Notice of Upcoming Funding Opportunity: Supporting Interdisciplinary Research on Avian Influenza

Introduction

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is pleased to announce the upcoming launch of the Team Grants: Supporting Interdisciplinary Research on Avian Influenza Funding Opportunity.

This funding opportunity is led by the CIHR Centre for Pandemic Preparedness and Health Emergencies (CRPPHE) in partnership with the CIHR Institute of Infection and Immunity (III), the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and Michael Smith Health Research BC.

Overview

This funding opportunity will provide multi-year funding for research teams to generate robust, interdisciplinary, and timely scientific evidence on avian influenza (including the integration of local, First Nations, Inuit and Metis Knowledges), and to mobilize knowledge and research evidence so that decision-makers and knowledge users across human, animal, and environmental sectors, are better able to prevent, prepare for, and respond to avian influenza outbreaks in humans, animals, and the environment.

Research projects supported through this funding opportunity will directly address urgent knowledge gaps and research needs on avian influenza that have been identified by the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Office of the Chief Science Advisor, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, and Indigenous Services Canada.

The specific objectives of this funding opportunity are to:

1. Undertake multi-sectoral and interdisciplinary team-based research on critical evidence gaps related to avian influenza that will equip knowledge users (such as federal, provincial, territorial, Indigenous, and local organizations and governments) to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the current outbreaks of avian influenza at the interface of people, animals and ecosystems.
2. Undertake rapid, effective, and culturally safe knowledge mobilization to accelerate the uptake of timely and relevant evidence on the current outbreaks of avian influenza by policymakers, clinicians, public health organizations, animal health professionals, representatives from agricultural sectors, wildlife conservation organizations, and/or knowledge users from local communities, including Indigenous communities, where relevant.

Successful teams from this funding opportunity will be expected to work with a Research Coordination and Knowledge Mobilization Hub anticipated to be established through a separate funding opportunity in 2026, pending internal approvals. The role of the Hub will be to provide expertise and resources to support successful research teams in implementing effective knowledge mobilization strategies as well as playing a critical coordination function to ensure avian influenza research activities across Canada are coordinated and integrated.

Please note that the application process consists of a Letter of Intent (LOI) stage and a Full Application stage.

Research Areas

Five separate funding pools will support projects relevant to the following Research Areas. Applications are welcome to address research priorities that cross more than one research area, however applicants will be required to select one (1) research area that best describes their proposed research.

1. Virological and Epidemiological Drivers of Health Impacts of Avian Influenza Pool

   This research area will support the virological, serological, genomic, and/or epidemiological research on avian influenza (including but not limited to the H5N1 subtype), at the interface of humans, animals (including domestic animals, farmed animals, and wildlife), and ecosystems. This includes risks of virus mutation, transmission infection, pathogenicity, individual and population-level health impacts, and environmental survivability

   This research area will only fund projects focused on one or more of the following topics:

   • The evolving state of avian influenza biology and genomics including viability and pathogenicity of potential viral reassortments;
   • Modes and risk of avian influenza transmission between and across animal species (including humans), and/or in different environmental settings (this includes spillover events between species);
   • The epidemiology of avian influenza at the human-animal-environment interface, including seroepidemiology studies in animals and/or humans, particularly in agricultural, wildlife, occupational and rural community settings where there is a higher risk of avian influenza exposure.
   • Factors relating to susceptibility, pathogenicity, disease presentation and/or prognosis of avian influenza infection in animals and/or humans;
   • Understanding the immune responses of avian influenza infection in animals and/or humans, including the role of innate and adaptive immunity on avian influenza transmission, infection and pathogenesis.

