Travel Awards – AIDS 2022 Conference (Second round of funding)

Application Deadline: July 7, 2022 (extended)
Anticipated Notice of Decision: July 29, 2022 (extended)
Funding Start Date: April 1, 2022

Description

CIHR’s HIV/AIDS and STBBI Research Initiative, with strategic leadership from the CIHR Institute of Infection and Immunity (III), will provide funding to applicants requesting support to attend the 24th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2022). AIDS 2022, which is the largest gathering on HIV and AIDS in the world, is being organized by the International AIDS Society (IAS) and will take place from July 29-August 2, 2022 in Montreal, Canada. This award is intended to support individuals participating at the conference either in person or virtually.

This is a second round of funding for the Travel Awards, following the initial awards launched in February 2022. Kindly take note of the deadlines for these awards. The Notice of Decision is anticipated to be July 29. Please note that funds will not be released ahead of the conference and applicants will need to cover the costs in the interim without guarantee of receiving the award.

Funds available

CIHR financial contributions for this initiative are subject to availability of funds. Should CIHR funding levels not be available or are decreased due to unforeseen circumstances, CIHR reserves the right to reduce, defer or suspend financial contributions to awards received as a result of this funding opportunity.

The total funds available for this funding opportunity is $195,000. This amount may increase if additional funding partners participate.

  • The maximum amount per award is:
    • For Trainees: up to $2500, for (1) one year.
    • For Early Career Researchers, applications with a primary focus on Indigenous Health Research, and Community-Based Researchers: up to $3000*, for (1) one year.
  • Of this $195,000:
    • $90,000 is available to fund trainees
    • $35,000 is available to fund Early Career Researchers (ECR)
    • $35,000 is available to fund applications with a primary focus on Indigenous Health Research (IHR)
    • $35,000 is available to fund Community-Based Researchers
  • If a pool is undersubscribed or lacks fundable applications, funds will be distributed proportionally across the remaining pools.

Note: Should the conference change to a fully virtual format, awardees will be expected to return any unspent balance to CIHR.

*Applicants travelling from remote areas may request additional travel funds and must provide a justification for the request.

Objectives

  • To provide travel awards to individuals attending the 24th International AIDS Conference (in person or virtually) in support of the vision, mandate and strategic directions of CIHR’s HIV/AIDS and STBBI Research Initiative.

Eligibility

For an application to be eligible:

  1. The Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) must be one of the following:
    1. A trainee: at the time of application, must be registered in a master’s or doctoral program OR be at the post-doctoral or post–health professional degree stage (graduate, post-doctoral fellow, resident).
    2. An Early Career Researcher (ECR): affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary institution and/or its affiliated institutions (including hospitals, research institutes and other non-profit organizations with a mandate for health research and/or knowledge translation).
      1. ECR status is required at the time of application (be within five years (60 months) of their first academic or research appointment [i.e. appointment as an independent researcher providing eligibility to apply for grants and supervise trainees]). Note, as a result of COVID-19, the term to qualify for ECR status has been extended to 0-84 months from 0-60 months.
    3. An independent researcher, knowledge user, scholar or health professional affiliated with Canadian postsecondary institutions and/or its affiliated institutions (including hospitals, research institutes and other non-profit organizations with a mandate for health research and/or knowledge translation).
      1. For applicants to the IHR or Community-Based Researcher pools only.
  2. The Institution Paid must be authorized to administer CIHR funds before the funding can be released (for more information see Administration of Funds).Footnote 1
  3. Applicants to the Trainee and/or ECR pool must be attending the conference as the first author or as a co-author of an accepted abstract. They must submit proof that their abstract was accepted by the AIDS 2022 Organizing Committee.
  4. Travel Awards are available to applicants working or studying within Canada at the time of the application deadline.

For additional eligibility requirements for individuals, refer to the Individual Eligibility Requirements.

