2014 Catalyst Grant Program
Call for Applications
Program Guidelines
Overview
About TVN
TVN is a network funded by the Government of Canada’s Networks of Centres of Excellence Program
(NCE) to improve health care for the seriously ill frail elderly and their families and caregivers. See
Appendix A for more information on TVN and its research priorities or visit our website (www.tvnnce.ca).
The Catalyst Grant Program
TVN invites qualified researchers to submit applications for research projects under our Catalyst Grant
Program. The specific objective of this program is to fund creative, novel and innovative research
projects that will help to accelerate improvements in the entire spectrum of care of the seriously ill, frail
elderly population in Canada.
TVN is distinct from a traditional funding agency. Research projects must fit with the strategic goals of
TVN, and target research projects and questions that fill a gap and address questions that would not
normally be funded by existing funding agencies.
Research projects must fit within TVN’s strategic priorities and patient-centred research themes. TVN’s
strategic priorities focus our research funding activities into four broad areas related to the care of the
seriously ill, frail elderly and these are as follows:
• Matching care to values
• Empowering, engaging and supporting patients and their families and caregivers
• Improving clinical outcomes
• Improving care across the continuum
Within the strategic priorities, TVN has identified four themes and these are as follows:
• Improved end-of-life care (EOL)/advance care planning (ACP)
• Improved acute care/critical care
• Optimization of community care/residential care
• Optimization of transitions of care
See Appendix A for additional information on TVN’s research priorities and themes.
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TVN funded research proposal must fit within one of the intersection points between our strategic
priorities and themes.
Research project submissions should clearly demonstrate knowledge translational capacity, and social or
commercial innovation focused on improving care for the seriously ill frail elderly. Research teams must
engage patients and families, involve knowledge users, and have highly qualified personnel (HQP) and
trainees as part of the team. Investigators must secure additional support (cash or in-kind support) with
appropriate, eligible external partners.
Funding Information
Funding, Scope, Term and Budget
The Catalyst Program will fund projects with multidisciplinary, multi-institutional teams of up to one (1)
year in length and normally up to $100,000 each. For projects of exceptional merit and with adequate
justification, there may be an opportunity to increase the budget to $150,000. The specific objective of
this program is to fund creative, novel and innovative research projects that will help to accelerate
improvement in the entire spectrum of care of the seriously ill, frail elderly population in Canada. The
Catalyst Program supports scalable research studies including pilot studies, feasibility studies,
translational studies and novel and innovative approaches aligned with TVN’s research priorities and
themes. Moreover, these studies must have high levels of partnership, training of highly qualified
personnel (HQP) and engagement with stakeholders and knowledge users including patients and
families. It is expected that successful catalyst projects will be suitable for larger scale TVN funding
opportunities.
High Priorities for Present Competition
Within the scope of the present competition, projects which have the following characteristics will be
prioritized:
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• Demonstration projects that aim to investigate system changes for the benefit of the seriously ill,
frail elderly.
• Knowledgeable mobilization projects that seek to improve the uptake or application of existing
evidence to improve the care of seriously ill, frail elderly.
Important Dates
Friday October 17, 2014 at Noon ET
Friday October 31, 2014 at Noon ET
Late January to early February 2015
Pre-Application Indication of Intent to Apply
Application Submission and Submission of Partner
Letters of Support Deadline
Catalyst Award Notification
Evaluation Criteria
Each proposal will be assessed against the following five evaluation criteria and proposals must highlight
each:
1. Scientific Excellence
• Degree of creativity, novelty and innovation
• Defined research hypothesis and research question(s)
• Appropriate methodology
• Recognized science at the national and global level
• Key deliverables and measurable outcomes achievable within the funding period
• Experience of the Project Leader/Principle Investigators and capacity of project team
2. Relevance to the Network’s Mission and Goals
• Extent proposal responds to objectives of the funding opportunity to catalyze novel and
innovative projects, approaches or technologies
• Potential for significant socio-economic benefit(s) to the seriously ill, frail elderly in Canada
• Effectively assists the Network in achieving its impact statements
• Extent to which proposal fills a critical research gap and addresses a need
• Extent to which proposal fits with strategic research priorities and themes
• Scalability of proposal for inclusion into TVN’s renewal funding application
3.
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Contribution to Evidence Informed Policy and Practice (Knowledge Translation Exchange)
Identification of an acceptable knowledge translation (KT) framework
A clearly identified and explicit knowledge translation plan and/or adoption plan
Commitment of knowledge users in implementing findings
Knowledge users on research team (e.g. patients/families, decision makers, stakeholders,
practitioners) involved in a meaningful way
Project outcomes will have a significant positive effect on practice or policy and provide a socio
economic benefit to Canadians
Inclusion of appropriate partners who can translate research results into policy or practice
Note: As knowledge translation exchange and mobilization is a key aspect of all TVN funded
projects, teams must identify the KT framework that will be used and how it will be implemented.
