Canadian Institute for Health Research - Healthy Youth Team Grant

Description

The purpose of this funding opportunity is to support youth-engaged research teams to generate evidence for at least two of the six priorities of Canada's Youth Policy with the ultimate goal of improving youth health and well-being. The six priority areas are: Leadership and Impact; Health and Wellness; Innovation, Skills and Learning; Employment; Truth and Reconciliation; Environment and Climate Action.

This funding opportunity is a direct response to calls for Canada to do better when it comes to youth health and wellness, particularly with historically excluded or underrepresented youth1,2,3, and to put diverse youth and youth voices at the centre of multi-dimensional solutions to youth-identified priorities4,5.

Youth make up one third of Canada's population and reflect the full spectrum of its diversity.6 In 2025 Canada ranked in the top 10 wealthiest nations in the world but "barely received a passing grade" on child and youth health.7 Canada's youth rank 19th out of 36 on overall health and well-being, 25th on child obesity, and 33rd on adolescent suicide. Within each of these rankings, a greater risk falls on those marginalized by income, Indigeneity, race, gender, disability and other social determinants of health.

These Healthy Youth Team Grants are part of the Healthy Youth Initiative that strives to bring research evidence to policy to make meaningful change in youth health and wellness. This funding opportunity builds on two rounds of Planning and Dissemination Grants (Summer 2022, Winter 2022), two rounds of Healthy Youth Catalyst Grants (Fall 2022, Fall 2023), and one round of Healthy Youth Team Grants (2024). A Healthy Youth Summit (Summer 2023) brought together youth and youth health researchers with other interested parties to identify gaps and opportunities in youth health research. Applicants are encouraged to review the Healthy Youth Summit webpage, including key findings and youth-led reports.

Key Design Elements

Healthy Youth Team Grant applications must consider and incorporate the following key design elements, as appropriate.

• Tri-partite Leadership
  • Teams will have a tri-partite leadership team, i.e., an independent researcher, a knowledge user, and a youth with lived or living experience of the topic of study to ensure that the research is meaningful, relevant, and actionable.
• Youth engagement
  • Proposals must demonstrate a high level of meaningful youth leadership or engagement throughout the research process, including problem-identification, proposal development, priority or agenda setting, youth-led approaches including community-based or participatory research, defining meaningful impact, and youth-led or youth-engaged knowledge synthesis and knowledge mobilization.
  • Youth from diverse backgrounds relevant to the proposed research must be engaged, including younger youth (under 18 years old), youth with lived or living experience in the focus area of the research, youth from non-academic pathways, and/or youth from historically excluded and underrepresented groups, where appropriate.
  • Proposals must include a justification of the team's plans for meaningful and appropriate compensation for youth engaged in the research.
• Intersectoral and multi-disciplinary teams
  • Proposals will demonstrate an understanding of the interconnectivity of youth health with other aspects of youth lives by engaging with two or more of the priority areas outlined in Canada's Youth Policy.
  • Teams will be comprised of researchers and knowledge users from two or more areas, sectors or fields of study (e.g. public health and transportation; education, environment, and biology; justice and housing, etc.).
• Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
  • Proposals will embed best practices of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) at each stage of the research process, with the aim of ensuring responsiveness to the needs and circumstances of all youth.
• Indigenous Rights
  • Canada's Youth Policy highlights reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and the importance of equitable access to opportunities and supports for Indigenous youth, as key considerations to ensure sustainability of Indigenous communities. Where appropriate, proposals will outline actions that will contribute to Indigenous self-determination and/or reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, including the need for equitable access to youth-related opportunities and supports.
• Building and/or Bridging Capacity
  • Proposals will include a plan to build and/or bridge capacities among team members and the broader community for youth-led or youth-engaged research. This plan will recognize the range of expertise that researchers, knowledge users, and youth bring to the table and identify clear pathways for knowledge-sharing and skills-building among team members.
  • The plan will include building and/or bridging capacity for youth-led or youth-engaged research within three pathways:
    • Supporting academic career pathways at all levels, including an early or mid-career researcher on the team. Teams may also choose to use grant funds to support students at all levels, as appropriate, including high school, undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral students.
    • Supporting non-academic pathways such as youth organizations, not-for profits, for profit organizations, schools, or municipal/provincial/territorial governments, as appropriate.
    • Engaging youth from diverse backgrounds including younger youth, youth with lived and living experience of the topic of study, and/or youth from historically excluded or underrepresented groups, where appropriate.
• Knowledge Mobilization
  • Each team will have a Knowledge Mobilization Champion to ensure that youth-led or youth-engaged knowledge mobilization activities are integrated throughout the project
  • Proposals will include a clear vision for how to mobilize knowledge and findings from their research through early, sustained and meaningful collaboration with youth from diverse backgrounds, partners and researchers across disciplines and sectors to maximize the impact on policy and/or practice and support the relevance and uptake of research evidence, including novel approaches to youth engagement where appropriate. The Knowledge Mobilization Champion will play a key role in developing and implementing the team's vision.