Team Grants - Strengthening Resilient and Equitable Public Health Systems (STEPS) Q&A (webinar held on July 16, 2025)

Letters of Support are permitted as "Other Application Materials" and there can be as many as needed.

ResearchNet allows any applicant to select up to 3 pools. This is a system function that cannot be changed. For the purposes of this funding opportunity, and as mentioned, only the first selection will be considered.

PHAC employees may apply, as long as they are not part of the Office of the Chief Science Officer, given their role in supporting this competition as a a whole, as knowledge and relationship broker.

No, there is no maximum or recommended number of participants. In addition to the Tripartite leadership team, the Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) is responsible for identifying participants with the appropriate expertise or knowledge to help achieve the goals of the application.

Only non-governmental Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit or Métis) organizations can apply as Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA). Governmental organizations, including Indigenous governmental organizations, are not eligible to apply as NPA though they could as other applicants (principal applicant, co-applicant, etc.)

Municipal, regional, territorial, provincial and national scope are eligible.

No, the requirements for the registration stage are not the same as for the full application stage. At registration, only the Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) name, the project title, the research summary (1 page), the application information and the pool selection are required.

No, there is no additional step required for Health Research BC applicants.

Yes, you can provide Letters of Support from collaborators and knowledge users.

No, there is no preference, as long as the Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) complies with the eligibility criteria of the funding opportunity.

Yes, someone can be Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) on one application and have other roles on other applications. However, they can only be NPA for one application in the competition.

Absolutely, analyses of conceptual frameworks/models for public health systems along with empirical studies are welcome in this funding opportunity.

The tripartite leadership team does not need to be named at the registration stage, only at the full application stage. The tripartite leads must must be clearly identified in the Participant table required with the full application.

At least two members of the tripartite leadership team (the lead researcher and decision-maker) must be from Quebec to be eligible to receive FRQ-Santé funding. In addition, the Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) must be a lead researcher and must be a status 1 or 2 researcher as per the Common General Rules (CGR).

Yes

Yes. Intersectoral collaboration and inter-organization collaboration is welcome.

There are no requirements that preclude applications focused on international public health systems or issues as long as the scope of the study includes Canadian public health systems. Cross-comparative analyses are welcome. However, the Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) must have a Canadian affiliation.

To receive funding, the Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) must have a Canadian affiliation (i.e. be a researcher or knowledge user affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary institution and/or its affiliated institutions; be affiliated with an Indigenous non-governmental organization in Canada with a research and/or knowledge mobilization mandate; or be an Indigenous non-governmental organization in Canada with a research and/or knowledge mobilization mandate).

CIHR and sponsors will perform a relevance review at registration and at full application stage to identify applications that are not in alignment with the objectives, design elements and research area(s) of this funding opportunity. After registration, applicants will be informed if their projects do not align to the above elements by mid-October. If your project is deemed not relevant, you will not be able to submit a full application.

All three roles on the tripartite leadership team are mandatory.

As outlined in the funding opportunity (Design Element #5), the STEPS grants welcome a wide range of disciplines (e.g. epidemiology, health sciences, health policy, economics, law, political science, sociology, anthropology) and methods and approaches (e.g. comparative, cross-jurisdictional studies [Canadian or international]); natural experiments; quasi-experimental studies; population health intervention research; community-based participatory research; mixed-methods; policy research; economic evaluations, etc.)

Please refer to "Allowable Costs" in the funding opportunity.

As defined in the Eligibility section of the funding opportunity, a senior decision-maker (based in a public health organization) has the ability and mandate to make/influence decisions regarding PHS building blocks. For example, the decision-maker may be a policymaker, a provincial/territorial/local Medical Officer of Health, the director of a community-based organization, an Indigenous health authority representative, or Indigenous non-governmental organization in Canada with a research and/or knowledge mobilization mandate. Non-exhaustive examples of a practitioner (based in a public health organization) include a public health nurse, a health promoter or epidemiologist, while a community representative could be the director of a community-based non-profit (with a public health-related mandate), a community health worker, or a citizen representative on a community health board.

You are only required to submit to this specific pool if the proposal is related to cardiovascular health in Indigenous communities. Otherwise, you can apply to any other pool.

Yes, as long as the eligibility criteria are met, a representative from an Ontario Health Team should be eligible to apply as a KU (eg. in their role as a decision-maker or a public health practitioner)

Comparative analyses are considered relevant, as long as Canadian jurisdiction(s) are included in the study.