The framework used should be one included in the April 2012 Knowledge Translation Framework for
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Ageing and Health from the World Health Organization
(http://www.who.int/ageing/publications/knowledge_translation.pdf).
See Appendix A for more information on TVN’s goals and objectives with respect to knowledge
translation.
4. Strength of Networking and Partnerships
• Meaningfully engages multi-sectoral, multi-institutional and multidisciplinary researchers,
partners, stakeholders (including patients and families), and industry
• Offers opportunities for networking between TVN and its stakeholders
• The likelihood of fostering future productive collaborations
• Demonstrated partnerships with committed cash and/or in-kind contributions from NCE eligible
partners valued at a minimum of 25% of the TVN funding request. To be clear, as an example, if
you request $100K from TVN you will need to secure an additional $25K in partner contributions.
Note: See Appendix A for more information on TVN’s goals and objectives with respect to
networking and partner participation.
5. Development of HQP
• Proposals must include trainees in the project team as fully integrated research members who
will be directly involved in a meaningful way in the research and/or KT components of the
project. Meaningful involvement in the research components of a TVN-funded project would
include such activities such as data collection, data synthesis, report writing, etc., but would
exclude tasks that are more related to administration and/or coordination (e.g. data entry,
meeting scheduling, minute taking, completion and distribution of paperwork, etc.).
Note: All TVN funded HQP must participate in the TVN Interdisciplinary Training Program for the
majority of the grant, completing all three modules, which includes attending and presenting/sharing
their work on the grant at a TVN Annual Conference and/or Trainee Meeting during the course of the
grant. See Appendix A for more information on TVN’s goals and objectives with respect to the
development of HQP.
It is important to note that the above evaluation criteria are not identical to those of a traditional
granting agency, and reflect the broader mandate and objectives of TVN and the Networks of Centres of
Excellence Program (NCE).
Eligibility Criteria
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To submit a proposal, applicants (Principal Investigators and co-investigators) must be eligible to
receive grant funding from CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC. There can be more than one principal
investigator (PI) per project; however, a contact PI known as a Project Leader for the proposal
must be identified.
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Each PI’s institution must be eligible to receive and administer CIHR funds, and must also be
willing to execute a Network Agreement with TVN, through which the institution and investigator
will become TVN members, and take on all of the associated rights and obligations.
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Successful principal investigators will also need to adhere to the TVN’s Conflict of Interest Policy
and Conflict of Interest Guidelines, and submit a Conflict of Interest Declaration Form.
How to Apply
A pre-application Indication of Intent to Apply is required prior to submitting a full application package.
TVN will not review full applications unless this Intent has been submitted electronically through the
prescribed form on the TVN website. Please read the Application Instructions before registering your
intent to apply.
After registering your intent to apply by the deadline (see Important Dates above, you may submit your
application package electronically by the application deadline to CATapply@tvn-nce.ca. All forms and
templates required can be found on the Funding Opportunities page at www.tvn-nce.ca. Please read the
Application Instructions before completing your application package.
A complete application package is comprised of:
1. Project Team Information
2. Application Form
3. Partner Letters of Support
4. Detailed Budget
5. Principal Investigators’ CVs
6. CVs/Resumes of other team members
7. Required signatures
Reviews of each application package will be undertaken by the TVN Research Management Committee
in consultation with the TVN Scientific Review Committee. The Board of Directors will make the final
decision as to which projects should be funded and the budgets to be awarded based on the review
recommendations. Decisions will be made and funding announced in late January or early February
2015. Funding installments will commence in February 2015 or when all necessary agreements are
executed.
Acknowledgment of Funding
Funding recipients are required to acknowledge TVN in any communication or publication related to the
project. Details will be provided in the Notification of Award letter.
Contact for Further Information
For general questions about the Network’s Call for Applications, please contact:
Perry Kim, Ph.D.
Research Program Manager
Technology Evaluation in the Elderly Network
Phone: (613) 549-6666, ext. 6208
Email: perry@tvn-nce.ca
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Appendix A
About TVN
TVN Vision
To position Canada as a global leader in providing the highest quality of care for its aging population.
TVN Mission
To improve the care of seriously ill, frail elderly patients and support their families and caregivers.
Guiding Framework
TVN will improve the care of the seriously ill, frail elderly and their families through the development,
rigorous evaluation and ethical dissemination of health care technologies.
Definition of Technology
We utilize a comprehensive definition of technology from basic to advanced that includes any drug,
device, knowledge product, improvement strategy or tool used in the diagnosis, treatment or palliation
of our population of interest.
Scope of Population
We focus on older Canadians who have significant life-limiting illness in which there is a question of
what technology to apply to improve their survival and quality of life or the quality of their death,
including end-of-life care. We focus on the sickest of the sick, the frail elderly with multiple chronic
conditions, as well as across all settings of care, from acute and critical care to community care. We use
a family centric model of care, including the patient’s family and informal caregivers.
