Diabetes Canada 2023 Research Competition
Diabetes Canada is proud to be a leading supporter of diabetes research in Canada. The End Diabetes Fund supports research to enhance our understanding of diabetes and its prevention, treatment, management, and cure. Diabetes Canada accepts funding proposals from all four pillars of health research, to ensure that we are funding the best in biomedical, clinical, health services, and/or population health research to improve the lives of people living with or at risk of diabetes and its complications.
For the 2023 research funding competition, Diabetes Canada will be awarding approximately 20 End Diabetes 2023 Awards. Each of the 20 awards will commit a $100,000 operating grant annually for three years ($300,000 total) to support excellent research projects that enhance our understanding of diabetes and its prevention, treatment, management, and cure. Through this program, Diabetes Canada will commit $6M to research. Each application goes through a rigorous review process. A multidisciplinary review panel, consisting of scientific and clinical experts in the diabetes field, along with persons affected by diabetes (including family/caregivers) will be assembled. Funding decisions are made based on the review process and the expert recommendations of Diabetes Canada’s National Research Council (NRC).
The objective of the End Diabetes 2023 Awards are:
- To support researchers in the discovery of the biomedical, clinical, health services, and/or population health factors that lead to the onset and progression of all types of diabetes and related complications.
- To develop solutions aimed at the prevention, management, and finding a cure(s) for diabetes and its complications.
- To address challenges in diabetes health services, and design and implement solutions that improve healthcare delivery, health policies, and access to care for all communities and populations affected by diabetes.
How to Apply
Please review the 2023 Research Competition Guide for full details on the award being offered, including eligibility criteria, policies, and review process and evaluation for the 2023 competition.
The Nominated Principal Applicant must be an independent researcher. The Nominated Principal Applicant and Co-Applicant(s) must have an academic or research appointment with an eligible Canadian institution.
The Nominated Principal Applicant on an End Diabetes 2023 Award is not eligible to apply for or hold more than one End Diabetes Award from Diabetes Canada at any time. Partnered grants awarded with another funder are not included in this limit.
Application submissions must be made online through ResearchNet. ResearchNet is a secure internet portal which allows the applicant to electronically submit grant applications and obtain funding-related information.
To begin your application:
- Log into ResearchNet: https://www.researchnet-recherchenet.ca/
- From the home screen select Find Funding Opportunities (upper left-hand menu)
- When the menu expands select Apply for Funding
- In the list navigate to Operating Grant - End Diabetes 2023 Award
- Select the Apply to this Opportunity link
- Please ensure you also review the Funding Opportunity Details for full details on the 2023 application criteria and policies.
Please review the 2023 Research Competition Guide for full details on the award being offered, including eligibility criteria, policies, and review process and evaluation for the 2023 competition. A French competition guide is available here.
All application submissions are due online on ResearchNet by June 30, 2023, 8:00pm EDT.
Funding decisions will be made in mid-December 2023 and Notice of Decision letters will be posted at that time. Funding is projected to be disbursed starting in January 2024.
Our Research Strategy
You spoke; we listened. The Diabetes Canada research strategy was built with your feedback. To shape our research strategy, Diabetes Canada gathered direct input from key stakeholders in 2021 through an in-depth survey and interview process. This year’s competition, as well as the future of our research strategy, was formed with feedback from 360 participants across Canada. The full report of input and key findings can be read here.
Diabetes Canada is committed to working together with talented researchers towards our common goal of creating a world free of the effects of diabetes.
FAQs
1. What does Diabetes Canada’s research competition fund?
Since 1975, Diabetes Canada has funded thousands of successful Canadian scientists, scholars, and clinicians in their quest for new and innovative developments in the prevention, treatment, and management of diabetes. Although their research is diverse in scope, the key goals of every diabetes study and researcher remain the same—to improve the quality of life of people living with diabetes and to find a cure.
Details on the specific types of research that Diabetes Canada funds can be found here.
Information on the awardees of Diabetes Canada’s past research funding competitions can be found here.
2. What impact does Diabetes Canada’s research competition have on the research community and people living with diabetes?
Diabetes Canada supports a robust research program. Since 1975, we've supported outstanding diabetes research in Canada and administered more than $150 million in research grants, awards, and partnerships to scientists and clinicians across the country.
