2013-14 Report on Plans and Priorities

• Previous
• Table of Contents
• Next

Section II: Analysis of Programs by Strategic Outcome

Strategic Outcome

A world-class health research enterprise that creates, disseminates and applies new knowledge across all areas of health research

CIHR supports health research in order to improve the health of Canadians and to deliver more effective health care services to Canadians. Supporting health research that leads to this outcome may be through: creating health knowledge which leads to the development of new and better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat disease; ensuring Canada has top quality health researchers who can conduct innovative, as well as responsive, health research; commercializing health research discoveries; or advancing the introduction of effective health policies, practices, procedures, products and services.

Program 1.1: Health Knowledge

Program Descriptions

As of June 2009, CIHR's Randomized Controlled Trials Program has been integrated into the Open Research Grant Program (ORG Program). The ORG Program provides operating funds to support research proposals in all areas of health research, including randomized controlled trials research. The ORG Program aims to support the creation of new knowledge across all areas of health research, and to improve health and the health system. This is achieved by managing CIHR's open competition and related peer review processes based on internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence.

Planning Highlights

In 2013-14, CIHR intends to launch two competitions for the Open Research Grants Program with application deadlines in September and March which will result in approximately 800 new multi-year grants for the best research ideas. Approximately 4,000 on-going multi-year grants are supported during the year.

CIHR is committed to implementing its design for a high-quality, flexible and sustainable program capable of identifying and supporting excellence in investigator-driven research and knowledge translation in all areas of health. This commitment was conveyed to the research community with the release of the December 2012 document, Designing for the Future: The New Open Suite of Programs and Peer Review Process.

Transitioning to these new program processes and systems will be a multi-year undertaking. Starting with pilots of key design elements in 2013, changes to CIHR's current Open Suite of Programs and peer review processes will be implemented over a number of years until CIHR has fully integrated the research community into its new Open Funding Programs. CIHR is also committed to ensuring that adequate support is available to applicants, peer reviewers, and academic institutions throughout the transition period. This support begins immediately with the establishment of a College of Reviewers, which has an anticipated launch date of spring 2013.

Program 1.2: Health Researchers

Program Descriptions

This program aims to build health research capacity to improve health and the health care system by supporting the training and careers of the best health researchers selected through a competitive peer review process based on internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence.

Planning Highlights

CIHR offers Training Support and Salary Support Programs. The Training Support Program provides support and special recognition to master, doctorate, post-doctorate or post-health professional degree students who are training in health research areas in Canada or abroad. The Salary Support Program provides support to help new health researchers develop their careers and devote more time to initiating and conducting health research. There is intense competition globally for talent and CIHR's programs are designed to attract and keep the brightest minds in Canada throughout their research careers.

Canada is building world-class research capacity by recruiting top-tier talent through a suite of programs that provide support to highly qualified research personnel at all stages of their careers. Canada's three federal granting agencies – the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) – administer the following five programs:

• The Canada Graduate Scholarship Program (CGS) provides financial support to outstanding eligible students pursuing master's or doctoral studies in a Canadian university.
• The Vanier CGS Program supports world-class doctoral students who demonstrate a high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies as well as leadership skills.
• The Banting Post-Doctoral Fellowship Program attracts and retains top-tier postdoctoral talent, both nationally and internationally, to develop their leadership potential and to position them for success as research leaders of tomorrow, positively contributing to Canada's economic, social and research-based growth through a research-intensive career.
• The Canada Research Chairs Program (CRC) provides support to new and established investigators for five- and seven-year terms.
• The Canada Excellence Research Chairs Program (CERC) a highly prestigious program is intended to attract world-class researchers to Canadian universities to work in priority research areas and conduct world-leading research.

Program 1.3: Health Research Commercialization

Program Descriptions

This program supports and facilitates the commercialization of health research to improve health and the health care system. This is achieved by managing funding competitions to provide grants, in partnership with the private sector (where relevant); and by building and strengthening the capacity of Canadian health researchers to engage in the research and development (R&D) and commercialization process.

