Team Grant: Funding Research for Evidence in School Food and Health (FRESH)

The Team Grant: Funding Research for Evidence in School Food and Health (FRESH) aims to generate actionable, high-quality evidence to inform and improve school food policy, programming and practice across Canada. This funding opportunity supports intersectoral, interdisciplinary research led by a tripartite leadership team composed of researchers, decision-makers, and knowledge users.

Eligible research must focus on School food programs (SFPs) in all their diversity within the Canadian context, so long as the programs are delivered to children and youth during the school year and in schools or school-like settings (e.g., elementary schools, secondary schools, community centres, etc.). A broad range of research methods and approaches are welcome, including but not limited to: cross-jurisdictional or comparative studies; implementation science; mixed-methods; longitudinal studies; quasi-experimental designs; econometrics; policy studies; community-engaged research; systems research; and Indigenous and decolonizing methodologies. Research proposals must explicitly focus on the link between SFPs and population health and health equity.

In line with the NSF-Policy, successful FRESH Teams must take an equity focus with respect to research outcomes (SFPs' potential role in reducing health inequities); research priorities (assessing the extent to, and ways in which, equity is embedded in the design and delivery of school food policies and programming); and research processes (research methods and team composition, if applicable).