Environmental Scan on Potential Sources
of Funding and Support
for Novice and other Nursing Researchers
Prepared by the RNAO Research Committee and the Nursing Research Interest Group
Updated January 25, 2017
Environmental Scan on Potential Sources of Funding and Support for Novice and other Nursing Researchers
Preamble: In Ontario, novice nurse researchers have expressed challenges in securing funding for research projects. Therefore, this document has been prepared by the RNAO Research Committee and the Nursing Research Interest Group in an effort to disseminate information about potential sources of funding and support for nurse researchers in Ontario, particularly novice nurse researchers. In addition to the potential sources below, the RNAO Research Committee encourages nurses to connect with nursing colleagues in both academic and institutional settings in order to collaborate onto potential funding opportunities. While the below list is not comprehensive, it is extensive and we hope it proves to be a helpful resource to nurse researchers.
Note: The below links are updated as of January 25, 2017. Should any of the links not work, please redirect your search to the institution’s main website.
Institute/Program / Funding Support / Mentoring / Nursing Support / URL /St. Michael's Hospital / Very comprehensive site to support researchers at all levels.
http://stmichaelshospitalresearch.ca/future-students-trainees/
http://stmichaelshospitalresearch.ca/researchers/
http://stmichaelshospitalresearch.ca/research-programs/
Grants and awards http://stmichaelshospitalresearch.ca/staff-services/grant-applications/
Current funding opportunities for PIs: http://stmichaelshospitalresearch.ca/staff-services/grant-applications/current-funding-opportunities/current-funding-principal-investigators/
Funding opportunities for trainees: http://stmichaelshospitalresearch.ca/staff-services/grant-applications/current-funding-opportunities/current-funding-trainees/
Funding Databases: http://stmichaelshospitalresearch.ca/staff-services/grant-applications/funding-databases/
Grantsmanship: http://stmichaelshospitalresearch.ca/staff-services/grant-applications/grantsmanship/ (grant writing guides, budget development, writing resources for researchers)
Grant application review: http://stmichaelshospitalresearch.ca/staff-services/grant-applications/grant-application-review/ * / http://stmichaelshospitalresearch.ca/
National Institute of Nursing Research (US) / Megabucks. No need to be American or affiliate to US institute
https://www.niaid.nih.gov/researchfunding/grant/strategy/pages/1qualify.aspx , but it looks all the recipients are American. Canadian medical researchers do get NIH grants; why not nursing researchers?
Senior nurse researchers perhaps ought not dismiss this possibility.
Advancing Nursing Research Through Data Science: http://www.ninr.nih.gov/researchandfunding/datascience#.VwPcLHpx3f8
Sick Kids' gets funding from NINR: http://www.sickkids.ca/Nursing/Nursing-Research/NR-funding/
Dr. Sidani notes that some Canadian nursing researchers do try their luck, but that the challenges are significant. / Helpful links on training researchers: http://www.ninr.nih.gov/training#.VwPbyHpx3f9 / http://www.ninr.nih.gov/researchandfunding/grant-development-and-management-resources#grants
COUPN / Each year, the Council of Ontario University Programs in Nursing (COUPN) celebrates achievements and advancements made in university nursing education and scholarship through its annual COUPN Awards program. The awards are presented to Ontario nursing faculty, students and health programs partners.
2016 COUPN Award Categories
· Agency Recognition AwardThis award recognizes an agency/unit/service that has supported the education of university nursing students by providing an environment that supports excellence in practice.
· Award for Excellence in Collaborative Education
This award recognizes excellence in college-university collaborative education by a faculty member from a college who teaches in a collaborative program.
· Award for Strategic Contribution to Nursing Education
This award recognizes an individual or group who contributes or has contributed significantly to the vision and mission of COUPN.
· Doctoral Dissertation Award
This award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated excellence in nursing research through the completion of her/his dissertation, defended at an Ontario university.
· Excellence in Professional Nursing Practice at the Undergraduate Student Level Award
This award is granted annually to the candidate who has demonstrated excellence in professional nursing practice, leadership, or scholarship as a student in a COUPN baccalaureate nursing program.
· Excellence in Teaching Award
This award recognizes excellence in teaching by a faculty member in a COUPN university program.
· Masters Student Award of Excellence
This award recognizes academic excellence at the Masters level (thesis or non-thesis) in a Master’s graduate whose academic work demonstrates the potential to contribute significantly to the nursing community and enhance nursing knowledge.
