Funding Research with Real-Life Impact
The OHTN is funded by the Ontario taxpayers through the Government of Ontario. As part of Ontario's strategic plan and response to the HIV epidemic, the OHTN must ensure its research investments are aligned with the province's needs and interests. Compared to other HIV research funders, such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the National Institutes of Health in the US, the Gates Foundation and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the OHTN is a relatively small funder. It should not duplicate research funded by these larger organizations or try to fund everything; instead it should fulfill its mandate and its role as a niche funder established specifically to address HIV research needs in Ontario and to support research that will lead to tangible return-on-investments.
Our Values
- Relevance, Vision and Sense of Urgency
Research funded will be relevant to and benefit people living with and at risk of HIV. Our research programs will be bold, visionary and push the field. We will maintain a sense of urgency.
- Impact/Make a significant difference
Research funded by the OHTN will have the potential to have an impact and make a significant difference in HIV prevention, care, treatment and/or support. The OHTN is committed to being a trusted source of knowledge, and sharing research findings to enhance HIV prevention, care, treatment and support.
- Excellence
OHTN will attract the best and brightest who will be competitive at CIHR and NIH across all streams of research.
- Responsive/Pro-active/Risk-taking
The research program will be able to respond to emerging issues and needs. It will be proactive in identifying needs and be willing to be innovative and take risks.
- Equity and social justice
The OHTN's research programs will actively promote equity and social justice. Funding will be allocated in a way that is proportional to the populations affected, and will address all factors that influence health.
- Inclusive
The OHTN research funding programs will continue to be open to teams working across all streams of research and to expanding our network.
- Community/Collaboration/Connectedness
The OHTN's success is based on its community-based, community engaged, collaborative approach to research. As a network, we will continue to grow together, support collective empowerment, build connections and nurture individual and collective growth.
- Effective/Responsible/Accountable
Our research-funding program will be accountable for making responsible use of our limited resources and investing in rigorous research that has a real-life impact on those most affected by the epidemic in Ontario.
Populations in Ontario most affected by HIV
As part of its new Impact Focused Research Program (IFRP), the OHTN has conducted consultations with representatives of priority populations to identify urgent, unmet needs that could be addressed through research. These research priorities are listed below. This document will be updated regularly in January 2013, so please check back often. The OHTN is committed to funding research that improves the health and well-being of people living with and at risk of HIV in Ontario.
Priorities are listed separately by population; however, the OHTN welcomes proposals that include two or more populations and address cross-cutting themes relevant to them including population health, social determinants of health, and health services initiatives related to the treatment cascade, co-morbidities, and the impact of aging. The goal of the Impact Focused Funding Program is to support research that has the potential to address urgent unmet needs in the short-to-medium term.
- Gay Men and Other MSM, including gay, bi, and queer trans men, youth and newcomers:
This Targeted Request for Applications will accept proposals that seek to:
1. develop, adapt, implement, evaluate, and/or scale up sustainable HIV-related interventions;
2. conduct research on vulnerable sub-populations and neglected contexts (e.g. suburban/rural)
3. evaluate and/or answer questions related to current services, programs, or interventions for gay men and other MSM
» May involve development of future research projects that will seek to address identified gaps
- African, Caribbean and Black Women and Men, including Youth:
This Targeted Request for Applications will accept proposals that seek to:
1. identify best practices in HIV prevention programming for youth and adults
2. assess and measure effectiveness of existing HIV-related interventions specific to program development/delivery, perceptions of individual and community risk, and roles of culture
3. apply a life span-based approach to research on clinical care for African, Caribbean and Black people living with HIV including:
» ACB youth transitioning to adult care (ageing with HIV)
» issues related to treatment, care and disclosure
» pregnancy planning and motherhood
4. examine impacts of policy changes to the Immigration Act, Mental Health Act, Criminalization of Non-Disclosure, and/or Interim Federal Health Benefits on service access for ACB people living with HIV
5. understand HIV testing practices including decision-making processes, couples and provider-initiated testing or the effect of stigma and culture on testing and counseling approaches
6. explore social epidemiological phenomenon related to youth, newcomers, serodiscordant couples and those using substances
7. examine barriers to ACB research including mobilizing ACB communities/researchers who are not usually engaged, and nurturing up-and-coming ACB researchers
8. address stigma and the intersections of violence and discrimination
9. examine clinical issues including diagnosis, adherence, continuity of care, natural history, co-infections and immune activation
- Aboriginal men and women, including youth:
This Targeted Request for Applications will accept proposals that seek to:
1. Develop, adapt, implement, evaluate, and/or scale up sustainable, and culturally appropriate, HIV-related interventions addressing:
» Education-based programs
» Youth leadership
» HIV prevention, including access to testing (on-reserve)
» Domestic violence
» Different groups (ie. First Nations, Inuit or Metis) and specific life stages (ie. youth vs. mid-30s)
2. Conduct programs or interventions to improve research capacities among Aboriginal Peoples, including:
» Arts-based and non-traditional approaches
» Nation-specific research, particularly for Inuit and Metis communities
» Peer-based models
» Indigenous knowledge and associated methods
3. Evaluate and/or answer questions related to current services, programs, or interventions for women, IDU, 2-spirit men, youth, and Aboriginal Peoples living in rural settings, on-reserve and/or correctional facilities focusing on:
» Stigma, discrimination and/or racism
» Mental health issues including stress, depression, suicide, PTSD etc.
