a result, funding recipients must:

• Adhere to CIHR's reporting requirements and provide required information in a timely fashion. A progress report will be required in year 3 of five-year grants. Grantees are required to submit a "Progress Report for 5-year grant holder (Form 44)" which can be found under All Forms and Guidelines for Completion describing the progress made and the publications issued since the start of the grant. CIHR will cancel the last 12 months of the grant if the progress is unacceptable and will cancel the final two years of the grant if it does not receive a report;
• If the grant will be offered for less than five years, grantees will be given notice and asked to submit a report half way through the duration of the grant.
• Contribute to the monitoring, review and evaluation of CIHR's programs, policies and processes by participating in evaluation studies, surveys, workshops, audits and providing data or reports as required for the purpose of collecting information to assess progress and results;
• Encourage their associates, trainees and administration to participate in the monitoring, review and evaluation of CIHR's programs, policies and processes as required.

The following table is intended to further clarify objectives by linking them to expected outcomes and measures which will be included in CIHR's Management Resources and Results Structure (MRRS) required by Treasury Board.

How to Apply

The application process is comprised of two steps: 1) Letter of Intent (LOI), and 2) Full Application.

1. Letter of Intent (LOI)

In the first step of the application process the Nominated Principal Applicant is required to submit a Letter of Intent.

The Letter of Intent should include:

a) A cover page (maximum one page) indicating:

• the title of the Team program as it will appear in publicity and other announcements;
• the relevant area of focus;
• the name, title, address, telephone and fax numbers, and E-mail address of the Team Leader; and,
• a statement indicating which university or affiliated institution will administer the funds.

b) A list of all team members and their affiliations. (N.B. The list need not be final at the Letter of Intent stage.)

c) The CIHR Research Module - "Research Funding Programs" section (Cover page of the Web Form printed report)

d) The CIHR Research Module - "Applicants/Co-Applicants" section (Page 2a "Signature page" of the Web Form printed report).

e) Letter.

In a maximum of three pages, the letter should outline clearly each of the elements below:

• The objectives of the research program, its multi-disciplinary nature, and the relevancy to the identified focus;
• The nature and extent of the collaboration among investigators, with an explanation of the anticipated value added to the research program through the formation of the team;
• The individual research components that make up the program;
• The preliminary plan for the research program and schedule of work; and
• How the proposal addresses the evaluation criteria described under "Evaluation Process and Criteria."

f) Attachments:

• A brief curriculum vitae (maximum two pages) for each Principal Applicant, using the Common CV as a guideline for content. The curriculum vitae must include information on current grants requested held, relevant publications from the last five years, and expertise keywords. Full CVs will not be considered;
• A development grant request whereby applicants may request funds of up to $10,000 to be used in the development of a full application. A one-page request must be submitted with the LOI, outlining the development grant budget;
• A short bibliography (one page) of any references cited in the Letter of Intent;
• A list of the areas of expertise of the team members.

Applicants are advised to follow the instructions on the Acceptable Application Module Formats page, which outlines formatting requirements for attachments.

Any additional material will be discarded and not sent to the review committee; this includes letters of support, updates on publications, updates on other support received, letters confirming academic appointment, reprints, etc.

Send the Letter of Intent by Courier to:

Submit one original and six copies of the Letter of Intent to the address below, by the deadline indicated at the beginning of this Request for Applications.

RE: "Reducing Health Disparities and Promoting Equity for Vulnerable Populations Interdisciplinary Capacity Enhancement Grant"
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Room 97, 160 Elgin Street
Address locator: 4809A
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0W9

2. Full Application

Selected applicants will be invited to submit a full application by the deadline date.

Details of the application procedure will be provided to those invited to apply. This will involve a full description of the individual components making up the team's research program, as well as the justification for supporting the collaborative aspects of the entire proposal.

Teams invited to submit full proposals may be offered developmental grants of up to $10,000.

Contact Information

For questions on CIHR funding guidelines, how to apply, and the peer review process contact:

Susan Birbeck
Program Delivery Coordinator
Knowledge Creation Programs
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Telephone: (613) 954-1970
Fax: (613) 954-1800
Email: sbirbeck@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

Description of Partners: CIHR Institutes and Partner Organizations

Note: Additional partners, including partners from industry and the private sector are expected to join this funding initiative over the coming year.

