Catalyst Research & Development Grant Program – Phase 2 call for proposals

About the Institute for Pandemics

The Institute for Pandemics (IfP) brings together transformative researchers and educators from across disciplines and around the world to address the complex, global public health challenges posed by pandemics and epidemics. Our work centers around three pillars: ‘readiness’ to prevent, mitigate, and track evolving pandemics; ‘resilience’ of health systems and communities, and to improve public health policies, interventions, and communication; and equitable ‘recovery’ to reduce health disparities in pandemics, and to build back stronger and more fairly. Situated in Canada’s leading school of public health, IfP serves as a knowledge nexus informing public health responses, helping to strengthen systems, and equip future health leaders with a multi-faceted skillset to combat pandemics and other public health emergencies.

Purpose of the catalyst grants

The IfP catalyst and development grants aim to help U of T researchers from multiple disciplines connect and collaborate on projects pertaining to pandemic readiness, resilience, and recovery. It provides seed funding to support collaborative, interdisciplinary research projects which represent a step towards the pursuit of more comprehensive applications to external funding opportunities. This open call is the second of IfP’s two-phase grant program.

Applications from all IfP members will be accepted. Proposals will be reviewed and scored according to an evaluation rubric (relevance, multidisciplinarity, methodology, impact, training, EDI best practices; and if applicable, progress of phase 1 project). Funding decisions will be made by our multidisciplinary grant review committee. IfP will work with and support applicants to promote their research, enhance knowledge mobilization, and facilitate cross-discipline collaboration through its platforms.

Catalyst grant information

Amount of Funding Available

Total funding for this program: $600,000 (up to $50,000 per award)

Budgeting

Applicants are strongly encouraged to review Appendix A ‘Eligibility of ISI Funds’ to ensure the proposed expenses in your application are eligible.

Number of grants to be awarded

Expecting to award up to 14 grants in total; 4 of which can come from the Joint IfP-EPIC Catalyst Grant stream.

Grant Duration

One year from the start of the funding date.

Information Session

IfP is holding an open Q&A session for interested applicants on May 30, 2024 from 12-1pm ET. Drop-in at any point throughout the hour to ask questions. To receive the link, register here using your utoronto email address.

Research areas to address

IfP seeks proposals that address the three research themes: pandemic readiness, resilience, and recovery. Proposals can be specific to a single research theme or cross-cutting multiple themes. The below questions note the areas of research interest; these are not exclusive and topics aligning with IfP’s goals to overcome challenges of pandemics and epidemics will be accepted. Proposals must consider equity, diversity, and inclusion, and highlight potential for knowledge mobilization and engagement (e.g., public health, government, health system, community and private sectors).  

Pandemic Readiness

1. Are human and environmental factors driving the emergence of pathogens of pandemic potential? (through a biosecurity lens, e.g., agriculture, food production, wildlife trade; climate, environmental, and land use change; pathogen engineering)
2. How does ‘vaccine readiness’ improve our emergency public health response in future pandemics? (e.g., stockpiling, capacity building and supply, rapid deployment, distribution, equity, health economics, ethics)
3. What are the health economic considerations and innovative approaches to sustain pandemic preparedness and mitigation efforts during inter-pandemic periods?
4. What innovative community mitigation strategies will strengthen pandemic readiness and response? (e.g. non-pharmaceutical interventions, environmental control, contact tracing)

Pandemic Resilience

1. Future proofing our health systems: What health system strategies, levers or polices will strengthen pandemic resilience?
2. Learning from COVID-19: How and what can we learn from the public health, economic and health system decisions made during the COVID-19 pandemic?
3. Building trust and combatting misinformation: How can we strengthen public communication, community engagement, scientific literacy, and transparency of decision making to build trust in public institutions as well as societal resilience to shocks and misinformation/disinformation?

Pandemic Recovery

1. What are the broader health and societal impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and/or its containment strategies? (e.g., mental health, access to care; social, education, and economic disruption; human capital loss)
2. How has the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected equity-deserving communities with respect to these broader impacts?
3. What policies, strategies and interventions can be developed to drive an equitable recovery, reduce the broader health and societal impacts, and build back better and fairer post-pandemic?