Our currently funded researchers are studying numerous aspects of diabetes and its prevention and care. From type 2 diabetes and obesity, to postpartum screening for people with gestational diabetes, to ending diabetic ketoacidosis in type 1 diabetes, and the artificial pancreas and more innovative technologies for the treatment of type 1 diabetes, to the study of insulin-producing beta cells, our funded researchers are working to improve the quality of life of people living with diabetes and to find a cure.
Details on Diabetes Canada’s currently funded research projects across Canada can be found here.
3. What are the timelines for the 2023 research competition?
- Competition launches (application available on ResearchNet): April 10, 2023
- Application submission deadline: June 30, 2023, 8:00pm EDT
- Peer-review period: July–November 2023
- Notification of funding decisions: Mid-December 2023
- Funding begins: January 2024
4. Who is eligible to apply for an End Diabetes 2023 Award?
Diabetes Canada accepts funding proposals from all four pillars of health research, to ensure that we are funding the best in biomedical, clinical, health services, and/or population health research to improve the lives of people living with or at risk of diabetes and its complications. The Nominated Principal Applicant must be an independent researcher.
The Nominated Principal Applicant and Co-Applicant(s) must have an academic or research appointment with an eligible Canadian institution. The Nominated Principal Applicant on an End Diabetes 2023 Award is not eligible to apply for or hold more than one research funding award from Diabetes Canada at any time. Partnered grants awarded through another funder are not included in this limit.
5. What are the scoring criteria and how are funding decisions made?
Each application goes through a rigorous peer review process. A multidisciplinary review panel, consisting of scientific and clinical experts in the diabetes field, along with persons affected by diabetes (including family/caregivers) will be assembled. All applications are reviewed by two peer-review committee members from the diabetes research community and, whenever deemed appropriate by the Chair and Vice-Chair where additional expertise is required, one reader. Applications are also reviewed by one PAD reviewer - this is a person affected by diabetes (PAD), who will review from the unique lens of lived experience.
Funding decisions are made based on the scientific review process and the expert recommendations of Diabetes Canada’s National Research Council (NRC).
Details on specific scoring and assessment criteria can be found in the 2023 Research Competition Guidelines in section 2.0 End Diabetes 2023 Award Eligibility and Assessment Criteria and section 5.0 Peer Review Process.
6. How does Diabetes Canada incorporate principles of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility (IDEA) into the research funding competition?
Diabetes Canada is committed to achieving more inclusive, diverse, equitable, and accessible diabetes research, including through the integration of IDEA principles and sex and gender-based and race and ethnicity-based analysis and reporting in diabetes research. Applicants are required to integrate this into their research design and practices where appropriate. Any application that does not incorporate IDEA principles, sex and gender-based and race and ethnicity-based analysis and reporting must provide a rationale for why it would not be relevant to the research.
Guidelines and resources for incorporating IDEA in research can be found in the 2023 Research Competition Guidelines in section 3.0 IDEA, Sex and Gender-Based and Race and Ethnicity-Based Analysis and Reporting.
7. How are persons affected by diabetes (PADs) included in the research competition?
Engaging people with lived experience in Diabetes Canada’s funded research is part of a multi-phase initiative to ensure that the research being conducted is relevant and valuable to the patients that it affects, and to ensure that people affected by diabetes (PADs) are central to Diabetes Canada’s mission activities.
Diabetes Canada has formed a PAD advisory group to advise on and co-develop with Diabetes Canada guidelines for patient engagement and PAD reviewers in research. Each year Diabetes Canada forms a multidisciplinary peer-review committee to review research funding applications which includes persons affected by diabetes (including family/caregivers), to provide the perspective of people living with diabetes.
Additionally, a plan for patient engagement and knowledge translation and an impact statement for persons affected by diabetes are required components of all research funding applications.
8. Why is Diabetes Canada offering Operating Grants this year? Is there any support available for trainees?
To shape our research strategy, Diabetes Canada gathered direct input from key stakeholders and expert input from our National Research Council and leaders from within the diabetes community. These stakeholders and leaders agreed that 20 Operating Grants of $100,000 per year/3 years is the most impactful way for Diabetes Canada to allocate our available research funds. The full report of input and key findings can be read here.
We encourage applicants to include salary support for their trainees as part of their research proposal budget. A full list of eligible and ineligible expenses for award funds can be found in the 2023 Research Competition Guide.