Planning Highlights

The Health Research Commercialization programs are a suite of funding initiatives that aim to support the creation of new knowledge, practices, products and services and to facilitate the commercialization of this knowledge. This is done by funding R&D and commercialization projects (such as proof of principle and industry partnered projects) which encourage collaboration between academia and the private, public and/or not-for-profit sectors in the promotion and support of commercial transfer of knowledge and technology resulting from health research.

The Networks of Centres of Excellence Programs (NCE) are delivered in collaboration with the other two granting councils (SSHRC and NSERC), through the NCE Secretariat. They support the partnering of centres of research excellence with industry capacity and resources, and with strategic investment to turn Canadian research and entrepreneurial talent into economic and social benefits for Canada. The NCE programs are national in scope, multi-disciplinary and involve multi-sectoral partnerships between academia, industry, government and the not-for-profit sector (non-governmental organizations). CIHR's share of NCE funding supports the best NCE applications in the area of health research.

Program 1.4: Health and Health Services Advances

Program Descriptions

Through this program, CIHR targets its investment in health research to address gaps in key research areas and communities or to capitalize on areas of Canadian strength. CIHR identifies priorities and provides directed support to respond to the health and health care system challenges that matter to Canadians.

Planning Highlights

As part of the implementation of its Strategic Plan, in 2010-11, CIHR launched a process to attain greater focus and impact from its strategic investments, CIHR's Signature Initiatives. This process involved environmental scanning and evaluation to identify needs and opportunities where additional research could make a difference and produce measurable results.

First among CIHR's Signature Initiatives is the Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR). CIHR will proceed with the implementation of the core elements of the strategy, SPOR Networks, Support for People and Patient-Oriented Research and Trials (SUPPORT) Units and Training Programs.

The first SPOR Network to be implemented will be the Patient-Oriented Network in Adolescent and Youth Mental Health launched in partnership with the Graham Boeckh Foundation. Through research and implementation and transformative intervention approaches, the network will catalyze fundamental change in youth and adolescent mental health care in Canada. The goal is that in five years new approaches will begin to substantively increase the number of youth and adolescents who are identified as in need of services and who subsequently will receive quality, timely and appropriate care. A second targeted Network related to Community-Based Primary Health Care is currently under development.

SUPPORT Units are specialized research service centres referred to as Support for People and Patient-Oriented Research and Trials (SUPPORT) Units. They are being created to provide the necessary and often highly specialized expertise to those engaged in patient-oriented research. These multidisciplinary centres include methodologists and other experts who are essential to the patient-oriented research enterprise such as clinical epidemiologists, biostatisticians, social scientists, health economists and clinical trialists, as well as research support staff.

CIHR is committed to providing support for centres across the country with each SUPPORT Unit developed in collaboration with the jurisdictional partners to ensure that the design is appropriate to the jurisdiction and capable of achieving the intended impact.

The national vision for the SUPPORT Units is to provide core jurisdictional facilities focused on establishing state-of-the-art core competencies in often highly specialized methodological areas and offer collaboration to other researchers engaged in patient-oriented research. These Units will also lead and facilitate decision-making within the health services setting and catchment area, and foster the implementation of best practices

New SPOR training programs will be designed and prepared for launch following delivery of recommendations from an External Advisory Committee. This advisory committee will validate the key design features that will drive excellence in the training of personnel to carry out patient-oriented research.

In addition to SPOR, CIHR and its Institutes will continue to develop and implement high-impact Signature Initiatives that address key health and health systems priorities, including:

• Canadian Epigenetics, Environment and Health Research Consortium: This initiative will position Canada for the rapid translation of epigenetic discoveries into diagnostic procedures and the eventual development of new therapeutics that can improve human health.
• Inflammation in Chronic Disease: This initiative aims to develop a unified Canadian strategy on inflammation research that will support the discovery and validation of common biomarkers, therapeutic targets, and inflammatory mechanisms among chronic diseases, with the ultimate goal to prevent and/or treat chronic disease by reducing inflammation and pain through novel interventions.
• Community-Based Primary Health Care: This initiative aims to transform health care for the next generation by supporting improved delivery of appropriate high-quality community-based primary health care to Canadians.
• Personalized Medicine: This initiative aims to support translational research for the effective prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of complex diseases with the ultimate goal of stratifying patients based on their susceptibility to a disease or their response to a specific treatment; and to promote health services research to effectively integrate such innovations into policy and practice for the benefit of Canadians.
• Pathways to Health Equity for Aboriginal Peoples: This initiative aims to develop a better understanding of how to implement and scale up interventions and programs that will address Aboriginal health inequities in four priority exemplar areas – Suicide, Obesity, Tuberculosis and Oral Health.
• International Collaborative Research Strategy for Alzheimer's Disease (ICRSAD): This initiative aims to understand the mechanisms and/or conditions responsible for the disease and prevent them from occurring; to delay the clinical manifestations of the already developing disease; and to help individuals, caregivers and the health system to cope with the clinically developed disease.
• Evidence Informed Healthcare Renewal: This initiative will generate robust, timely and high-quality evidence on how best to finance, fund, and sustain and govern Canada's health care system.

