Frequently asked questions: THINC Implementation Science Teams

General Questions

• Is there a recording of this webinar?

  Yes, please contact support-soutien@cihr-irsc.gc.ca for recording and/or presentation materials.

• How often is the Partner Linkage Tool updated? Where can I access it?

  The THINC Partner Linkage Tool will be updated on a weekly basis until the competition closes.

• What, if any, type of training is required for the Sex and Gender and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Champions?

  The Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) and each member of the quadripartite leadership team and the Sex and Gender and EDI Champion(s) must provide a Certificate of Completion for one of the sex- and gender- based analysis training modules. See Eligibility to Apply and Definitions for additional details.

• Who should I contact if I have questions about this funding opportunity?

  For all inquiries, please contact CIHR Contact Centre at support-soutien@cihr-irsc.gc.ca.

• How are applicants supposed to interact with the SPOR SUPPORT Units?

  Applicants are strongly encouraged to connect with their respective jurisdictional SUPPORT Unit who provide services related to patient engagement and have expertise in several of the core design elements.

• Who is on the peer-review committee?

  The peer-review committee will, like the ISTs themselves, include researchers, decision-makers, healthcare providers and patient/family/caregiver/person/community representatives with lived or living experience of integrated care (PWLE).

Integrated Care Intervention/Policy

• This funding opportunity requires a focus on evidence-informed integrated care policy and/or intervention. What is the standard for the evidence-base required?

  A focus on integrated care policies/interventions that have already been developed, piloted, tested and/or evaluated elsewhere (i.e., not necessarily developed by the applicant team) is required. This includes any type of published (or publicly accessible) form evidence related to intervention's effectiveness (e.g., Quadruple Aim and/or health equity) and/or promising results on improved integration of services and outcomes (e.g., the intervention has shown to improve system processes/efficiencies) that can inform the spread and scale (share) of the given intervention/policy. See the funding opportunity's core design element #2 for more details.

• Can the intervention/policy target outcomes other than patient outcomes (e.g., health care workers)?

  THINC ISTs will inform the implementation, evaluation, adaptation and/or spread/scale (share) of evidence-informed integrated care policies and interventions to advance any/all of the Quadruple Aim goals and health equity. The Quadruple Aim includes improved population health outcomes, patient experience and care, provider satisfaction, and lower costs / better value.

• Is it important for the intervention to be in a clinical setting?

  This is not required. The policy/intervention must entail multi-sectoral and jurisdictional implementation across multiple organizations. See the funding opportunity's design element #2 for additional details.

• Why does the funding opportunity refer to ‘share’ in addition to the ‘spread and scale’ of evidence-informed policies and interventions?

  Implementation science refers to ‘spread and scale’ as parts of the full sequence of strategies used in disseminating an intervention/policy. In general, ‘spread’ refers to the general replication of an intervention and ‘scale’ refers to tackling infrastructural challenges to support full-scale implementation. In the context of this funding opportunity, ‘share’ is included in efforts to recognize the unique contexts of Indigenous health research, and to open a more inclusive research space in which non-Western ways of knowing and doing are valued and rewarded equally to Western science. Learn more about epistemological differences between Indigenous and Western sciences.

Research Team

• Can a non-researcher (e.g., policy analyst) be named as an applicant and be paid for their work?

  Individual knowledge users (e.g., a non-researcher) can be named as an applicant and paid a release time allowance up to a maximum of $50,000 per grant provided the cost is justified within the application. For release time allowance requests, you must include a letter (upload as "Other Supporting Documents" and label each as "Release Time Allowance – Recipient's Name") from the recipient's organization certifying that the individual for whom the release time allowance is requested (See How to Apply for complete details):

  • Is a knowledge user on the grant whose primary responsibilities do not include an expectation to engage in research (i.e., as part of their regular employment);
  • Has their organization's approval for the research time on the project that would justify the allowance; and
  • Is engaged in the activities for which funds are being disbursed.
• Should the lead investigator have a full-time academic appointment or can someone with adjunct professor position be the lead investigator?

  There is no restriction on levels of academic appointment. CIHR requires a Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) be an independent researcher 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). The NPA (individual) must have their substantive role in Canada for the duration of the requested grant term. See CIHR Guidelines for NPA Eligibility and Eligibility to Apply for additional grant details.

• Is the quadripartite leadership limited to Co-PIs or can it include Co-Investigators as well?

  The core leadership team must include a researcher, decision-maker, provider and PWLE among its NPA, Principal Knowledge Users (PKU), Principal Applicant(s) (PA), and Knowledge User(s) (KU), who together will comprise the team's quadripartite leadership responsible for co-leading the team and funded activities.

• Does the Knowledge Mobilization (KM) and Impact Champion need to be part of the core leadership team and/or be a co-applicant?

  The KM and Impact Champion is not required to part of the core leadership team, and the Eligibility Criteria do not specify the role (e.g., Principal Applicant, Co-Applicant) requirement of the champion. The Eligibility section of the funding opportunity notes that “This individual may hold other roles within the team in addition to standing as the team’s KM and Impact Champion.” Please refer to the Eligibility section for more information.

