Operating Grant : Advancing 2S/LGBTQI+ Health Through Research

• Tri-agency CV (for all participants, excluding collaborators)
• Research Proposal (with required plans embedded: community engagement, EDI, and knowledge mobilization)
• SGBA training Certificate of Completion (for the Nominated Principal Applicant)
• Participant Table (listing all participants, including collaborators)
• Signature pages and Routing Slip (scanned copies, as required in ResearchNet)

• The applicant (as Nominated Principal Applicant) must be either: an independent researcher or knowledge user affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary institution (or an affiliated hospital/research institute/non-profit with a health research or knowledge mobilization mandate), or an individual affiliated with an Indigenous non-governmental organization in Canada with a research and/or knowledge mobilization mandate, or a Canadian non-governmental organization (including Indigenous NGOs, community organizations, and regional health authorities) with a research or knowledge mobilization mandate in 2S/LGBTQI+ health.
• The Nominated Principal Applicant must have a substantive role in Canada for the full duration of the grant term.
• The project must focus on 2S/LGBTQI+ health and align with the purpose/objectives of the funding opportunity and the selected funding pool (research area).
• The Nominated Principal Applicant (or an organizational representative, if the NPA is an organization) must complete a CIHR Institute of Gender and Health sex- and gender-based analysis training module and submit the certificate of completion.
• The application team must include a trainee as a Co-Applicant.

Who is eligible?

• Community organizations (Canadian non-governmental organizations) with a mandate for research or knowledge mobilization in the health of 2S/LGBTQI+ people.
• Regional health authorities (Canadian non-governmental organizations) with a mandate for research or knowledge mobilization in the health of 2S/LGBTQI+ people.
• Indigenous non-governmental organizations in Canada whose mandate includes research or knowledge mobilization.

Eligible expenses

• Full-time or part-time salaries for project team members, provided they do not conduct research independently as part of their employment, are not themselves the recipient of an agency grant (e.g., the Nominated Principal Applicant), and are not paid from other sources for the same time spent on the funded project.
• Expenses that respect Indigenous cultures and traditions when needed for meaningful research (e.g., community engagement and mobilization costs such as tobacco, cloth, feasting, and ceremonial gift-giving; cash reimbursements for participation; and contracts/consultant fees for Indigenous Elders, community members, and Indigenous Knowledge Holders/Keepers for knowledge mobilization and communication activities).
• Translation and preparation of materials intended for public consumption (e.g., website content, pamphlets, guidelines, promotional and event-related materials).
• Accessibility supports necessary for the Nominated Principal Applicant or team members to carry out the project and engage with persons with disabilities (e.g., specialized equipment, support services, compensation, and alternate document formats), excluding supports normally provided by the employer institution.

Ineligible Costs and Activities

• Costs to implement existing interventions normally delivered by the health care system (as opposed to research costs such as developing, evaluating, or adapting an intervention).
• Capital expenses (e.g., building construction, renovations, or improvements).
• Overhead and general operating costs (e.g., rent and electricity).
• General operations and administrative costs of the host organization.

Eligible geographic areas

• Canada (the Nominated Principal Applicant must have a substantive role in Canada for the duration of the grant term).
• British Columbia (to be eligible to receive co-funding from Michael Smith Health Research BC, the Nominated Principal Applicant must be from a British Columbia-based institution).

• Research approach: how well the project aligns with the funding opportunity’s purpose, objectives, and the selected specific research area/funding pool.
• Research approach: originality of the proposed research (e.g., novel questions, methodologies/technologies, or novel application of existing methods).
• Research approach: appropriateness and scientific excellence of the research design, methods, and planned activities (including feasibility of the timeline/work plan and data collection/analysis strategies, and plans to manage anticipated difficulties).
• Community engagement, EDI, and knowledge mobilization: clarity and feasibility of the community engagement plan; quality of the plan to incorporate Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (including sex and gender considerations where applicable); and quality of the knowledge mobilization approach (co-developed with communities and with accessible outputs).
• Applicants/team, environment, and impact: qualifications and complementarity of the team (including meaningful partnerships with 2S/LGBTQI+ communities and mentorship/capacity-building); suitability of the research environment and partnerships; and the potential impact (addressing significant gaps/needs, improving outcomes and equity, and—if applicable—managing partnership risks/conflicts of interest).

• CIHR performs a relevance review at the full application stage (based on the Summary of Research Proposal) to confirm alignment with the funding opportunity’s purpose, objectives, and the selected research area; applications deemed not relevant may be withdrawn.
• Eligible and relevant applications undergo peer review following CIHR’s priority-driven review guidelines and CIHR peer review principles, in accordance with DORA.
• CIHR ranks fundable applications and makes funding decisions by allocating awards top-down within each selected funding pool; if a pool is undersubscribed, remaining fundable applications may be considered against pools with remaining funds.
• Applicants are informed through CIHR’s decision process (anticipated notice of decision date: 2026-09-10), and the names of funded applicants will be published on CIHR’s funding decisions website.
• Funded projects must meet CIHR’s grant conditions, including submitting a mid-term progress report (due 2028-10-01) and final reports (manual final report due 2030-09-01, plus an electronic Final Report via ResearchNet).

• This funding opportunity uses the Tri-agency CV (narrative-style); despite possible system references to the CCV, all participants must follow the Tri-agency CV instructions and attach the Tri-agency CV.
• The content of this funding opportunity was updated on December 12, 2025 (sections updated: Notices and Sponsor Description).
• CIHR is offering a voluntary Partner Linkage Tool to help connect applicants with potential engagement partners; participation is optional and does not provide any evaluation advantage.
• CIHR announced support webinars for this funding opportunity, including a CIHR-IGH and Statistics Canada webinar focused on accessing and working with data on 2S/LGBTQI+ populations.