CIHR also guides other important Government of Canada investments in health research, with careful consideration to where Canada can capitalize on areas of strength and excellence, and build research capacity in new fields of health research. These priorities are identifiedin consultation with stakeholders from government, health care, patient and community groups, researchers, and industry and include investments such as:

• research dedicated to finding an HIV vaccine, addressing complex co-morbid health conditions for people living with HIV/AIDS and other areas of HIV prevention, treatment and care; and
• research to increase knowledge of post-market drug safety and effectiveness to inform decisions and increased capacity in Canada to address priority research on post-market drug safety and effectiveness.

CIHR's Knowledge Translation support consists of both outreach and engagement activities to key stakeholders and core funding opportunities (such as Partnerships for Health System Improvement, Knowledge to Action, Knowledge syntheses, Meetings, Planning and Dissemination) that aim to support the synthesis, dissemination, exchange and ethically sound application of knowledge in any area of health research.

Program 1.5: Internal Services

Program Descriptions

Internal Services are groups of activities and resources that apply across the organization to support the needs of programs and to meet other corporate obligations of CIHR. These services include such functional areas as Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology and Administration Management Services, Strategic Policy, Internal Audit, Evaluation and Risk Management, Communications and Public Outreach, and Corporate Governance

Planning Highlights

Recently, CIHR's Governing Council (GC) re-affirmed the Institute model as CIHR's key driver for delivering on its strategic mandate. In reviewing the model, GC determined that no fundamental changes to the current Institute structure or slate are required at this time to meet CIHR's objectives. However, GC acknowledged that improvements to the functioning of the model are required to ensure the coherence, focus, and impact of CIHR's strategic investments. Furthermore, GC has initiated a transparent and inclusive process of reflection on the future of the Institute model to ensure that CIHR's structure and processes remain responsive and effective in achieving the strategic objectives and mandate of CIHR over the next decade.

In 2011-12, CIHR underwent its second international review by a prestigious blue ribbon panel. The panel presented its report to CIHR's Governing Council in June 2011. The Governing Council met in August 2011 to consider its response to the recommendations and to provide strategic direction to management on the development of a corresponding action plan. CIHR's Executive management has reviewed the panel's report which included 16 recommendations in five overarching areas and has developed an action plan. CIHR will continue to address the recommendations that the International Review Panel presented as part of its report.

CIHR is committed to executing a thoughtful implementation of its new Open Suite of Programs and peer review processes. As described in Designing for the Future: The New Open Suite of Programs and Peer Review Process, CIHR will conduct various pilot studies and tests for the new peer review process between early 2013 and mid-2016. Lessons learned from these pilot studies will help inform adjustments to the design, as well as impart a greater understanding of the complexities of peer review. Through these pilots, CIHR will improve the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of its programs and peer review delivery systems; and, contribute to best practices in peer review.

In 2012, CIHR rolled out the Research Reporting System (RRS), which is an end-of-grant reporting module collecting information from CIHR-funded researchers on the results of their grant(s). The initial launch of the RRS has focused solely on the CIHR's Open Research Grant Program but other funding programs will be added to the RRS process. The benefits include the collection of standardized information on the value and impact of funding, collection of data on numerous topics related to the funded project, and the availability of reported data to funding partners, the research community and the public. RRS will enable CIHR to more accurately report on its investments and outputs by area.

• Previous
• Table of Contents
• Next

Date modified:

2013-03-28