• Can the required Early Career Researcher (ECR) (if the core leadership researcher is a senior researcher) be a trainee (i.e., a post-doctoral fellow)? Or must the ECR be an independent researcher?

  The ECR (or mid-career researcher) must be an independent researcher, i.e., not post-doctoral fellow or trainee. See Eligibility to Apply for additional details.

• Can trainees be included and paid from a grant?

  Yes, provided the expense is appropriately justified in relation to the proposed research activities. For example, if the trainee is part of the larger research team funded by the grant. See the funding opportunity's core design element #4 for additional details.

• The funding opportunity states the core quadripartite leaders cannot have more than one role. Are there any exceptions to the requirement, where one team member may be able to fulfill dual roles? For example, a team with a senior researcher as the scientific lead and an early or mid-career researcher as required (Eligibility section #4a) who is also a health care provider?

  As stated in the FO, an individual on the Quadripartite leadership team can represent no more than one (1) role. In this example, the applicant team requires a fifth member on the core leadership team, i.e. an early or mid-career researcher that doesn’t have another core role.

• Do the EDI and Sex and Gender Champion(s) need to be co-applicants, or can they be collaborators?

  The funding opportunity requires that eligible teams identify Sex and Gender, EDI, and KM and Impact champions, but does not specify the role on the team (e.g. Principal Applicant, Co-applicant, Collaborator, etc.). Their role, noted within the Identify Participants task on ResearchNet, should be based on their level of overall involvement in the project as defined in CIHR’s Glossary of Terms definitions for these roles (hyperlinked above).

  What is essential is that applicant teams clearly identify these champions within the mandatory Participant Table attachment to be appended within the Attach Other Application Materials task on ResearchNet.

Allowable Costs

• It is not clear what the funding is to be used for, if the costs associated with the implementation of the intervention are not eligible.

  CIHR cannot fund an intervention or fund non-research costs associated with implementing the intervention. However, any costs related to:

  • Research conducted to inform how, where and for whom an intervention is implemented;
  • Evaluate the intervention (e.g., costs for data and analysis, stakeholder engagement for the research, research personnel to collect data, costs for database creation); and
  • Capacity development, training and knowledge mobilization activities directly related to the IST are eligible.

  CIHR funds can be used for many purposes in the research project. Applicants are encouraged to review the Allowable Costs section of the funding opportunity for more information, and to reach out to the Contact Centre for any expense eligibility questions.

• Can an applicant partner pay for the intervention in partnership with in-kind contribution?

  Yes. Ideally, researchers will collaborate with partners who are planning to fund and implement an intervention so that co-design is possible. There is no restriction on who pays the costs associated with the intervention except that the intervention cannot be paid for with CIHR funds originating from this competition. Applications must outline intervention costs and how/whom these costs are covered by. See How to Apply for additional details.

• Understanding that expenses will be principles-based per the Tri-Agency Guide on Financial Administration (TAGFA), what falls under intervention vs implementation science?

  There is nothing in the TAGFA that can directly answer this question. The purpose of this funding opportunity and its emphasis on implementation science is to study and learn from interventions that are developed or piloted. Ideally, researchers will collaborate with health system partners who plan to fund and implement an intervention, so that (if any) co-design is possible and there is a strong likelihood for the intervention's sustainability after the grant concludes. Costs associated with paying for the intervention are not eligible CIHR expenses for this funding opportunity; however, they are eligible expenses as partner in-kind contributions.

  Applicants are encouraged to review the Allowable Costs section of the funding opportunity for more information to consult with their administering institution and/or to reach out to the Contact Centre for any expense eligibility questions.

• Can a clinical partner (i.e., clinical personnel) claim the cost of providing the intervention itself as in-kind costs?

  Non-research costs associated with implementation of intervention(s) are not eligible for support through the THINC IST grant itself but can form part of the partner’s in-kind contribution. If this is the case, applicants are encouraged to provide context of this in-kind contribution within the application. This contribution can be described within the Research Proposal itself, through the Identify Application Partners task (i.e. within the Completed Partnership Details form and Partner Letter), and, if appropriate, within the Enter Budget Information/Financial Assistance Requested task.

Application

• Do the priority population include Black populations?

  Although not explicitly identified in the funding opportunity as a funding pool, within the context of this funding opportunity Black populations are considered to be part of the 'racialized communities' within the priority populations.

• Can this funding opportunity be used to build on currently on-going work?

  Yes. For example, applications can include (but not limited to) the evaluation of spread and scale (share) of an intervention(s) for which research is currently on-going.

• Is there a limit to number of applications I can submit?

  No, there is no limit to the number of applications an applicant can submit. However, each application must be separate and distinct.

• Can I apply to more than one (1) research area? What if my application crosses several of the research areas?

  Yes. Applicants can select up to three (3) research areas. Although there may certainly be overlapping areas in the available funding pools, it is recommended that applicants strongly align their proposal in relevance to their selected research area(s). See Evaluation Criteria for additional details.

• How should applicants plan to budget costs for attending the initiative wide annual meetings?

  Considering the on-going pandemic context, we anticipate meetings to be held virtually or at least with hybrid options. Applicants may wish to plan for in-person meetings based on an average of the highest cost of travel and accommodation within Canada (in reference to location of residence).

Date modified:

2022-10-28