Health System Impact Embedded Early Career Researcher Award

Eligibility

Consult your department and/or Faculty early to ensure they can support your application, as this award requires significant confirmed resources and their eligibility requirements for supporting your application may differ from a standard research grant.

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

1. The Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) must be an early career researcher* who is an independent researcher with a faculty appointment at a Canadian university by the application deadline**.

   Note: ECR eligibility status will be calculated as of the application deadline. Eligible leaves of absence will be considered in the calculation of ECR status (i.e., will not count towards the maximum) and should be included in the Employment section under Leaves of Absence in the Common CV. For more information regarding eligible leaves, consult the ECR definition in CIHR's Glossary of funding-related terms.

2.  The NPA must have their substantive role in Canada for the duration of the requested grant term.
   1. The NPA may be a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or citizen of another country.
3. The Institution Paid receives and administers the funds on behalf of the NPA and therefore must be authorized by CIHR before the funds can be released. If the Institution Paid is not on the List of CIHR Eligible Institutions, they are encouraged to contact the Contact Centre, in advance, to enquire about the authorization process and timelines.

4. The NPA must secure a position as embedded scientist or equivalent role* at a health system organization in Canada. Universities and university-based research institutes are not eligible host health system partner organizations in this funding opportunity

   Note: A health system or related host partner organization may be a public, private for-profit, or not-for-profit organization at the local, regional, provincial/territorial, or federal/national level (e.g., national health or health-related organization, Indigenous health organization [community-based or other such as an Indigenous non-governmental organization], ministry of health, community hospital, academic teaching hospital, health authority, quality council, public health organization, health charity, consulting firm undertaking health or health-related work, pharmaceutical company, health-related professional association). A health system or related host partner organization is defined as an organization that contributes to: direct service delivery; mandated quality monitoring; the development of policy or programs that affects the health of individuals, populations and/or the health system; the development, provision or evaluation of technologies/products/services; or consulting services aimed at improving health outcomes and/or health system effectiveness and efficiency.

5. The NPA must secure 1-1, matching funds or $100,000 per annum, in partner contributions from their host health system organization and academic institution (the amount paid by each is not prescribed and will be determined independently of CIHR). This contribution must be outlined and confirmed at the time of application.

   Note:

   1. Of the $100,000 total partner contribution, at least $50,000 must be a cash contribution towards the applicant's salary and/or research and professional development allowance.
   2. The remaining amount, up to $50,000, may include research-related supports that directly benefit the applicant's research program such as: salaries for trainees, research assistants, administrative support and/or other research program personnel.
   3. If, as a result of this award, host-institution-controlled salary funds are freed up, then it is required that the host institution reinvest these funds (minus the actual cost of the teaching release to the university, if applicable) in the Embedded ECR research program (e.g. graduate students, post-graduate students, workshops, meetings, etc.)
6. The NPA must have at least two confirmed mentors, including:
   1. A mentor from the host health system organization who is a senior-level health system leader within the organization with relevant expertise; and
   2. A mentor from the host Canadian university (i.e., academic institution) who is an academic leader who holds an independent research appointment with relevant expertise.
7. The NPA must have successfully completed one of CIHR's sex- and gender-based analysis training modules available online through the CIHR Institute of Gender and Health. A Certificate of Completion must be included in the full application.

8. For any applications involving First Nations, Inuit and/or Métis Peoples, this funding opportunity seeks applicants who self-identify as Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit or Métis) or provide evidence of having meaningful and culturally safe involvement with Indigenous Peoples, or both in order to:

   1. Prioritize First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples in leading their research agendas;
   2. Promote cultural safety and appropriate engagements by researchers working with First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples in meaningful ways to ensure that respectful relations are established;
   3. Add value to the research through the use of Indigenous culturally relevant theoretical and conceptual frameworks, and Indigenous culturally appropriate research protocols, including Indigenous methodologies; and
   4. Promote equity and development of trainees, researchers and knowledge users who are of Indigenous ancestry.

