Operating Grant: Network Environment for Indigenous Health Research Centre - Development Grant

Eligibility

Applicants:

For an application to be eligible, all the requirements stated below must be met:

1. The Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) must be one of the following:
   1. An Indigenous community, group or organization with a research or knowledge translation mandate.
      OR
   2. An independent researcher or a knowledge user who either:
      • self-identifies as Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit or Métis) or
      • provides evidence of having meaningful and culturally safe involvement with Indigenous Peoples.
2. The NPA (individual) must have their substantive role in Canada for the duration of the requested grant term.
3. The Institution Paid must be authorized to administer CIHR funds before the funding can be released (see Administration of Funds).
4. The team must involve at least one (1) team member, from the following category:
   1. An Indigenous Elder and/or an Indigenous Knowledge Holder* identified on the application as a Knowledge User.

Note: This funding opportunity seeks applicants who self-identify as Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit or Métis) or provide evidence of having meaningful and culturally safe involvement with Indigenous Peoples in order to:

1. Prioritize First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples and communities in leading their research agendas;
2. Promote cultural safety of and appropriate engagements by researchers working with Indigenous Peoples in meaningful ways to ensure that respectful relations are established;
3. Add value to the research through the use of Indigenous culturally relevant theoretical and conceptual frameworks, and Indigenous culturally appropriate research protocols, including Indigenous methodologies; and
4. Promote equity and development of trainees, researchers and knowledge users who are of Indigenous ancestry.

*A Knowledge Holder (also known as a Knowledge Keeper or a Knowledge Guardian) is an Indigenous person, regardless of age, who possesses the Indigenous cultural knowledge necessary for the proposed research project or activities, as recognized, validated, and authenticated by the Indigenous community.

Summary

This funding opportunity is one of several planned as part of the Network Environments for Indigenous Health Research (NEIHR) Program. The focus of the NEIHR Program is to establish a national network of centres focused on Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit and Métis) Peoples' capacity development, research and Knowledge Sharing (KS). The NEIHR Centres are intended to provide supportive research environments for Indigenous health research driven by and grounded in Indigenous communities in Canada. Indigenous communities are broadly defined as individuals, groups, organizations, and populations who self-identify as Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit or Métis) who live and work anywhere in Canada. The goal of the NEIHR Centres are to ensure continued Indigenous health research environment growth, broad regional development, and potential for international collaborations.

This development grant will provide support for development activities, including community personnel support and travel support to attend gatherings of Indigenous communities, researchers, knowledge users, stakeholders, and/or partners, in preparation of a Yukon NEIHR Centre Operating Grant application. The expected development activities include a preliminary review of the literature, and other information sources, along with a local and/or regional assessment to determine readiness, priority areas of interest and capacity within the community to develop a Yukon NEIHR to join the existing NEIHR Program. 

Objectives

• Enable First Nations, Inuit, and/or Métis communities to determine readiness, priority areas of interest and capacity within relevant communities to create an Indigenous health research network based in the Yukon;
• Assess the viability of a research network and a partnership of creating a capacity building network among First Nations, Inuit, and/or Métis communities and potential team members including researchers, knowledge-users and/or partners;
• Identify the research aim, objectives and/or questions or emerging issues and priorities that could form the basis of a Yukon NEIHR Centre operating grant application;
• Enable Indigenous Peoples and other members of the research team to engage in development efforts to successfully compete for a Yukon NEIHR Centre operating grant.