MSFHR’s 2021 Suite of Funding Opportunities Will Enable Innovative Health Research Across BC

As BC’s health research funding agency, our programs are designed to develop, retain, and attract the people whose research improves the health of British Columbians, addresses health system priorities, creates jobs, and adds to the knowledge economy. Our awards contribute to advancing research-based evidence into action for the benefit of all British Columbians.

The COVID-19 pandemic has further reinforced the importance of funding research to improve health and strengthen health care, support British Columbians through the pandemic, and contribute to economic recovery.

For us at MSFHR, the pandemic also meant taking a step back. We took the time to connect with researchers, solicited feedback from our community, and conducted internal reviews to ensure our programs meet the needs of BC’s health research community.

Our 2021 funding competition lineup provides opportunities for BC health researchers across all regions of the province. These competitions reflect rigorous program evaluation; collection of robust data on equity, diversity and inclusion; and direct input from BC’s health research community, who shared their needs and concerns with us. We listened and adjusted our processes and timelines to better support our health research community.

Convening & Collaborating and Reach

For the third year, we will run the Convening & Collaborating (C²) and Reach competitions concurrently, with both competitions launching in April 2021.

C² awards bring together researchers and research users to co-develop research aligned with BC’s health priorities. Through meaningful collaboration, teams co-develop research questions and processes to help ensure research findings are relevant to users.

Reach awards bring together researchers and research users to support the dissemination of research evidence, thereby strengthening research outcomes and impacts. Together, teams co-develop events, activities, and/or tools, so they can share research findings and evidence with audiences who will directly bring research outcomes into practice.

Watch for more information on the 2021 C² and Reach competitions later this spring.

Health Professional Investigator

This program is designed to help close the gap between health research and its implementation. Health Professional-Investigator (HP-I) awards support health professionals who are actively involved in patient care to conduct and apply research relevant to health.

Feedback from our peer reviewers and stakeholders revealed that more time and advance notice is required for physicians and allied health professionals to put together funding applications.

In response to this feedback and in recognition of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on health professionals, we are revising the 2021 Health Professional Investigator timeline and will launch the program in May 2021, with awards starting in January 2022.

Innovation to Commercialization

We are pausing our Innovation to Commercialization competition for 2021. This will allow us to conduct a thorough review of four years of competition data using our program learning and improvement cycle in order to re-evaluate the program and ensure it best meets the needs of BC’s health research community.

Scholar and Research Trainee

The 2021 Scholar and Research Trainee competitions were launched in the fall of 2020 and are currently accepting applications.

The MSFHR Scholar Program supports early-career health researchers who are building leading-edge health research programs, training the next generation of scientists, and expanding their potential to make significant contributions to their field. Letters of intent will be accepted until February 8, 2021. Learn more about the Scholar program.

The MSFHR Research Trainee Program supports health researchers in the training phase of their research career to enable career development and the long-term success of the BC health research landscape. Letters of intent will be accepted until February 8, 2021. Learn more about the Research Trainee program.

If you have questions about any of our 2021 funding competitions or programs, we encourage you to reach out to us via our help desk.