Competition

The purpose of the Patient-Oriented Research Development Award is to support the growth of patient-oriented research in health/social research areas where it has traditionally been difficult to grow this movement. These include laboratory-based/basic science research and community/social sector research/program evaluation settings.

Often, basic science researchers struggle to engage patients/the public in the development of their research because of the difficulty of communicating about highly specific topics in plain language. On the other hand, while “knowledge users” have long been engaged in program evaluation, the movement to include community-led and based programming in “health research” is fairly new, but very necessary, as we continue to improve our understanding of the social determinants of health. In both cases, patient-oriented research methods can help to improve the translation and mobilization of research and evaluation outcomes and the overall quality of projects. To that end, we have created this Patient-Oriented Research Development Award in the hopes of bridging two important gaps along the research continuum.

This fund will remain open to applications throughout the year. The value of this award will be up to $7,500 per project. The length of this award is one year with the possibility of an extension.

Applications are accepted any time throughout the year, however projects must conclude prior to March 31, 2026.

In addition to the external funding agency’s submission procedures, this opportunity must also be submitted for Departmental, HSS Faculty, and Research Initiatives and Services (RIS) institutional reviews and approvals via Memorial's Researcher Portal (RP). In order to facilitate the HSS Faculty’s administrative review, please ensure "Heather C. O'Brien (Grants Facilitator)" and “Matthew Milner (Grants Facilitator)” are added as "Team Members" on your RP file. 

In accordance with University-wide approval protocols, all tabs of the RP file must be completed, the completed application must be uploaded to the “Attachments” tab, all supporting documentation including support for cash and in-kind commitments and/or letters of support must also be uploaded, and “Submit” must be pressed prior to the HSS internal deadline listed below. HSS cannot guarantee completion of an administrative review for application files that are incomplete and/or are submitted after the HSS deadline. For more detailed submission instructions and information, please consult the HSS Research Support Services website.

If you plan to apply to this competition or other research funding opportunities (as either PI or CI), e-mail an HSS Grants Facilitator, Heather C. O’Brien (HSSResearchAdmin@mun.ca or 864-8603) or Matthew Milner (HSSResearchGrants@mun.ca or 864-8050), to notify the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of your intent to apply. E-mailing the intent to apply as early as possible will help to facilitate an efficient review. A Grants Facilitator can answer any questions you may have about internal or external submission procedures and may also be able to help with proposal development.