- Men and Women who use Drugs
This Targeted Request for Applications will accept proposals that seek to:
1. evaluate one or compare 2 or more:
» peer-based models of HIV-related outreach, treatment, support, prevention, capacity-building, and training
» interventions or programs aimed at youth, women, sex-workers, prisoners and/or older adults
» interventions focused on testing, access and/or adherence to HIV and/or HCV treatments
» interventions addressing housing, income support and occupation, and other social determinants of health
2. adapt or develop, implement and evaluate interventions (including pilots) or programs aimed at:
» improving access and adherence to HIV and/or HCV treatment for drug users
» addressing complex health issues for people who smoke crack
» reducing stigma (and enhancing knowledge) of service and healthcare providers, and the general public, for people who use drugs and may be infected with HIV and/or HCV
» enhancing access to, and education about, harm reduction materials (including HIV/HCV risk), and services (health-related and/or social) for all people who use drugs, including but not limited to, youth, ethnic minorities, women, sex-workers, prisoners and/or older people who use drugs
3. address gaps and barriers related to harm reduction in Ontario
» outreach in rural areas
» alternatives to injecting as a core harm reduction practice
» Aboriginal harm reduction education
» Non-traditional partnerships (i.e., law enforcement, domestic violence shelters and other community groups not involved in harm reduction work)
- Women, including transwomen, who are at risk (e.g., have unprotected sex or share drug equipment with people from the populations listed above):
This Targeted Request for Applications will accept proposals that seek to:
1. develop, implement and evaluate public and targeted education campaigns for women focusing on:
» testing for HIV
» describing risks
» providing accurate information, and directing women to reputable sources of information
» reducing stigma
2. adapt or develop, implement and evaluate pilot interventions or programs aimed at:
» providing women with access to appropriate healthcare services, especially in rural settings
» providing women with access to resources and harm reduction supplies (such as condoms) in rural settings
» delivering innovative strategies for education and support
- People Living with HIV/AIDS
There is also an overarching category that addresses the broad health and social needs of people living with HIV/AIDS. For this Targeted Request for Applications, we will accept only those proposals that:
1. conduct research on or evaluate:
» peer-based leadership and education models, including HIV prevention and youth sexual health
» impacts of domestic violence on women
» mental health interventions
» interventions for prisoners, including harm reduction approaches and confidential care
» interventions focused on testing, adherence and treatment
» approaches to skills development and training
2. adapt, develop or implement interventions or programs aimed at:
» evaluating the impacts and/or benefits of complementary and alternative therapies
» improving service delivery for marginalized groups, including those from a strength-based approach
» assessing the impacts of criminalization
» improving self-care, self-esteem and confidence
» addressing poz prevention and disclosure practices for PHAs, including those newly diagnosed
3. address barriers related to service access based on gender, sexual orientation, race and/or newcomer status
Additional Funding Information
Promoting Rigorous, Relevant Research: The Next Five Years
The OHTN's Strategic Plan to 2015: Striving for Excellence, Achieving Impact, reaffirms its commitment to support rigorous relevant research that will have an impact on the health and lives of people with or at risk of HIV. This report describes the OHTN's research granting programs, the types of research we have funded, and the impact of that research over the past 12 years. It was developed to provide background information for a Research Consultation that took place on February 3, 2011 at Hart House, University of Toronto.