CIHR-IMHA Inclusive Research Excellence Prizes

Eligibility

For an application to be eligible, all the requirements stated below must be met:

1. The Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) must be:
   1. An independent researcher who is an Early-or Mid-Career Researcher (ECR or MCR), affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary institution and/or its affiliated institutions (including hospitals, research institutes and other non-profit organizations with a mandate for health research and/or knowledge translation);
      OR
   2. An individual affiliated with an Indigenous non-governmental organization in Canada with a research and/or knowledge translation mandate;
      OR
   3. An Indigenous non-governmental organization in Canada with a research and/or knowledge translation mandate.
2. The NPA (individual) must have their substantive role in Canada for the duration of the requested grant term. For applications by more than one individual, all Principal Applicants must have their substantive role in Canada as above.
3. The Institution Paid must be authorized to administer CIHR funds before the funds can be released (see Administration of Funds).
4. The applicant(s) must submit their application based on completed research projects.
5. As the NPA, an individual or individuals can apply to any of the six (6) research domains but they:
   1. cannot submit more than two applications. If the NPA submits more than two applications, CIHR will only review the first two application(s) submitted based on time-stamp of submission.
   2. cannot submit more than one application per Research Domain. If the NPA submits more than one application per domain, CIHR will only review the first application submitted based on time-stamp of submission.
6. Applications in the domain of Indigenous Health must include at least one applicant who self-identifies as Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit or Métis) and/or demonstrates a track record of meaningful and culturally safe involvement with Indigenous Peoples. A one-page document describing how this requirement is met must be submitted as an “Other” attachment (see How to Apply for more details).
7. Upcoming Research Projects—no matter how promising—will not be considered. The term “completed” is used to underscore that this is not a call for applicants to propose future research.  
8. Winners from the 2023 CIHR-IMHA Inclusive Research Excellence Prizes Competition are not eligible to submit the same completed project to this competition.

Note: NPAs applying as an ECR or MCR can identify participants (Principal Applicants and/or Co-Applicants) at other levels of seniority (ECRs, MCRs, Senior Researchers).

Summary

The CIHR-IMHA Inclusive Research Excellence prizes are designed to recognize exemplary completed research projects under the broad IMHA mandate areas in six (6) cross-cutting research domains.

Prizes will be awarded for completed research projects in the following six domains.

1. Indigenous Health Research Prizes: Indigenous Health Research is defined as any field or discipline related to health and/or wellness that is conducted by, grounded in, or engaged with, First Nations, Inuit or Métis communities, societies or individuals and their wisdom, cultures, experiences, or knowledge systems, as expressed in their dynamic forms, past and present. Prizes in this domain will be awarded for completed research projects aligned with the TCPS 2-Chapter 9: Research Involving the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples of Canada, that exemplify the guiding principles of Indigenous Health Research: Indigenous-focused; inclusive of, or grounded in, Indigenous knowledge; inclusive of, or led by, Indigenous communities as decision-makers/partners.
2. Open Science Prizes: CIHR's Strategic Plan 2021-2031 Priority A, Strategy 3 is to promote open science. Open science refers to various approaches to make scientific knowledge more accessible and reusable for the benefit of science and society. In line with a 2021 UNESCO Recommendations on Open Science report, prizes in this domain will help foster a culture of open science and align incentives with open science. Prizes will be awarded for completed research projects that contributed to open science as a discipline and/or exemplified the use of open science resources and approaches to further knowledge, increase research rigour and robustness, enhance collaboration with partners outside of academia, and disseminate research to achieve greater impact. (See Additional Information for more information on open science)
3. Research Impact Prizes: As a signatory to Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), CIHR is committed to excellence in research funding and to ensuring that a wide range of research results are valued as part of the review process. Aligning with DORA's recommendations is one of the ways that CIHR is advancing a more inclusive concept of research excellence. Prizes in this domain will be awarded for completed research projects that exemplified research that informed decision-making, had a health impact, and/or produced economic and/or social impacts. These impact categories were recommended within the 2009 Canadian Academy of Health Sciences (CAHS) report on health research impacts.
4. Team Science Prizes: As noted by a 2017 CAHS report on the Academic Recognition of Team Science, successful health science research relies on collaboration among experts across disciplines, institutions, or countries, all working together. To address multiple barriers (such as concerns about individual career advancement), an expert panel convened by CAHS called for research funders to promote a more inclusive understanding and recognition of team science. Prizes in this domain will be awarded for completed research projects where the team composition and environment were integral to the research and had a demonstrable impact on end users.
5. Patient Engagement Prizes: Patient engagement in research involves meaningful and active collaboration in governance, priority setting, conducting research and knowledge translation. Depending on the context, patient engagement may also engage people who bring the collective voice of specific, affected communities. Prizes in this domain will be awarded for completed research projects that exemplified the Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research Patient Engagement Framework's four guiding principles: inclusiveness, support, mutual respect and co-build with respect to working with patient partners.
6. Implementation Science Prizes: Implementation Science is the scientific study of the methods and strategies used to implement evidence-informed interventions into routine health care in clinical, organizational, or policy contexts. CIHR-IMHA's Strategic Plan 2021-26 Priority area 4 Scale Up for Impact recognizes the need to fund implementation science research to evaluate scaled-up health service programs in real-world settings. Prizes in this domain will be awarded for completed research projects that advanced the evidence base on how to implement, evaluate, adapt, and spread (share) evidence-informed interventions or care policies. This may have been done across different regions, conditions, populations or contexts.

Pre-application deadlines

RSO internal deadline

Application deadlines

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

Institutional Signature:

In order to obtain the signature of the signing authority from the Institution Paid for the full nomination application, submit the completed nomination package to the Research Services Office (researchawards@ucalgary.ca) by February 17, 2025 at noon.

CIHR-IMHA Inclusive Research Excellence Prizes - Information Webinar for Applicants

CIHR will be hosting webinar(s) to support participants with the requirements of this funding opportunity and to answer questions. To find out more information and to register, visit the Webinars page.