Health Data Nexus Dataset Grants: Call for Proposals

Overview

Value: $50,000 per grant
Number of grants available: Two grants
Duration: One year (can be extended to two years, but no extra funding will be provided)
Application Deadline: The deadline has passed.

Information Session

T-CAIREM hosted an information session to answer questions about this funding opportunity from potential applicants.

Watch the information session recording

About Us

T-CAIREM is an interdepartmental Centre that serves as a focal point for collaboration among healthcare providers, trainees, researchers, computer scientists, engineers, and industry. Our goal is to transform health through AI.

The Health Data Nexus is T-CAIREM’s flagship health data and analytics platform in Canada, uniquely combining a data publishing platform with a cloud-based analytics solution.

Grant Objectives

• To identify relevant problems in health care and medicine that will benefit from AI solutions requiring large datasets
• To stimulate the creation of high-value, de-identified datasets for use by a broad range of AI researchers and educators in medicine
• To enrich the Health Data Nexus and demonstrate its utility for easily and broadly sharing highly impactful health data.

Eligibility

The Primary Applicant/ Principal Investigator must:

• Be a T-CAIREM member,
• Hold a University of Toronto faculty appointment, OR hold a faculty appointment at a Canadian university and be a co-Principal Investigator with a University of Toronto faculty appointee, and
• Be eligible to hold grant funding.
• Priority will be given to interdisciplinary project teams.
• An individual can only submit one application as a Primary Applicant. However, that same individual can be a co-Principal Investigator or co-Investigator or team member on multiple applications.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Click for FAQ

Application Form Contents

Successful proposals will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

• Clearly specify the dataset that will be generated, and how it can be used for AI research (40%)
  -Project Proposal (including the impact of the dataset on AI research)
  (max. 800 words)
• Preference is given to projects with broad potential for reuse across distinct research questions
• Approach to dataset generation (20%) (Please include in detail how the dataset will be generated, curated, checked for validity and reliability, de-identified for use on the Health Data Nexus, and maintained)
  (Max. 1200 words)
  • Preference is given to projects with a reproducible and sustainable pipeline
• Research team and roles. Preference is given to interdisciplinary project teams (20%)
  (Max. 200 words)
• Feasibility including project milestones, timelines, and cooperation with institutional REB (15%)
  (Max. 600 words)
• Budget justification (5%). We welcome projects augmenting current research funds, partnerships, or matching (cash or in-kind) to demonstrate commitment to the initiative. Funds can be used to support student RAs, student stipends, open access fees, etc. Eligible expenses must align with the University of Toronto’s Guide to Financial Management. 
  (Max. 400 words)
• Anticipated zone of access and reasoning (ungraded)
  • The Health Data Nexus has three different zones of access for data with increasing controls for data of increasing sensitivity. These are described online.
  • Priority will be given to datasets that would reside in Zone 1 of the platform, which has the most transparent and equitable access process.
• References
  (Max. 500 words)

Submission Process

Submissions must include:

• A completed application form.
• Completed abbreviated CVs of PI and co-PIs (max. 5 pages each) in PDF format. The Canadian Common CV (CCV) is preferred.
• Applications must be submitted online.

Application Review Procedures

• Applications will be reviewed by a panel of experts with data, AI, and clinical expertise.
• Applicants will be provided with feedback and the opportunity to respond to comments from adjudicators. 
• Responses will be evaluated, and decisions will be made based on criteria including dataset value and project innovation.
• Here are the project evaluation criteria (PDF) the adjudicators will be using.
• Decisions will be announced by Fall 2023.

Award Requirements

• The dataset generated from the project must be published on the T-CAIREM Health Data Nexus
• To be published on the Health Data Nexus, the dataset must be de-identified per T-CAIREM guidelines (PDF) and must be provided with metadata and documentation to the T-CAIREM Data Steward.
• A final summary report must be submitted at the end of the project funding period which will be published on the T-CAIREM website (within three months).

More Information

For more information, including relevant documents on the governance and access policy of the Health Data Nexus, contact January Adams, T-CAIREM Data Governance and Quality Analyst, at january.adams@utoronto.ca.