Operating Grant: Aging in the Community

• Tri-agency CV for the Nominated Principal Applicant.
• Research Proposal and Summary of the Research Proposal.
• Team Expertise and Experience attachment.
• Applicant Partner Letter and Partnership Details form.
• Mandatory attachments as applicable: SGBA Certificate, Indigenous Health Research Cultural Safety Form, Equity-Denied Group Experience attachment, Applicant Partner COI Document, Knowledge Mobilization Plan, Letters of Collaboration, signed signature pages and Routing Slip, and attestation forms for Sensitive Technology Research Areas.

Who is eligible?

• An independent researcher or knowledge user 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 mobilization.
• An individual affiliated with an Indigenous non-governmental, not-for-profit organization in Canada with a research and/or knowledge mobilization mandate.
• An Indigenous non-governmental organization in Canada with a research and/or knowledge mobilization mandate.
• An applicant can only submit one application as a Nominated Principal Applicant but may participate in any number of applications in other applicant roles.

Who is not eligible

• The Nominated Principal Applicant cannot be employed by the community-based organization that serves older persons and is currently delivering the program or social innovation being evaluated.
• Teams cannot include a Principal Knowledge User.

Eligible expenses

• Community mobilization and engagement costs, including culturally relevant promotional items and cash reimbursements to compensate community participation.
• Contracts and consultant fees for knowledge mobilization and communication activities for Indigenous Elders, community members, and Indigenous knowledge holders.
• Accessibility supports needed for the Nominated Principal Applicant or team members to carry out the project and engage with persons with disabilities, including specialized equipment, support services, compensation, and alternate document formats.
• Translation and preparation of information and material intended for public consumption, including website content, information pamphlets, guidelines, promotional material, and guideline-related material.
• Compensation of patient partners, and full-time or part-time salaries for grant team members under specific conditions.

Ineligible Costs and Activities

• Costs related to the implementation of existing interventions normally associated with the health care system, except intervention costs associated with the direct cost of research, such as development, evaluation, and context-specific adaptation of interventions.
• Capital expenditures, including building construction, renovations, and improvements.
• Overhead costs, including rent and electricity.
• Costs related to the general operations and administration of the host organization.

• Applications must align with the research areas and all objectives of the funding opportunity to pass relevance review.
• Research approach will be assessed on the rationale for the evaluation, the strength and appropriateness of the methodology, the use of evidence-based evaluation frameworks, economic evaluation, equity considerations, and Indigenous research requirements where applicable.
• Feasibility will be assessed on the team’s expertise and experience, the research environment, timelines, milestones, data access, and partnership strength.
• Impact will be assessed on community need, the knowledge mobilization plan, the potential to improve the program or social innovation, and the contribution of applicant partners.
• Applications relevant to each pool will be funded top down in order of ranking, and the remaining applications will be pooled together and funded in rank order.

• Submit a Full Application in ResearchNet.
• List all participants in the Identify Participants task and upload the Nominated Principal Applicant tri-agency CV.
• Enter the Research Proposal, Summary of the Research Proposal, and Budget Information.
• Complete the Sensitive Technology Research Areas task if applicable and upload the required attestation forms.
• Upload the mandatory and applicable attachments, including the SGBA Certificate, team expertise attachment, applicant partner COI document, knowledge mobilization plan, letters of collaboration, letters of support, and partner information.
• Upload the signed signature pages and Routing Slip in the Print/Upload Signature Pages task before submitting your application.

• CIHR-IA will perform a relevance review based only on the one-page Summary of the Research Proposal and the Applicant Partner Letter from the community-based organization leading the program or social innovation.
• Applications not deemed relevant to the research areas and all objectives will be withdrawn from the competition.
• A review committee of researchers and knowledge users will evaluate the applications, and peer review will be conducted in accordance with DORA and the priority-driven initiatives review guidelines.
• Funding will be distributed to the top-rated applications in each pool, then the remaining applications will be pooled together and funded in rank order.
• The Nominated Principal Applicant must provide a one-page plain language summary of the evaluation findings, at least one knowledge product, and an electronic Final Report, and the names of successfully funded applicants will be published on the CIHR website.

• Community-based organizations are separate from government, non-profit distributing, and self-governing; examples include non-profit, non-governmental, civil society, volunteer and faith-based organizations, and living labs.
• Communities include settings, networks, and relationships that enable older persons to live, participate, and thrive outside institutional care.
• Established community-based programs and/or social innovations are currently implemented in community settings, demonstrate feasibility and utilization, and are beyond the pilot or proof-of-concept stage.
• Knowledge mobilization is the process of moving different types of knowledge into future research, policy, practice and the public sphere to improve health and strengthen health care systems.