Research grants

Are you seeking funding for your research project?

WCHRI offers research funding opportunities, which:

  • promote and support studies in women and children’s health;
  • support the recruitment of top researchers to the University of Alberta and WCHRI;
  • encourage transdisciplinary research;
  • provide seed money for projects that have the potential to attract further funding;
  • offer training opportunities for talented young researchers and trainees; and,
  • provide travel and educational funding to our trainee members.

Applicants and/or their supervisors must be WCHRI members to be eligible for grants. For competitive opportunities, applicants are contacted directly once adjudication is completed. Competition results are then posted on our website. For non-competitive funding, applicants are contacted upon approval of their application.

All applications to WCHRI must align with our relevance criteria in order to be eligible for funding.

WCHRI peer review process and committee membership

WCHRI provides competitive grant funding of over $2 million every year through multiple programs. The programs have been developed to meet the research needs of our members (faculty and trainee) and to support the strategic goals of our funders, the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation and the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation. All of our programs are evaluated and revised annually based on feedback from our committees and other stakeholders. We encourage all of our members to become engaged with the process.

We are pleased to work with our members and faculty across campus to assure expert, unbiased and confidential application review for our competitive research grant programs.  WCHRI nominates and invites review members based on:

  • Research excellence
  • Research expertise/area of expertise

We appreciate the considerable amount of work it takes for members to serve on our committees and want to assure you that your participation is greatly appreciated. WCHRI would not be able to coordinate and run the grant competitions and fund the research we do without your assistance.

Process:

Every fall, the WCHRI grants office contacts members to invite them to serve on one of our committees. All timelines are constructed and the final committee dates are booked based on conflicting competitions (e.g. CIHR) as well as the schedules of the chairs and scientific officers (SOs). All reviewers who agree to sit the panel are asked to review the appropriate Terms of Reference (ToR) and sign a Conflict of Interest declaration. In addition, all reviewers are encouraged to complete the CIHR Learning Module on Unconscious Bias in Peer Review.

Conflict of interest and confidentiality:

After all applications are received and processed by the grants office, they are allocated to reviewers. The allocations are reviewed by the WCHRI research officer. Each reviewer receives their allocation and is asked to declare conflicts (personal or professional). The assignments are then revised and the final assignment review is made by the chair of the committee.  

During the committee meeting(s), as applications are discussed, committee members who declare a conflict at that time (despite the assignment, declaration and review process) are invited to leave the room. Where conflict exists with committee leadership (chair and/or SO) a co-chair and/or co-scientific officer may be nominated from current committee members for that application only. The Innovation Biomedical competition is the largest competition, with the most potential for conflict of interest. Therefore, this competition will have two review panels with individual chairs and SOs. If a reviewer (or chair/SO) wishes to submit an application, their application will be reviewed by the other panel.

All members are reminded at the time of the meeting that they are required to maintain confidentiality and that all discussion at the committee review meetings must remain entirely within the meeting room. 

WCHRI is pleased to have both breadth and strength in membership to facilitate broad scientific review. 

Grants available:

Acknowledgements

All research projects that receive funding must acknowledge WCHRI and the support of the Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation and/or the Lois Hole Hospital for Women in their research and public publications, presentations, posters and reports. 

For further information

Contact WCHRI’s Research Grants Administrator, Michelle Bailleux, at 780-248-2090 or wcgrants@ualberta.ca.