First Annual National Health And Climate Change Science And Policy Research Consensus Conference - How Will Climate Change Affect Priorities For Your Health Science And Policy Research?

Panel: Discussion with Research Funding Agencies

• Stephen Samis,
  Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI)

Stephen Samis explained that CIHI is a national independent non-profit organization with governmental and non-governmental funding. It was formed in the mid-1990s with a mandate to collect, analyze and disseminate health information. Its mission is to answer two questions: "How healthy is Canada's health care system?" and "How healthy are Canadians?"

The Canadian Population Health Initiative (CPHI) is part of an initiative funded by the federal government to pull together Canada's health information system. CIHI was given some funding through this initiative to develop CPHI. CIHI has done a lot of work to improve the health knowledge system through data collection and analysis. Researchers at the Institute are currently collecting information to improve their own understanding of the relationship between environment and health.

Samis outlined CPHI's goals:

• Generate new knowledge on the determinants of health.
• Build research capacity in population health science and scholarship which complements investments by other funding agencies.
• Contribute to the development of population health information systems.
• Analyze and synthesize population health research findings and promote knowledge transfer and uptake by decision makers.
• Undertake policy analysis and develop policy options.
• Stimulate public debate and dialogue on the determinants of health.
• Develop reports and disseminate research findings to decision makers and the public.

CIHI is working on building capacity for population health research, creating a supporting infrastructure for a pan-Canadian population health network, and supporting the work of the CPHI.

Samis reviewed CIHI's five strategic themes, noting that any proposals submitted must be related to these themes:

• Why are some communities healthy and others not?
• To what extent do Canada's major policies and programs improve population health?
• How do social roles at work, in the family and in the community affect health status over the life course?
• What are the population health effects of broad factors in social organization in Canada and other wealthy countries?
• What is Canada's relationship to population health from a global perspective?

He noted that several of the sub-categories (which can be found on the website at (www.cihi.ca ) are central to the strategic questions discussed at this conference. These include sections 2.2, 2.3, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3 and 5.4 of CIHI's five strategic themes.

CIHI funds two types of research: research programs and research projects. Research programs are multi-year endeavours with an average of $500,000 in funding. They usually involve larger teams working at a major research centre. Research projects normally last 6-18 months with an average of $100,000 in funding, and involve one or two researchers. CIHI has scheduled five intake dates throughout the year for funding applications (for both programs and projects). The next deadline is in March. The June deadline has been cancelled so that CIHI can review its program and decide whether to take a more strategic approach. Samis concluded that CPHI may be able to do some coordinated work with the Health Canada's CCHO in order to bring researchers together.

• Glenn Irwin,
  National Health Research and Development Program,
  Health Canada

Glen Irwin explained that since the inception of CIHR, many of Health Canada's research resources have been transferred to that body. However policy research is still done at Health Canada, and Irwin said that his division focuses on the coordination of policy research and the communication of research results to the policy development community in Canada. The division has a small program for funding external researchers (about $2.5 million per year is available). They will be posting an RFP within the next week or two, said Irwin. The division's research priorities include climate change and health, migration health and drug assessment.

In the RFP process, the first step is a letter of intent. These letters will be reviewed for policy relevance. Names of Health Canada representatives will be made available in order to help people understand the policy context. If this process is successful, research will have more policy relevance. Also, the process is designed to create a "natural uptake" of research results on the policy side.

Within the climate change and health priority theme, the following key areas have been identified:

• Examining the impacts of climate change on population health (including migration and special populations). Although the whole area cannot be covered, the goal is to do work on what to expect in terms of incidence of infections, chronic diseases, and other areas covered by the division.
• Improving the overall framework for managing risk in relation to health.
• Evaluating the public health infrastructure in terms of its preparedness to respond to the challenges of climate change.
• Exploring how a climate change and health policy framework would be integrated with other policy files in the federal government.

• Mark Bisby,
  Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR)

CIHR is a very new institution with a mandate that emphasizes health research with high standards of scientific excellence. Its mandate is also to ensure that research is translated into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and products and a strengthened Canadian health care system.

CIHR will fund two broad streams of research: investigator-initiated research, funded through open calls for proposals; and strategic research initiatives, to be determined by a priority-setting process undertaken by the institute advisory boards.

