This award is intended to recognize published research in a peer-reviewed journal that has significantly contributed to the advancement of the field of health services and policy research in Canada. IHSPR will consider articles related to:

• Research that demonstrates a clear impact or potential impact on policy, practice, or health outcomes (e.g., decision maker uptake, change management for improved practice);

  OR

• Research that breaks ground in the way health services or policy research is conducted (e.g., innovations in methodology, novel theory or application of theory, new approaches to existing problems).

In collaboration with Canada’s research and policy communities, Mitacs has established the Canadian Science Policy Fellowship. The first initiative of its kind in Canada, fellowship is made possible thanks to the Government of Canada and participating government offices; the Government of British Columbia and participating government offices; the University of Ottawa’s Institute for Science, Society and Policy; Professor Sarah Otto, Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia; the University of Victoria; and the Canadian Science Policy Fellowship Advisory Council. Participating hosts for the fellowship include host offices from the Governments of Canada and British Columbia, and Quebec.

The fellowship aims to:

• Form mutually beneficial relationships between government decision makers and academic researchers in support of policy challenges in Canada
• Enhance science communication, collaboration, and policy capacity in government offices
• Contribute to evidence-informed decision making in Canada’s public service
• Create a national network of expertise among academic researchers fostering public policy contributors across academia, government, not-for-profit organizations, and industry

Fellowship activities

The fellowship provides a 12-month immersion into the policy-making process. Working in host offices with government decision makers and stakeholders, fellows contribute their academic expertise and analytical skills to inform policy actions. Fellows’ participation in policy activities provides them with the direct training and experience to address challenges of national public importance.

During the fellowship, Mitacs and its partners provide professional development, skill-building, and networking events, which will enhance fellows’ policy-related knowledge and capabilities and expand their networks. Mitacs instructor-led courses are mandatory and focus on developing two central themes: increasing awareness of Canadian public policy (federal and/or provincial), and strengthening communication and relationship building skills with diverse stakeholders, including government and academia.

The Tanaka Fund was established in 1974 as the result of an exchange of gifts between the governments of Canada and Japan. Canada offered $1,000,000 to Japan to promote Canadian studies in Japanese universities, while Japan provided 300 million yen for the enhancement of Japanese studies in Canadian universities. The funds were used to establish the “Japan Foundation Trust Fund for the Promotion of Japanese Studies in Canadian Universities”.

Guidelines developed by The Japan Foundation stipulated that the Trust Fund would be administered as an endowment and that the income thereof should be made available for the support and promotion of Japanese studies at universities and colleges in Canada. Universities Canada has administered the Fund since 1975.

Until 2016, support for Japanese language lectureship at Canadian Universities was funded. In 2018, the Tanaka Fund was restructured to focus support towards young emerging scholars in order to foster the next generation of Japanese Studies scholarship in Canada.

Annual value: A total of $30,000 is available for this year’s awards.

Value of grants: Grants up to a maximum of $10,000 are available

Who is eligible: Masters or doctoral level students

Duration: A maximum of three months in Japan

Application deadline: January 6, 2019

The FY19 Defense Appropriations Act provides $10 million (M) to the Department of Defense Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Research Program (ALSRP) to support innovative and high-impact research into preclinical development of therapeutics for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.  As directed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, the Defense Health Agency (DHA), J9 Research and Development Directorate manages the Defense Health Program (DHP) Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) appropriation.  The managing agent for the Program Announcements/Funding Opportunities is the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP).

The mission of the ALSRP is to fund innovative preclinical research to develop new treatments for ALS for the benefit of Service members, Veterans, and the general public.

https://cdmrp.army.mil/funding/alsrp

The following mechanisms have been released:

Therapeutic Development Award – Preproposal due by 3/22/19

• ·         Independent investigators at all academic levels
• ·         Pre-application is required; full application submission is by invitation only
• ·         Supports post-discovery, preclinical development of therapeutics for ALS
• ·         Preliminary data, including identity and purity of an identified bioactive compound(s), are required
• ·         Therapeutically Relevant Marker Option available
• ·         Collaboration with industry is encouraged
• ·         Clinical trials are not allowed
• ·         Maximum funding of $1.0 million for direct costs (plus indirect costs); $1.25 million for direct costs (plus indirect costs) for applications including the Therapeutic Relevant Marker Option
• ·         Maximum period of performance is 2 years

