Turning health research into action and impact
27 November 2024
2024 C2 & Reach awardees, from top left to right: Wendy Norman (UBC), Paweena Sukhawathanakul (UVic), Adeleke Fowokan (Fraser Health), Lisa Borque Bearskin (UVic), Jonathan Little (UBC), Christine Ou (UVic), Wendy Hulko (Thompson Rivers University), Fidel Vila-Rodriguez (UBC).
Michael Smith Health Research BC is funding 91 diverse teams across British Columbia to bridge the gap between evidence and impact.
We’re supporting 57 teams through our 2024 Convening & Collaborating (C2) Program and 34 teams through our 2024 Reach Program. Both programs bring together researchers and research users, such as health professionals, patients, and policymakers, helping to ensure that evidence is used to improve health and care across BC.
The funded teams represent all regions of BC and are working on solutions to pressing health challenges. Sixty-seven per cent of the funding went to proposals that fall into one of our priority areas: population aging; climate change and health; the health human resources challenge; and public health emergencies. We are committed to increasing research attention and impact in these areas through additional funding and support.
Learn more about our priority-setting process.
Engaging in knowledge exchange and meaningful collaboration: C2 awardees
C2 awards support researchers, trainees and those who use research to engage with each other and co-develop research that is relevant and impactful for people such as patients, health practitioners and policymakers.
2024 C2 award recipients are focused on a variety of topics, including:
- enhancing prenatal care for socially vulnerable groups in BC;
- partnering with Indigenous communities to explore environmental justice and health impacts; and
- training older adults to use technology to manage heart disease.
C2 awardee Deanne Taylor and her team at Interior Health are collaborating with research users to improve patient safety by creating a research agenda for effectively monitoring negative effects of medications.
“Research requires planning. But research planning that includes the perspectives from those who may use research findings is pivotal to ensure its use in health settings,” says Deanne. “The Convening & Collaborating award is foundational to this important step of planning with those in the health system. This award is integral to my career in supporting this critical stage of research.”
Sharing research results to make a difference: Reach awardees
Reach awards support researchers to share their findings with people who can use and benefit from the research.
2024 Reach award recipients are leading projects that include:
- bringing youth, educators, medical students and doctors together to develop climate change education and build resilience to address its health impacts;
- using art to improve health knowledge and understanding among men in prison; and
- helping people with spinal cord injuries stay active in rural and remote communities.
Reach awardee Catherine Worthington at the University of Victoria is working with her team to create a guidebook to turn health program ideas into reality.
“The Reach award provides essential support to transform study priorities and ideas into clear study plans and tools that will allow for uptake of study results in community services and agencies,” says Catherine.
This resource will incorporate research on community-based services and help organizations apply the findings, leading to better services and health outcomes for people living with HIV, hepatitis C, mental health challenges or substance use challenges.
Building capacity through partnerships
Health Research BC thanks the partners who co-funded 28 of our 2024 C2 and Reach awards:
- Alzheimer Society of BC
- BC Cancer
- BC Nurses’ Union
- BC Schizophrenia Society Foundation
- Canadian Chiropractic Research Foundation
- Genome BC
- Health Quality BC
- Lotte & John Hecht Memorial Foundation
- Pacific Public Health Foundation
- Tai Hung Fai Charitable Foundation with Edwin S.H. Leong Centre for Healthy Aging
Strong partnerships are integral to developing BC’s health research talent. They enable us to fund more researchers while helping partners optimize their research dollars to advance their research priorities.
2025 competition pause
The C2 and Reach programs will pause for the 2025 competition cycle.
This pause will allow us to conduct a thorough review of both programs, ensuring any necessary adjustments are made in order to meet the needs of BC’s health research community and evidence users.
As BC’s health research agency, we are committed to continuous improvement by soliciting and listening to feedback to better support current and future needs of the provincial health research system in a rapidly changing and evolving environment.
Please do not hesitate to reach out to us at c2@healthresearchbc.ca or reach@healthresearchbc.ca should you have any questions.
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