Eligibility

IfP Catalyst grants

Principal Applicant must be tenure-stream faculty, eligible to hold research funding and have a primary appointment at U of T

Joint IfP-EPIC Catalyst Grants

Principal Applicant must be tenure-stream faculty and eligible to hold research funding at U of T or hold a primary appointment at one of the five partner hospitals of the Emerging & Pandemic Infections Consortium (EPIC). At least one team member (Principal Applicant or one of the Co-Applicants) needs to be a member of EPIC.

About EPIC: “EPIC brings together researchers from different disciplines, across 6 partnered research institutions, to facilitate an integrated and innovative response to high-risk, high-burden infectious diseases. As Canada’s leading initiative for transformative infectious disease research, EPIC is linking academic researchers with industry and government partners, training the next generation of research leaders and advocating for science-based policies.”

Both Streams

• Principal Applicant and Co-Applicants must be members of the Institute for Pandemics
  • By completing the Registration Form
• The team must include applicants from at least two distinct disciplines
  • Preference for team members from different Faculties/Divisions
  • Preference for teams comprising more than one U of T campus
• IfP encourages applicants to include trainees on the research team, including undergraduates
• Each applicant can only be a Principal Applicant on one application

Important Dates

• Call for applications – May 10, 2024
• Deadline to submit applications (through the online system) – August 18, 2024
• Anticipated notice of award – October 30, 2024
• Expected funding start date – November 25, 2024

Application

All applications must be submitted, using the online submission form, by 11:59pm ET on August 18, 2024

A template of the application form is attached here.

NOTE: Applications submitted by email will not be accepted unless prior approval has been arranged. Contact ifp.dlsph@utoronto.ca if you require any alternative accommodations.

Demographic data collection

Principal Applicants are asked to complete an optional EDI Survey after submitting their application. The purpose of the survey is to collect data for the Institute to reflect on Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion practices in the catalyst grant program. The data will only be collected and held by the Associate Director of IfP and shared internally as de-identified, aggregated information to inform the review committee.

Adjudication

Applications will be scored by the IfP reviewers using an evaluation rubric. Applicants are strongly encouraged to review the rubric prior to preparing/submitting their application. After scoring, the reviewer committee will meet to discuss the overall scores and decide on awards that reflect representation by gender and diversity, as well as the university’s three campuses.

A portion of the awards will be reserved to ensure that the proportion of grants funded is at least equal to the proportion of applications submitted by early career researchers (ECRs).

Reporting requirements

• Interim progress report due 6 months after funding starts
• Final summary and impact report due 2 months after the end of funding
• Principal applicant may be invited to present research at an IfP Symposium, webinar, or seminar, or to IfP partner(s), at any point during the research process, with the aim to facilitate interdisciplinary academic exchange and partnerships.

FAQ

1. I don’t have a Phase 1 grant. Can I still apply for Phase 2?
   • Yes. The competition is open to all IfP members and new projects are welcomed.
2. Why are there two tracks of application?
   • Each ISI is unique in its structure and composition, and there could be limitations in engaging a full spectrum of interested researchers. To broaden the scope and engagement in pandemic-related public health, epidemiology, and health policy research, the IfP and EPIC ISIs are partnering to create a track that will allow a broader base of eligible applicants to access seed funding support.
3. How do I become a member of IfP?
   • Complete the short online form to become a member.
4. May I be a co-applicant on an application as an outside (non-UofT) researcher, so long as a UofT faculty member is the principal applicant?
   • Yes, we welcome inclusion, partnerships, and collaboration. However, we are not able to award funds directly to members of other institutions.
5. Are students or postdoctoral fellows able to apply for the catalyst grants?
   • Students or postdoctoral fellows are not able to apply as principal applicant but are encouraged to be listed as co-applicants on the research team.
6. Should applications incorporate equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) practices and approaches in their applications?
   • Applicants are required to incorporate EDI best practices into their project design, which is included in the evaluation rubric. For guidance on how to incorporate EDI into your research, review the handbook created by the Office of VPRI.  
7. What expenses are eligible for the catalyst grants?
   • Please carefully review ‘Eligibility of ISI Funds’ (Appendix A) to ensure your proposed expenses in the application are eligible (note: the same set of criteria applies to both IfP and Joint IfP-EPIC grant streams)

Contact

Questions pertaining to the Catalyst Grant Program can be sent to Tedd Konya, Associate Director at ifp.dlsph@utoronto.ca