TVN Research Priorities and Themes
The Network is focused on improved outcomes for the seriously ill, frail elderly in all care settings
including acute and community care settings. In particular, we are focused on the interaction of
seriously ill, frail elderly with acute care including the identification of those who would and would not
benefit from intensification of care, improving outcomes from when acute care is required and
improving end of life care for those who would not benefit from intensification of care. . The Network
supports improved outcomes at both a patient level and a system level.
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TVN has identified the following research priorities related to the Network’s strategic priorities:
• Matching care to values
o Evaluating and relieving ‘moral distress’ in patients, families, caregivers and health
professionals
• Engaging, empowering and supporting patients and family/caregivers
o Strategies for patient engagement and shared decision making
o Tools for advance care planning and patient decision making
o Improving the communication between patients, families/caregivers and health
professionals
• Improving clinical outcomes
o Improving and maintaining function in the frail elderly
o Restoring function and improving outcomes in the acutely ill elderly
o Quality indicators for the care of the sick elderly at the individual, institutional and system
level
o Appropriate use of technology in the treatment of the seriously ill elderly patient
o Improving end-of-life care
• Improving care across the continuum
o Provision of care in the most appropriate setting
o Ensuring successful transitions of care
o Development of aids and innovative methods to manage a patient and family’s voyage
through the system
o Enhancing communication between health care professionals in different care settings
o Health system level change
Within the research priorities, TVN has identified the following themes:
• Improved End of Life Care (EOL)/Advanced Care Planning (ACP): Including all aspects of end-oflife care and advanced care planning for the seriously ill, frail elderly.
• Improved Acute Care/Critical Care: Including strategies and technologies for improving clinical
outcomes, those that increase the probability of returning to premorbid level of function/quality
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of life and those for prognostication to determine who and who not benefit from acute care
interventions.
Optimization of Community Care/Residential Care: Including strategies and technologies
designed to prevent deterioration and/or need for acute care, those that increase the probability
of returning to premorbid level of function/quality of life after acute care and those for
prognostication to determine who and who not benefit from acute care interventions.
Optimization of Transitions of Care: Including strategies and technologies to optimize transitions
between settings and practitioners.
Networking, Partner Participation and Knowledge Translation
TVN is a national network and as such seeks to support cross-provincial research teams from multiple
disciplines and multiple institutions.
One of TVN’s goals is to support productive partnerships and collaborations among stakeholders as the
Network recognizes that networking and partnership arrangements are critical to the successful
realization of its vision and mission. Increased partnerships are the key to addressing better care for our
aging population through knowledge creation and knowledge translation and mobilization activities
addressed in a multi-disciplinary, multi-sectoral manner.
TVN is dedicated to identifying and developing collaborations with other organizations and stakeholders
to enhance the availability of funding (either cash or in-kind) and to create opportunities for knowledge
exchange, translation and mobilization. TVN encourages its researchers to explore partnership
opportunities with a wide range of potential public and private sector organizations. Partnerships should
be developed to enhance the likelihood that project outcomes will lead to socio-economic benefits for
Canadians at the patient/family, practitioner or health care system level.
NCE eligible partners include corporations, not-for-profit organizations, and government, but exclude
funds from federal agencies such as CIHR, SSHRC, NSERC, CFI, other NCEs and CECRs, and Genome
Canada. Note: In-kind contributions provided by a partner that are central to the research and would
have to be purchased by the research project if they were not provided by a partner are eligible. In-kind
contributions must be NCE eligible expenses, and therefore the contribution of researchers’ time for
team members who can hold CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC funds is not eligible as an in-kind contribution.
TVN is committed to engaging knowledge users, including patients and families, in TVN funded research
projects. Projects that engage knowledge users in a meaningful way will be considered more favourably.
Highly Qualified Personnel
One of the Network’s goals is to train the next generation of Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) capable of
doing research to improve the care of the sick and frail elderly and in particular developing, evaluating
and implementing health care technologies in the seriously ill frail elderly.
All funded TVN research projects must include identified HQP involvement. HQP are expected to gain
experience and learning through direct involvement in TVN-funded research, and through opportunities
not available within their institutions and/or educational programs.
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HQP can be part-time or full-time graduate/doctoral/post-doctoral or undergraduate students,
residents, fellows or working professionals. HQP must be directly involved in the research components
of the project and, in addition, will participate in the TVN Training Program. At the heart of the TVN
Training Program is the concept of inter-disciplinary learning and experience. The Program facilitates
inter-professional collaboration through interdisciplinary and multi-sectoral learning.
Funds identified for training as part of the research proposal may be used for HQP income and/or
expenses related to the HQP role, with the exception of travel to, room and board at, and participation
in TVN Training Program events. These costs will be covered by the Network and should not be itemized
separately in your research budget.
™ Trademark of Technology Evaluation in the Elderly Network (TVN). © TVN, 2013-14. Released 2014 09 02.
TVN is supported by the Government of Canada through the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program.
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