2020-21 Departmental Plan: Operating context

Health research plays an important role in improving health outcomes for Canadians and people around the world, as well as in contributing to the overall societal and economic prosperity of Canada. As the principal federal funder of health research in Canada, CIHR supports innovative research that advances knowledge and provides solutions to Canada’s most complex health challenges.

CIHR will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in June 2020 by recommitting itself to becoming an even-higher performing organization that is positioned to achieve better outcomes, restore and maintain confidence in its work, and embody the transformative vision as set out in the CIHR Act.

In June 2020, CIHR will launch its new Strategic Plan to guide CIHR operations and investments from 2020 to 2030. With this Plan, CIHR is seeking to lay the foundation for a shared vision for what Canada’s health research ecosystem could look like in the next 30 years.

CIHR is part of the Health Portfolio, which supports the Minister of Health in maintaining and improving the health of Canadians. CIHR also works closely with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the two granting councils of the Innovation, Science and Economic Development portfolio, to share information and coordinate efforts, harmonize practices, avoid duplication and foster multidisciplinary research.

CIHR will also continue to collaborate with its Tri-Agency partners to support shared programs to enhance Canada’s research capacity. Together, the agencies will invest in talented people and research excellence, and facilitate knowledge translation and mobilization to help foster a culture of social and commercial innovation.

In addition, CIHR will continue working with SSHRC and NSERC to develop the Tri-Agency Grants Management Solution (TGMS), a user-centric grants management platform. The existing grants management systems are limited in their capacity to adapt to the changing needs of the research community and the agencies’ evolving business needs. The development of a common grants management solution, with the primary objective of harmonizing processes and systems to provide an integrated solution to the research community and Agency staff, will modernize grants management and meet the standards of excellence.

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