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
CIHR is Canada's major federal funding agency for health research. Its objective is to excel, according to internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence, in the creation of new knowledge and its translation into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and products and a strengthened Canadian health care system.

Institute of Gender and Health
The mandate of the CIHR Institute of Gender and Health (IGH) supports research that addresses how sex (biological-genetic factors) and gender (social-cultural experiences) interact with other socio-cultural, bio-physical, and political-economic factors to influence health, and create conditions that differ with respect to risk factors or effective interventions for males and females throughout the lifespan. The objectives of the Institute for Gender and Health are (1) to generate evidence regarding the impact of sex and gender on health status, health behaviour, and health services use throughout the life span; (2) to enhance understanding of how gender and sex interact with other health determinants; (3) to provide evidence to inform the design of programs, policies and practices; (4) to build the capacity of gender and health researchers in Canada; and (5) to advance the gender and health perspective nationally and internationally.  Five research priorities were identified following extensive national consultations: (1) access and equity for vulnerable populations, including violence and health, health equity, and access to health-related services; (2) promoting health in the context of chronic and infectious conditions and disabilities; (3) gender and health across the lifespan, including child and youth health, healthy aging, work, leisure and health, caregiving, reproductive and sexual health; (4) promoting positive health behaviours and preventing addictions; and (5) gender and physical and social environments. The IGH encourages applications focused on any of these research priorities.

IGH and Gender Based/Sensitive Analysis: The Institute of Gender and Health expects applicants to demonstrate the use of gender-based or gender-sensitive analysis (GBA) in applications. GBA is an approach to research and evaluation which systematically inquires about biological (sex-based) and sociocultural (gender-based) differences between women and men, boys and girls, without presuming that any such differences exist. The purpose of GBA is to promote rigorous sex/gender-sensitive health research which expands understanding of health determination in both sexes, in order to provide knowledge which can result in improvements in health and health care. IGH is currently examining various ways to stimulate substantive GBA practice among the research community. In the meantime, we refer you to the Canadian resource on GBA policy and practice published by Health Canada which can be found at the web addresses below. Applications with explicit reference to how they incorporate sex or gender considerations in the development of the research question, methodology and analysis will receive favourable pre- and post- peer review funding consideration from IGH.

• Gender-based Analysis
• What is Gender-Based Analysis?

* Please note that if you locate and/or use alternate sex and gender sensitive guidelines, we would appreciate their citation.

Institute of Population and Public Health
The mission of the Institute of Population and Public Health (IPPH) is to support research into the complex interactions (biological, social, cultural, environmental), which determine the health of individuals, communities, and global populations; and, the application of that knowledge to improve the health of both populations and individuals, through strategic partnerships with population and public health stakeholders, and innovative research funding programs. IPPH has identified five priorities in its strategic plan for 2002-07. This RFA addresses two of IPPH's five priorities, "building the capacity of the PPH research community" and the substantive theme of "analyzing and reducing disparities".

Partners:

Health Canada

Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSFC) is one of Canada's largest health charities and funds the majority of heart disease and stroke related research in Canada. The mission of HSFC is to improve the health of Canadians by preventing and reducing disability and death from heart disease and stroke through research, health promotion and advocacy. Funds for this initiative are available through the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada Research Fund - a strategic fund comprising contributions from all 10 provincial Heart and Stroke Foundations. Researchers should please refer to Eligibility for Research Funding Programs on the HSFC website. For information related to the Heart and Stroke Foundation's partnership please contact:

Lynne Moffat
Assistant Director, Strategic Initiatives
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada
Telephone: (613) 569-4361, ext. 350
Email: lmoffatt@hsf.ca

Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health
The CIHR-IAPH will play a lead role in building research capacity in the First Nations, Inuit and Metis communities, and will support partnerships and alliances between aboriginal communities and non-aboriginal health research organizations/institutes at the local, regional national and international levels. CIHR-IAPH will support health research that respects aboriginal cultures, while generating new knowledge to improve the health and well-being of aboriginal people.

