(2009-05-07) As the Government of Canada's agency responsible for investing in health research, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is committed to helping improve the health of Canadians. The CIHR Act explicitly provides CIHR with the mandate to invest in research covering a broad range of health determinants - social sciences and humanities are very much a part of this landscape and certainly are already well represented in the CIHR research community. Major new health services renewal projects, studies on aging, studies on cancer, studies on addiction, mental health and child development to name a few need the perspective and insight from different health research disciplines, including certainly social sciences and humanities.

Recently, you will have heard of changes being made to the funding of health research by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) as a result of decisions announced in Budget 2009. As stated by SSHRC, the agency will reduce the amount of funding it provides for health-related research that is eligible under the mandate of the CIHR.

CIHR is well aware that there are a number of excellent researchers in health related areas currently receiving SSHRC funding that will be affected by these changes. The purpose of this message is to reassure members of this community that excellent funding opportunities for their research continue to exist at CIHR. For more details on CIHR programs please visit the Funding Opportunity Database. 

We are working closely with our partners at SSHRC to ensure a coordinated approach during this transition period. We are working together to establish guidelines for determining whether applications are suitable for SSHRC or CIHR. We are committed to a healthy and robust research community in Canada and welcome applications from all researchers committed to improved health.

Pierre Chartrand, PhD
Vice-President, Research Portfolio