2. Methods and Tools for Surveillance, Detection and Risk Assessment in Humans, Animals, and the Environment Pool

   This research area will support research on the development and real-world testing of methods, tools, and approaches for improved real-time surveillance, detection, and risk assessment of avian influenza infection and transmission, leveraging pre-existing data sources or systems where possible. Projects applying to this Research Area must be driven by, co-led, or co-developed in partnership with communities with a higher risk of avian influenza transmission, infection, and burden of disease, particularly populations in relevant occupational and rural community settings with higher risks of avian influenza exposure (such as veterinarians, livestock producers, trappers, hunters, workers in the agricultural or wildlife sectors, and Indigenous populations).

   Projects applying to this ‘Methods and Tools’ research area must undertake an interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary research approach which integrates perspectives at the intersection of human, animal, and environmental systems. To be considered relevant to this research area, applications must clearly explain how their study design and the composition of their research team will address:

   1. human health perspectives and animal health perspectives; or
   2. human health perspectives and environmental health perspectives; or
   3. animal health perspectives and environmental health perspectives; or
   4. human health, animal health, and environmental health perspectives.

3. Community-based Intervention Research for Avian Influenza Prevention, Control and Mitigation Pool

   This research area will support interdisciplinary projects (e.g. integrating social science, behavioural science, economics, systems and/or policy research approaches) that advance the design, implementation, acceptability and/or adoption of non-pharmaceutical interventions such as community and setting-specific strategies to improve the use and adherence of personal protective equipment, to build trust among agricultural industry, community and health partners, or to support community understanding of the risks of avian influenza through tailored risk communication.

   Projects applying to this research area must be driven by, co-led, or co-developed in partnership with communities and related partners working in areas with a higher risk of avian influenza transmission, infection, and burden of disease, particularly populations in occupational and rural community settings with higher risks of avian influenza exposure (such as, veterinarians, livestock producers, trappers, hunters, workers in the agricultural or wildlife sectors, and Indigenous populations). Projects must align with the priorities and needs of relevant community members and people at a greater risk of infection of avian influenza or with lived/living experience of avian influenza, and with organizations/partners with responsibilities for avian influenza prevention, control, and mitigation.

4. Intervention Research and Implementation Science on Avian Influenza Medical Countermeasures Pool

   Applied research to implement and evaluate the real-world safety, effectiveness, acceptability (confidence and uptake), implementation, and sustainability of pharmaceutical interventions to:

   • prevent, control, and treat avian influenza infection and transmission in animals or in humans;
   • reduce the risk of zoonotic spillover; and
   • generate policy-relevant evidence on strategies to ensure that avian influenza medical countermeasures are accessible, accepted, and adopted by populations at the greatest risk of exposure to avian influenza

   Projects should also consider the priorities and needs of relevant organizations/partners with responsibility for communities affected by avian influenza prevention, control, and mitigation. This pool will not fund research to identify new medical interventions (i.e. pre-clinical development of vaccine candidates).

5. Indigenous Health Research for Avian Influenza Preparedness, Prevention, and Response Pool

   This research area will support meaningful and culturally safe research that is conducted by, grounded in, or with meaningful engagement and collaboration of First Nations, Inuit and/or Métis communities, to address the diverse priorities and needs of First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities in preventing, preparing for, and responding to avian influenza transmission, infection and control. Applications submitted to the Indigenous Health Research for Avian Influenza Preparedness, Prevention, and Response research area could cover one or more topics identified in the above Research Areas, or other research priorities not covered above, as long as the application is relevant to the overall objectives of this Funding Opportunity.

Funds Available

The total amount available for this funding opportunity is $4,500,000, enough to fund approximately 6 grants. This amount may increase if additional funding partners participate. The maximum amount per grant is $250,000 per year for up to 3 years, for a total of $750,000 per grant.

Anticipated Timelines

Launch: July 2025
LOI Application Deadline: Fall 2025
LOI Notice of Decision (NOD): Winter, 2026
Full Application Deadline: Spring 2026
Full Application NOD: Fall 2026

The official CIHR funding opportunity will be posted on ResearchNet in the coming weeks.

For a full list of CIHR funding opportunities, please visit ResearchNet.

Date modified:

2025-06-26