· New Tenure Stream Faculty Contribution Award
This award recognizes the contribution to excellence in teaching by a new tenure stream faculty member in a COUPN School/Faculty.
· Preceptor Recognition Award
This award recognizes a preceptor who has demonstrated outstanding performance in her/his role as a preceptor for a nursing student. This award publicly acknowledges the essential contributions that a nurse in a preceptor and/or mentor role makes to professional nursing education.
· Scholarship into Practice Award
This award recognizes the impact of scholarship on nursing practice by a faculty member in a COUPN university program.
· Teaching Innovation Award
This award recognizes teaching innovation in a baccalaureate or graduate nursing education program, and acknowledges an individual(s) who has made an outstanding contribution to nursing education through teaching innovation / http://cou.on.ca/about/awards/coupn/
Ontario Research Fund / 1. How it works
2. Who is eligible
3. Funding amount
4. How to apply
5. List of Notices of Intent to apply
6. Selection process
7. Projects funded
8. Questions / / https://www.ontario.ca/page/ontario-research-fund-research-excellence
Ontario Early Researcher Awards / 1. How it works
2. Who is eligible
3. Funding amount
4. How to apply
5. Selection process
6. Projects Funded
7. Questions / / https://www.ontario.ca/page/early-researcher-awards
MOHLTC Research Funds: Summary / Ministry Research Funding Opportunities: No funding opportunities at present
Health System Research Fund
CIHR Partnerships for Health System Improvement
Career Scientist Awards: no longer active
Nursing Research Fund: now rolled into HSRF above
Drug Innovation Fund: Website not updated
Women's Health Research: Doesn't appear to offer research funds directly; see next column
Applied Health Research Questions /
Women's Health Research
· The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has a long history of supporting women's health research. Recently, women's health research has been "mainstreamed" in Ontario – a sex and gender lens is integrated into all the policy-relevant research that the ministry funds.· Women's health has been identified as a key priority area in the Health System Research Fund (HSRF) Program Awards. All HSRF Program Awards include examination of sex and gender issues.
· A new HSRF Specialized Research Centre at Women's College Hospital: Women's Exchange will facilitate knowledge transfer and exchange, and support community based research in women's health. The new Centre will engage communities to best address their needs and ensure research findings translate into meaningful information that has a positive impact on patient care and patient outcomes.
· Women's College Hospital: Women's Exchange is a key component of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care's efforts to advance a model for gender-sensitive health research and care that will create a more equitable and sustainable healthcare system for all Ontarians. The new Centre ensures a focus on community-based research activities such as supporting community-initiated seeded projects and large-scale academic-led community projects. KTE activities will range from publications in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at major conferences, to grassroots community-based information sharing, including open access reports, web-based outreach activities, community events and media relations. Women's College Hospital: Women's Exchange ensures ongoing capacity-building in women's health research, and will mobilize the knowledge generated through endowed Women's Health Chairs and Scholars.
· Echo: Improving Women's Health in Ontario (Echo) was an operational services agency funded by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) from 2007 to 2013. / http://nbprc.ca/sites/nbprc/files/related/Ian%20Graham%20cihr-%20KT%20FOs%20Feb%202013.pdf
MOHLTC Health System Research Fund /
The Nursing Research Fund has been integrated into the new Health System Research Fund (HSRF), and nursing is a strategic priority area for investment. Applicants conducting policy-relevant health services research or knowledge transfer and exchange programs about nurses and nursing will be eligible for HSRF funding.": [A cursory examination of the HSRF site doesn't mention nursing as a priority; perhaps that could be made explicit.]
Health System Research Fund at a Glance
Building on the scientific excellence and strategic value provided by Ontario-based researchers, the HSRF will fund policy relevant research across the province. The HSRF is based on the MOHLTC health system research strategy, established in 2008 and updated in 2012.The HSRF consists of three streams.
Program Awards
· Majority of HSRF funds are in this stream· Strategic three-year investments in programs of health services/system and population health research and/or knowledge translation and exchange (KTE) that will focus on identified priorities
· 2012/13 call was structured to promote collaboration and to support quality research that will lead to results within a three year timeframe
Priorities ensure that selected programs are responsive to health system policy needs. For more information please see the HSRF Program Awards page.