General CIHR Policies

Successful applicants funded through this funding opportunity and any other persons working on the project must fully comply with the applicable CIHR Funding Policies.

With the ongoing evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is expected that travel award recipients will abide by their respective public health guidelines in relation to travel and public gatherings associated with this funding opportunity.

Allowable costs

Applicants are advised to consult the Use of Grant Funds section of the Tri-Agency (CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC) Guide on Financial Administration (TAGFA) for the general requirements governing the appropriate use of grant funds.

As per the Tri-Agency Guide on Financial Administration (TAGFA), all travel and travel-related and other relevant subsistence expenditures (meals and accommodation) must be claimed in accordance with the administering institution’s relevant policies and processes. Expenses claimed should depend on whether the applicant is attending in person or virtually. Some examples include:

  • Travel and accommodation for participant (all travel will be by the lowest economy fare);
  • Per diem for meals (when not provided for with the conference; applicants must use their home institution’s per diem rates);
  • Conference registration fees;
  • Printing costs (e.g. posters);
  • Accessibility support for virtual attendance (subject to availability, applicants with connectivity challenges can apply for a SIM card, data package or device to facilitate your access to the online content of the conference);
  • Dependent care.

Conditions of funding

  • The applicant must comply with the applicable CIHR Funding Policies.
  • The travel award is only applicable to attend 24th International AIDS conference, in person or virtually. Funds cannot be used to attend another conference.
  • All applicants must provide proof of registration.
  • Applicants whose abstract have been selected must submit proof that their abstract was accepted by the AIDS 2022 Organizing Committee.
  • The NPA is limited to one Travel Award application in this competition.
  • The NPA must not receive a full scholarship from IAS, however partial scholarships are permissible (declare partial scholarship in section 3 of the application).
  • Information on successful applicants and their travel award will be posted on CIHR’s website under Funding Decision Notifications and communicated to applicants by email.
  • Successful applicants may be profiled in the event and CIHR related communications (i.e., CIHR may request photos and/or short bios of successful applicants to be used in newsletters, etc.).

Relevance Review Process

The Institute of Infection and Immunity and the Institute of Indigenous People’s Health will perform a relevance review to identify applications that are in alignment with the objectives and meet the eligibility criteria.

For applications to be relevant to the Indigenous Health Research funding pool, applications must be focused on Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Inuit, Métis and/or Urban Indigenous), and led by Indigenous organizations, communities, or individuals and/or conducted using Indigenous methodologies.

Applications that are not deemed to be relevant will be withdrawn from the competition.

Review Process and Funding Decision

Priority will be given to eligible applicants as follows:

For trainees and early career researchers:

  • First priority will be given to applicants whose abstracts as first authors have been selected for an oral or poster presentation.
  • Second priority will be given to applicants who have received a partial scholarship from IAS.

For Community based researchers, and for applications with an IHR focus:

  • Applicants whose abstracts have been selected for an oral or poster presentation.

For all other applicants who meet the eligibility criteria and are deemed relevant:

  • A lottery process will be implemented to select grantees until all funds have been allocated. CIHR is committed to equitable and inclusive participation and is implementing the lottery process to enhance equity, diversity, and inclusion.

How to apply

Applicants are required to obtain a CIHR PIN prior to submitting their application.

Download the application [ PDF (334 KB) ] form and submit the completed form to hivaids-vihsida@cihr-irsc.gc.ca.

Complete applications must be submitted before 23:59 EDT on Thursday July 7, 2022. Incomplete applications or late submissions will not be accepted.

Include relevant additional documents:

  • Proof of registration to the conference, if available at time of application, otherwise must be submitted later (all applicants)
  • Letter of support (for trainees and ECR)
  • Proof abstract has been selected by the AIDS 2022 Organizing Committee (where applicable, may be submitted after deadline)

Contact information

For all inquiries, please contact CIHR by email at hivaids-vihsida@cihr-irsc.gc.ca.

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