CIHR: Catalyst Grant: AI-Enabled Technologies and Brain & Mental Health

Sponsor’s Website

Visit the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) website for more information on the AI-Enabled Technologies and Brain & Mental Health program.

Internal Contact

Potential applicants are encouraged to discuss this funding opportunity with their Faculty Research Facilitator.

OVPRII competition administration: coris@carleton.ca

Deadlines

Overview

This funding opportunity will support the development of foundational research infrastructure, including conceptual, methodological and measurement frameworks, as well as taxonomies and associated metrics, to systematically characterize human-AI interactions, design features, mechanisms of impact and contextual factors, including social, cultural, geographic and community contexts. It will also support the development of reporting guidelines using rigorous, consensus-based methodologies, such as those recommended by the EQUATOR Network. The results will facilitate the generation of rigorous research methods and comparable and actionable evidence in this rapidly evolving field.

The specific objective(s) of this funding opportunity are to:

• Rapidly mobilize interdisciplinary research collaborations bridging AI with brain and mental health research and adopting Open Science principles.
• Create the conditions that will enable the generation of rigorous, comparable, actionable and policy-relevant evidence on the simultaneous benefits and harms of AI-enabled digital technologies by developing measurement frameworks, reporting guidelines, methodological and/or study design approaches. These efforts will lay the groundwork to support future studies regarding the benefits and harms of AI-enabled digital technologies.
• Generate new rigorous evidence on the benefits and harms of AI-enabled digital technologies for brain and mental health using appropriate study designs and reproducible analytic strategies with the potential to inform future regulation and the design of safe technology.
• Support research that advances understanding of the benefits and harms of AI-enabled digital technologies in contexts relevant to the health and wellness priorities of First Nations, Inuit and/or Métis Peoples.

Value and Duration

The total amount available for this funding opportunity is $2,400,000, enough to fund approximately 12 grants. This amount may increase if additional funding partners participate. The maximum amount per grant is $200,000 per year for up to one year.

Of this $2,400,000:

• $2,000,000 is available to fund 10 applications relevant to the objectives of this funding opportunity. Funded by the Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction (INMHA).
• $200,000 is available to fund one application that aligns with the research priorities of the Institute of Circulatory and Respiratory Health (ICRH) and the objectives of this funding opportunity, and examines the impacts of AI-enabled digital technologies on sleep. Co-funded by ICRH and INMHA.
• $200,000 is available to fund one application that aligns with the mandate and priorities of the Institute of Indigenous Peoples’ Health (IIPH) and the objectives of this funding opportunity, and is relevant to the health and wellness priorities of First Nations, Inuit and/or Métis Peoples. Co-funded by IIPH and INMHA.

Eligibility

Visit the CIHR website for more information on eligibility to apply.

Submitting Your Application

1. Submit an internal Approval Form through our central awards management database cuResearch. Consult the user’s manual for guidance.
2. Submit an external application to CIHR by following their submission guidelines.