   Note: Any applications involving First Nations, Inuit or Métis Peoples must include a health system mentor and an academic mentor who self-identify as First Nations, Inuit or Métis Peoples or provide evidence of having meaningful and culturally-safe involvement with First Nations, Inuit or Métis Peoples. Applicants are responsible for determining whether this eligibility criterion applies to their application. See the How to Apply section for more details.

9. Applicants are permitted to submit only one application per HSI program competition.

   *The award has built-in flexibility for the NPA, host health system organization, and university to create the role. Possible (non-exhaustive) examples of equivalent roles (which may have a variety of titles, including Embedded Scientist, Implementation Scientist, Embedded Clinician Scientist, Evaluation/Improvement Scientist, LHS Scientist, etc.) include:

   • Tenure-track Assistant Professor position with salary and benefits at a Canadian university, with 60% of the time seconded or contracted by the host health system organization for the duration of the award
   • Hybrid position with dual roles including Embedded Scientist within the host health system organization and tenure-track Assistant Professor/Chair within the university, cost-shared by the two institutions
   • Embedded Scientist within the host health system organization with up to 40% of the time protected for independent research in an Assistant/Associate Professor role at the university

   ** Individuals who do not hold an independent research appointment at a Canadian university at the time of application, but who expect to be appointed by the funding start date, may apply. If the application is successful, funds will only be released to the Institution Paid once the applicant's status is confirmed.

Summary

The Health System Impact (HSI) Embedded Early Career Researcher Award is the newest addition to the HSI program, and is launched biennially. The award provides early career researchers (ECRs) the opportunity to: 

• develop their embedded research roles and programs;
• apply their research skills to help health system organizations tackle high priority challenges, contribute to evidence-informed decision-making, strengthen cultures of learning and improvement, and advance the Quintuple Aim;
• build their collaborations and partnerships within and across the academic and health system communities; and
• advance their leadership and impact as embedded research scholars.

Overall, the HSI Embedded ECR Award will help to establish a career pathway for embedded ECRs, enhance their potential for impact and contribution as embedded scholars, and increase the probability that they will secure an embedded scientist position with a Canadian health system organization and/or a faculty position in a Canadian university. Additionally, in aligning research talent with the evidence needs and priorities of health system organizations, the HSI Embedded ECR Award program will develop research capacity and capability within health system organizations for learning and improvement, helping to further advance learning health systems (LHSs) across Canada.

Application deadlines

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator
• Department Head
• Faculty ADR/Dean
• Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.

RESOURCES

Reminder: The sooner the researcher engages with Research Services, the more help we can be!

Contact the following Research Service units for support with:

Projects Involving Indigenous Research:

Support with incorporating wise practices in Indigenous research, community engagement, and Indigenous data management is available through the Indigenous Research Support Team (IRST).

Applicants can reach out by email to IRST at IRST@ucalgary.ca in advance of the RSO internal deadline. For more information about IRST, please visit the IRST webpage.

Knowledge Mobilization, Research Impact Assessment, DORA:

Support for knowledge mobilization/engagement/translation, community partnerships, research impact, responsible research assessment (DORA), and open science, is available through the Knowledge to Impact team.

Applicants can reach out by email to the KI team at knowledge.impact@ucalgary.ca.

For more information and access to resource archives, please visit the KI team webpage.

Research Data Management:

For information on research data management plans, processes, or best practices for your research program, please contact research.data@ucalgary.ca.

EDI in Research:

RSO can provide resources and support to research teams on the integration of equitable and inclusive practices in research design and research practice.

Contact edi.rso@ucalgary.ca for more information.

Research Security:

The Research Security Division is available to ensure researchers adhere to research security guidelines and policies, including the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships (NSGRP) and the policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern (STRAC).

Visit the Research Security website to learn more or contact researchsecurity@ucalgary.ca.

Pre-Award Submissions:

RMS: Creating a Pre-Award LOI
RMS: Creating a Pre-Award Application