Therapeutic Idea Award – Preproposal due by 3/22/19

• ·         Independent investigators at all academic levels
• ·         Maximum period of performance is 2 years

• Pre-application is required; full application submission is by invitation only
• Supports screening methods or new ideas aimed at ALS drug or treatment discovery still in the early stages of development
• Preliminary data are not required
• Not intended to support projects focusing on the pathophysiology of ALS
• Maximum funding of $500,000 for direct costs (plus indirect costs)

A pre-application is required and must be submitted through the electronic Biomedical Research Application Portal (eBRAP) athttps://eBRAP.org prior to the pre-application deadline.  All applications must conform to the final Program Announcements and General Application Instructions available for electronic downloading from the Grants.gov website.  The application package containing the required forms for each award mechanism is also on Grants.gov.  A listing of all CDMRP funding opportunities can be obtained on the Grants.gov website by performing a basic search using CFDA Number 12.420.

Applications must be submitted through the federal government’s single-entry portal, Grants.gov.  For email notification when Program Announcements are released, subscribe to program-specific news and updates under “Email Subscriptions” on the eBRAP homepage athttps://eBRAP.org.  For more information about the ALSRP or other CDMRP-administered programs, please visit the CDMRP website (http://cdmrp.army.mil).

Point of Contact:

CDMRP Help Desk

301-682-5507 
help@Ebrap.org

Book mark the CDMRP website:

cdmrp.army.mil

Canadian Blood Services is pleased to announce its 2019 Blood Efficiency Accelerator Award Program Competition. The objective of the Program is to improve the efficient and appropriate utilization of blood products, while maintaining the safety of the blood system.

 

Projects funded through this program in previous competitions include:

• A program to minimize preventable and inappropriate blood product transfusions in liver surgery
• Feasibility in Canada for a non-invasive prenatal testing using single-exon fetal RHD determination
• Assessment of the quality of granulocyte concentrates to optimize their use in transfusion therapy
• Optimizing rejuvenation to improve the product quality of pathogen-inactivation and gamma-irradiated red cell concentrates.

Read our recent blog post to learn more about the funding opportunity.

 

For detailed information about the Blood Efficiency Accelerator Award Program competition, please refer to www.blood.ca. The deadline to submit completed application packages is January 15 2019.

The KRESCENT program New Investigator Award is awarded to individuals who have clearly demonstrated excellence during their pre-doctoral and post-doctoral training in kidney disease. The Award provides salary support for up to three years of the faculty appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor or its equivalent at a Canadian University.

The purpose of this award is to assist such an individual to become established as a fully independent investigator in the field of kidney disease.

Preference may be given to candidates who have been awarded and successfully completed a KRESCENT program Post-Doctoral Fellowship or Allied Health Doctoral Scholarship.

Application for this award must be initiated by the university or the institution at which the candidate will conduct the proposed research. The university or institution is expected to guarantee the applicant appropriate academic rank and to provide adequate space and facilities for the investigator’s research, commensurate with the status of the individual in terms of experience and level of support by the Program.

An awardee may not be in receipt of another major personnel support award (i.e. from international, national or provincial funding agencies) at the same time as holding the New Investigator Award from the KRESCENT program.

The quality of the proposed research plan is an important component in the evaluation of the application.  Therefore, a clear, concise and comprehensive description of the proposed research plan must be given.  In addition, the role of the New Investigator in the proposed research must be clearly defined including how the execution of the research plan will contribute to the candidate’s development as an independent researcher.

Applications in English must be completed via the on-line application system proposalCENTRAL. Please allow extra time to review the system before the application deadline of February 01, 2019. To apply through this site, you will have to set up a profile, and then search for “KRESCENT” or “Kidney” and fill out the KRESCENT application.

The application guidelines for the 2019 KRESCENT Post-Doctoral Fellowships and New Investigator Award Programs are available on the KRESCENT’s Website www.krescent.ca and on the proposalCENTRAL website(https://proposalcentral.altum.com/) 

Please note:  the French version of the on-line application system is not available at this time.  To apply in French, all forms and guidelines for the 2019 competition can be found on the Krescent website.

For more information regarding the KRESCENT Program, please contact Christine Marquis at 1-800-361 7494, ext. 232 or at christine.marquis@kidney.ca.