In terms of investigator-initiated research, the presenter remarked that there were many great ideas put forward at this conference, all of which are eligible for funding "right now". The next deadline for proposals is September 15^th. Next year, CIHR will have about $92 million to give out in grants and awards.

The budget for strategic initiatives is about $17 million, and RFPs will be launched in June. It is hoped that many of the strategic initiatives will be "multi-institute sponsored", as the goal is to foster collaboration among those working in different areas. However, it is hard to predict whether climate change will be included in one of the strategic initiatives.

Of the 13 institutes, most if not all will likely have an interest in climate-related health issues. Environmental health is mentioned specifically in most of the institutes. This is good in one sense, but it can make the issue "rather diffuse".

CIHR has changed its eligibility rules to include all researchers, not just those working in hospitals and universities. The instituti on is encouraging interdisciplinary research and has created interdisciplinary health research teams.

• Pamela Kertland,
  Adaptation Liaison Office, Natural Resources Canada

Pamela Kertland explained that the Impacts and Adaptation component of the Climate Change Action Fund was created in 1998 by the Canadian government in recognition of the importance of early action in identifying climate change impacts and adaptation needs.

There are two major objectives for research:

• Research that improves our understanding of Canada's vulnerability with regard to climate change;
• Research in areas where the changes are being felt now and where decisions are being made.

The research program is open to academics, NGOs and anyone with a research capacity. There is a requirement that the researchers provide leverage in the form of either in-kind or cash contributions to the research. Stakeholder involvement is encouraged in order to ensure that the research is relevant and can be used in decision making.

The application stage is challenging. The process is being changed to a two-step process involving a letter of intent, followed by a proposal. This should help researchers by giving them an opportunity to see whether their research has a chance of being considered before they prepare a complete proposal.

The Impacts and Adaptations component is coordinated through the Adaptation Liaison Office at NRCan, and information can be found on the NRCan website.

• Dick Stoddart,
  Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS)

Dick Stoddart explained that the Foundation has established a 12-person board of trustees to oversee its development and award grants. The board has, in turn, established a grants review committee that will undertake peer reviews of grant applications and make recommendations to the Board for consideration in its funding decisions. NSERC procedures have been followed as much as possible in reviewing grant applications. A peer review manual and an awards guide are posted on the CFCAS website at (www.cfcas.org ).

Stoddart outlined the status of CFCAS grant applications, explaining that they are working through regular rounds of calls for proposals. In the first round, 53 applications were received for individual grants of less than $200,000 per year. The next call for grant applications for this level of funding is at the end of April.

The process for grants larger than $200,000 per year is ongoing. 32 letters of intent have been received for networks or large proposals. The board suggested to several groups of applicants who had submitted letters of intent regarding network proposals (on greenhouse gases, air quality and extreme weather) that it would be beneficial if workshops were held to discuss priorities and niche areas. Several such workshops have been held.

Discussing the relationship between the Foundation and health issues, Stoddart remarked that, as everyone at the conference knew, variations in weather and changes in climate can all have profound effects on human health. The Foundation's board is aware that the research it funds must be relevant. Environmental health concerns are represented as the research agenda is set, and the foundation is meeting with senior officials in the health and social services sector to collectively advance the agenda and address remaining funding gaps.

Stoddart concluded by noting that the Foundation has a short-term, six-year funding mandate and must be seen to be making a difference if there is to be any possibility of renewal. It needs to support relevant research for Canadians, and health issues related to climate change and air quality are very relevant.

• Chad Nelson,
  Population and Public Health Branch, Health Canada

Since Health Canada's realignment last summer, PPHB has benefited from having scientists and policy analysts working together in the same branch. Although the branch does not have a lot of research funding, it has directorates that focus on health issues such as infectious and chronic diseases, as well as a number of labs. There is also the Centre for Emergency Response, the Centre for Surveillance Coordination, and the Centre for Health and Human Development. This last Centre takes a social approach to health and its work will be influenced by this conference.

There are two funding programs at the PPHB (they are not peer reviewed): the community animation program, which offers small amounts of funding to community groups and NGOs to help communities address the links between climate change and health; and another fund, which looks at the community capacity to improve population health (with a focus on the health issues of vulnerable populations).

The objective of the PPHB is to develop, implement and disseminate models for a population health approach and to encourage and foster partnerships. Its website is linked to the Health Canada site.