Capacity Awards
· Provide smaller grants to a large number of researchers and students· Maximize opportunities to leverage health research investments
· Broker partnerships across health research funders to increase funding opportunities for Ontario researchers and research teams
Specialized Research Centres
· Provide stable funding to specialized research centres/foundations· Funding for the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences the Ontario Mental Health Foundation and Women's College Hospital: Women's Exchange
Health System Research Fund (HSRF) Guidelines
In particular, HSRF requirements don't appear to include interdisciplinary teams or novice researchers (http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/ministry/research/hsrf_guidelines.aspx), but perhaps we could petition to have those included or at least be more explicit and count for more in the assessment of the proposals (see assessment below).
HSRF Requirements
Unless specified otherwise in the description of the funding stream/opportunity, the following thee components apply to all HSRF awards :a. Sex and gender-based analysis
b. Knowledge translation and exchange
c. Applied health research questions
Sex and gender-based analysis:
Through the HSRF, women's health research has been integrated into all policy-relevant health services/system research funded by the ministry.· All research projects and programs of research are required to include a sex and gender-based analysis to generate useful knowledge.
· All KTE programs are required to include sex and gender-based considerations/issues in the KTE content and activities.
· The ministry recommends that applicants consult the POWER study, CIHR's Gender, Sex and Health resource and the ministry's Health Equity Impact Assessment (HEIA) when developing sex and gender-based activities in all HSRF submissions.
· If a sex and gender based analysis is not included in the project/program plan, applicants will be evaluated on the extent to which sex and gender have been considered in the proposed research. Applicants must show that they have considered the relevance of sex (biological) and gender (social) to the research/KTE program in the rationale, methods and KTE plan (e.g., literature review, recruitment strategy, data collection and analysis, KTE tools/plans/strategies).
http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/ministry/research/hsrf_application.aspx#mandatory
D. Assessment of Full Applications
Applications will be assessed for:· Program objectives, plan, and deliverables/impacts
o Extent to which the program objectives and identified activities will have an impact on health outcomes, practice, programs, and/or policy, and ideally proposes a solution to issue(s) identified.
o Extent to which the program milestones and deliverables, as well as potential impacts and proposed evaluation plan to track and measure the impacts, are meaningful, measurable and specific, and will effectively demonstrate that progress is being made toward the program's stated objectives. The anticipated productivity or yield from the budget requested e.g., the return on investment provided from the proposed impacts/leveraged funding.
· Methodology
o Scientific/methodological rigour
§ For research programs, assessment will focus the scientific rigour of the program design and methodology, including the data plan (if applicable).
§ For KTE programs, assessment will focus on the methodological rigour for identifying/ developing knowledge that is disseminated, transferred and exchanged.
o Innovation and originality
· Sex and gender-based analysis
o Assessment will focus on the extent to which sex (biologic) and gender (social) have been considered in the research/KTE proposal (i.e., rationale, methods, and KTE plan).
· Strength of the KTE and implementation plan
o For research programs, assessment will focus on the strength of the KTE plan in mobilizing information innovatively and effectively; the potential to influence change in practice/policy; and the active inclusion and involvement of relevant partners, collaborators, and Knowledge Users, and patients (individuals, groups, organizations); and the scalability and sustainability of any intervention or policy resulting from the knowledge generated/mobilized from the proposed program.
o For KTE programs, assessment will focus on the strength of the KTE strategies/activities and their comprehensiveness in addressing the program's topic, their innovation and effectiveness; the potential to influence change in practice/policy; and the active inclusion and involvement of relevant partners, collaborators, Knowledge Users, and/or patients (individuals, groups, organizations); and the scalability and sustainability of any intervention or policy resulting from the knowledge generated/mobilized from the proposed program.
o The anticipated productivity or yield from the budget requested, e.g., the return on investment provided by the KTE and implementation plan
· Program leadership/partnership and capacity
o Strength of the leadership team, i.e., Program Lead and, where applicable, Co-Lead, including capacity to manage a large scale team grant
o Comprehensiveness of the network/centre/team, including involvement and role of Knowledge Users and patients (individuals, groups, organizations), potential to build inter-disciplinary and inter-professional capacity and mentoring of new researchers/KTE specialists
· Value
o Feasibility of the proposed program, including appropriateness of the budget and timelines
o The anticipated productivity or yield from the budget requested, e.g., the return on investment provided by the program
These criteria will be used by the Program Area Review Panel and/or Scientific Review Panel members in their assessment of each submission. In many cases, information from multiple sections will be used to assess a submission in relation to a criterion. How each section of the Full Application will be used by reviewers in relation to the criteria listed above is provided in detail under each section below. / http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/ministry/research/hsrf.aspx
HSRF Guidelines: http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/ministry/research/hsrf_guidelines.aspx.