Institute of Aging
The mandate of the Institute of Aging is to support research that promotes healthy aging and addresses causes, prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, support systems, and palliation for a wide range of conditions associated with aging.

Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health
As per its mandate, the CIHR Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health will support research into causes, prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, support systems, and palliation for a wide range of conditions associated with the heart, lung, brain, blood and blood vessels.

Institute of Genetics
The CIHR Institute of Genetics (IG) supports research on the human and other genomes and on all aspects of genetics, basic biochemistry and basic cell biology related to health and disease, including the translation of knowledge into health policy and practice and the societal implications of genetic discoveries. The IG encourages applications in any area within its mandate.

Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health
The mission of the Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health (IHDCYH) is to promote and facilitate research at the highest international standards in reproductive and developmental biology, pregnancy and birth, and the health and development of newborns, children, youth and their families. The future of young people's health depends on our understanding of the wide range of determinants that support or compromise their health. Research, which assesses and reduces health disparities and promotes the health of vulnerable populations relate to the six strategic priority themes of this Institute. In building the foundations of life, this Institute is committed to research on improving the health status of vulnerable populations. This includes the origins of health disparities, particularly socioeconomic, ethnic and geographic factors and studies of strategies to reduce or eliminate disparities, beginning with differences in fetal and infant mortality rates and extending to developmental outcomes as children mature.

Institute of Infection and Immunity
The Institute of Infection and Immunity (III) supports research to enhance immune-mediated health, and to reduce the burden of infectious disease, immune-mediated disease, and allergy through prevention strategies, screening, diagnosis, treatment, support systems, and palliation. Vulnerable populations have elevated susceptibility to infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and Hepatitis C, leading to health disparities. In spite of recent advances in treatment and care, HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to be major health problem. Structural inequalities continue to fuel the epidemic in all societies, and HIV infection has increasingly been concentrated in the poorest, most marginalized sectors of society in all countries. The co-infection of HIV/hepatitis C and HIV/TB are major health concerns in vulnerable populations. Multi-drug resistance TB is becoming more prevalent making HIV/AIDS infected individuals more susceptible to TB. The relationship among infectious diseases, environment and social and economic development should be addressed to reduce the burden of illness and burden on the health care system arising from health disparities and experienced disproportionately by vulnerable populations.

Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis
The CIHR Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis (IMHA) will support research to enhance active living, mobility and movement, and oral health; and to address causes, prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, support systems, and palliation for a wide range of conditions related to bones, joints, muscles, connective tissue, skin and teeth. The mission of IMHA is to eradicate pain, suffering and disability, in order to enhance quality of life for people affected by arthritis, and musculoskeletal, oral and skin conditions. Applications will be considered in IMHA's six focus areas: arthritis, bone, oral health, muscle, MSK rehabilitation, and skin and must be linked to one of its three research priorities :

• Physical Activity, Mobility and Health
• Tissue Injury, Repair and Replacement
• Pain, Disability and Chronic Diseases.

Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction
The mission of the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA) is to foster excellence in innovative, ethically responsible research in Canada that aims to increase our knowledge of the functioning and disorders of the brain, the mind, the spinal cord, the sensory and motor systems, as well as mental health, mental illness and all forms of addiction. The INMHA seeks to translate this new knowledge into a better quality of life for all Canadians through improved health outcomes, health promotion and health care services. This RFA addresses access and equity for people with diseases related to the INMHA: neurological disorder, brain trauma and spinal cord injuries, mental illnesses, addiction problems, vision and hearing loss. Members of our Institute Advisory Board, the scientific community and non governmental and volunteer health organizations have identified discrimination and stigma as one issue that prevents Canadians suffering from these health problems and their family from seeking needed help and finding support in their community. INMHA is particularly interested in funding innovative proposals related to reducing stigma against and/or related to populations suffering from disorders identified in INMHA's mission.

Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes
The objectives of the INMD's current Strategic Initiative: Excellence, Innovation and Advancement in the Study of Obesity and Healthy Body Weight are to:

1. Place obesity on the national health research agenda;
2. Build capacity to undertake obesity/healthy body weight research;
3. Fund excellent research aimed at understanding the problem of obesity and maintenance of healthy body weight.