Pre-Announcement: National Women’s Health Research Initiative: Pan-Canadian Women’s Health Coalition

As announced in Budget 2021, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Institute of Gender and Health, and Women and Gender Equality Canada are pleased to announce the upcoming launch of the National Women’s Health Research Initiative.

We recognize that the term “women’s health” is conceptualized and understood in a variety of ways. For the purposes of the National Women’s Health Research Initiative, the use of the term women’s health reflects an evolving concept, broadly including the multidimensional concepts of sex and gender. It refers to physical, biological, reproductive, psychological, emotional, cultural, and spiritual health and wellness across the life-course in the context of the unique intersecting concerns related to our bodies, our roles, our social locations, and our identities. The initiative goes beyond the sex and gender binary and welcomes the experiences and needs of all people who identify as a woman, girl, intersex, and/or an under-represented gender identity, including, but not limited to, Two-Spirit, trans, non-binary, gender fluid, and agender people.

The National Women’s Health Research Initiative will advance a coordinated research program that addresses under-researched and high-priority areas of women’s health and will ensure new evidence improves women’s and gender-diverse people’s care and health outcomes. It will also promote an intersectional lens to research and care to tackle persistent gaps for all women, including for Indigenous, Black, and racialized women, women with disabilities, and members of Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and additional sexually and gender diverse (2SLGBTQI+) communities. The Initiative will transform women’s health research and practice in Canada by producing and implementing a community-based approach, committed to the principles of equity, diversity, inclusivity, and Indigenous Rights.

Overview

All women, girls, Two-Spirit, and gender-diverse people in Canada warrant access to culturally safe, trauma-informed, non-stigmatizing, high-quality healthcare across their life course that reflects and respects their unique intersectional identities and social locations. No person should be disadvantaged by discrimination and inequality and prevented from achieving their optimal health and wellness

This Fall, CIHR will launch a funding opportunity for a Pan-Canadian Women’s Health Coalition as the first step to implementing the National Women’s Health Research Initiative. The Coalition will be composed of virtual hubs across Canada linked through a coordinating centre. The hubs and the coordinating centre will work together collectively to maximize the visibility and impact of women’s health research and practice in Canada by committing to the principles of equity, diversity, inclusion, and Indigenous Rights. Applications for the hubs and coordinating centre will occur through two separate funding opportunities:

• The first funding opportunity for the hubs is anticipated to be launched in October 2022 with an application deadline in February 2023.
• The second funding opportunity for the coordinating centre is anticipated to be launched later in Fall 2023.

An Ideas Fair and Learning Circle will be organized on October 25-26, 2022 for the potential applicants to the Pan-Canadian Women’s Health Coalition funding opportunities to attend.

Please note that under the National Women’s Health Research Initiative, there will be other funding opportunities aiming to fund research grants in the area of women’s and gender diverse people’s health. We will announce details as they become available.

Pan-Canadian Women’s Health Coalition – Hubs (upcoming funding opportunity)

The hubs will be developed by a tripartite leadership team and supported by diverse team members. The leadership team will be composed of the following Principal Applicants: a Canadian non-governmental organization (including community organizations) an independent researcher and a health care provider, all working in women’s health.

The larger team will also be inclusive of additional non-governmental organizations (including community organizations and regional health authorities), healthcare professionals, early career researchers, and trainees, Indigenous Peoples and people with lived and living experience navigating women’s health. Together, they will mobilize new and existing knowledge into effective, gender-sensitive, and culturally appropriate women’s health services across Canada. Importantly, processes will be designed to bring together community-based groups of women and gender-diverse people who experience multidimensional forms of discrimination at the intersections of sexual orientation, gender, race/ethnicity, disability, Indigeneity, and other aspects of diversity (including but not limited to age, faith, immigrant status, language) and/or through oppressive processes (e.g., ableism, classism, racism, xenophobia, heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia etc.).

Objectives

The objectives of the Pan-Canadian Women’s Health Coalition – Hubs are to:

• Mobilize and scale-up newly generated and existing knowledge and models of care into effective, gender-sensitive, and culturally appropriate women’s health and wellness services across Canada.
• Maximize research impact within and beyond the Coalition (hubs and coordinating centre) to help ensure evidence is integrated into health policy, decision making, and planning to support community, regional, provincial, territorial, and/or federal efforts regarding women’s health.
• Build capacity for the next generation of women’s health researchers through training and mentorship opportunities embedded within the hub to support the development of a sustainable women’s health research ecosystem in Canada.
• Engage in community-based priority setting activities and identify future critical areas of women’s health research based on community, regional and/or national needs.

Pan-Canadian Women’s Health Coalition - Coordinating Centre (future funding opportunity to be launched in Fall 2023)

The coordinating centre will facilitate harmonization and build synergies among the hubs, maximize the impact of the hubs’ activities, and accelerate pan-Canadian knowledge mobilization. Each hub will be expected to develop a symbiotic approach with the coordinating centre to help develop solutions to pan-Canadian challenges in women’s health. The specific roles and responsibilities of the coordinating centre will be informed by discussions at the Ideas Fair and Learning Circle and the funded hubs.

Ideas Fair and Learning Circle

Potential applicants to the Pan-Canadian Women’s Health Coalition funding opportunities (hubs and/or coordinating centre) are asked to attend a virtual Ideas Fair and Learning Circle to develop their ideas to identify and address community, regional and/or national challenges in women’s health and wellness. The Ideas Fair and Learning Circle will be hosted by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Institute of Gender and Health, and Women and Gender Equality Canada. Potential participants to the Ideas Fair and Learning Circle include Canadian non-governmental organizations (including community organizations and health regional authorities) healthcare providers, researchers and trainees in the area of women’s health, Indigenous Peoples, and people with lived or living experience navigating women’s health.

The goals of the Ideas Fair and Learning Circle are to:

• Create an accessible, culturally safe, trauma-informed and non-stigmatizing space for diverse groups of people to meet and share their stories related to navigating women’s health and wellness;
• Provide an opportunity for potential applicants to network, develop their ideas to address challenges navigating women’s health and wellness, and form teams to co-produce the goals and composition of their hub application; and,
• Solicit input from participants on the responsibilities of the coordinating centre and further define its role as the overarching organizing body of the Coalition.

It is anticipated that registration for the Ideas Fair and Learning Circle will open in August 2022 and the virtual event will be held on October 25-26, 2022. Attendees may be eligible for reimbursement of incremental expenses. More details about accessibility and resources will be provided at a later date.

Anticipated Timelines

National Women’s Health Research Initiative: Pan-Canadian Women’s Health Coalition – Hubs

Funding Opportunity Launch: October 2022
Ideas Fair and Learning Circle: October 25-26, 2022
Registration Deadline: December 2022
Application Deadline: February 2023
Funding Start Date: April 2023

Funds Available

It is anticipated that $9.6M will be allocated to the National Women’s Health Research Initiative: Pan-Canadian Women’s Health Coalition.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this pre-announcement of the National Women’s Health Research Initiative is subject to change and does not commit the Canadian Institutes of Health Research or partners to the requirements outlined in this version. The final funding opportunity will be published by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research on ResearchNet in October 2022.

To Learn More

The official Canadian Institutes of Health Research funding opportunity will be posted on ResearchNet in October 2022.

Contact Information

Canadian Institutes of Health Research Contact Centre :
Telephone: 613-954-1968
Toll Free: 1-888-603-4178
Email: support-soutien@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

Disclaimer

The information contained herein is anticipatory only and does not represent an official funding commitment by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Accordingly, the information, contained herein may differ from the official funding opportunity that will be published on ResearchNet.

Date modified:

2022-10-07