The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), in partnership with SSHRC, has launched the new Partnership Engage Grants joint initiative, entitled “Advancing Socio-Economic Research for Evidence-Informed Public Health Decision-Making”, to identify and advance socio-economic research for evidence-based public health decision-making on selected public health priority topics in Canada.
Amount: $7,000 – $25,000 (over one year)
Deadlines:
Faculty Research Office: 1 week prior to SSHRC deadline. (If you wish to have feedback on your application allow at least two-three weeks – contact Karen Kueneman)
Western Research: 1 week prior to SSHRC deadline
SSHRC: December 15
THEMES: The joint initiative provides short-term and timely support for partnered research activities that will inform public health decision-making and are grouped under 6 broad categories with specific research themes in each category. Applicants are required to apply to 1 of the 12 specific themes:
Costs and benefits of public health policies/interventions
- Advance the state of evidence on the return on investment of public health interventions and policies in Canada. This would encompass a holistic public health approach that would not be limited to specific diseases, conditions and/or populations.
- Explore the association of health and social spending in Canadian jurisdictions with targeted population health outcomes (for example, avoidable mortality, life expectancy at birth, health-adjusted life year, disability-adjusted life year, etc.).
Economic and social impacts of health inequalities
- Identify the health and social impacts of health inequalities in Canada and explore how have these impacts changed through the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Data gaps and methodologies
- Explore indirect costs and direct costs of illness and methodologies to overcome data gaps for certain vulnerable populations in Canada, such as Indigenous communities (for example, pre-pandemic, during and post-pandemic).
- Calculate how hospitalization and physician health care costs have evolved over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic (for example, pre-pandemic, during and post-pandemic).
Applying One Health approaches to examining the social and economic impacts of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)
- Explore the impacts of investing in AMR initiatives that improve the lives of Canadians.
- Identify and explore the costs of AMR to the Canadian healthcare system (especially projected savings of preventative measures in healthcare and/or community settings).
Social and economic impacts of climate change on public health
- Exploring how public health and climate change interventions can be improved by taking a multi-sectoral approach to address the root drivers of climate change or health impacts – Explore upstream factors (for example, market conditions, food security, transportation access, public policy, burden of infectious and chronic illnesses, international regulations, access to health care and services, inequities) that can affect health vulnerability and adaptation, particularly in rural, northern, remote, coastal, or isolated regions.
- Investigating the influence of climate stressors on increasing the dual and often simultaneous burden of chronic and infectious disease in vulnerable populations, focusing on exploring the socioeconomic determinants of health and adaptation capacity.
- Integrating social and economic analyses and modeling into climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts: Innovate, improve and/or evaluate approaches that incorporate health and equity considerations into socioeconomic analyses, modeling and forecasting of climate change adaptation and mitigation measures, as well as the costs of inaction and co-benefits of action.
Examining the socio-economic benefits of a One Health approach
- Explore the return on investment associated with taking a One Health approach to prevent public health risks emerging in humans, animals and their shared environment.
- Identify synergies and co-benefits between health, animal and environmental actions including activities that innovate, improve and/or better incorporate diverse types of knowledge to prevent or reduce risks emerging at the human, animal, environment interface
Eligibility: Applicants must hold an eligible academic research appointment at Western.
Partner organizations: Only 1 Canadian or international organization from the public, private or not-for-profit sector can be involved as a partner organization. Postsecondary institutions and scholarly associations are not eligible as partner organizations.
PHAC aims to fund up to 12 grants. SSHRC will administer the funding opportunity.
For more information about this funding opportunity, including application instructions, please visit the PHAC website.
Please contact Karen Kueneman if you plan to apply.
