Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

I am seeking funding to cover my trip to Ottawa to attend CIHR's Institute of Population & Public Health (IPPH) Starting Investigator Workshop. I am a new investigator in the School of Pharmacy, Memorial University of Newfoundland. As a health economist by training, I have a special interest in public health policy. My current research is evaluating several emerging public health policies targeting substance use in Canada including marijuana legalization, ban on menthol cigarettes and ban on sales of e-cigarettes to minors in Canada. This workshop will be valuable at this stage of my career in many ways. First, it is a unique opportunity for me to establish collaborative networks across Canada. In particular, networking with government officials and civil society leaders is particularly important for my policy research as I am keen for my research findings to be useful and have impacts on policy making. Further, I will also benefit tremendously from interacting with researchers at the same early career stage to share and learn from each other effective ways to address our challenges. Second, as a new investigator who is still relatively new to the Canadian health research funding arena, I am keen to learn more about peer review process and gain familiarity with CIHR and its funding mechanisms. This workshop will help me to improve my grant applications, both in terms of grant writing and long-term grant planning. It will also help me to excel in my role as a referee for CIHR grants. Third, through this workshop I will be able to develop effective strategies to build and manage a successful research team. This is important for me to jumpstart the work I will be undertaking as part of my new Canada Research Chair award (the first one for Memorial University in Pharmacy) in terms of building research capacity in health economics in Newfoundland and training the next generation of health economists in this province. Thank you for considering my application.