The objective of this program is to advance new areas of mission-driven, high-impact integrated brain-heart research by supporting BHI researchers to:
- Test a new hypothesis or develop new approaches to a research problem that challenge prevailing paradigms;
- Explore a bold and risky research question through a proof-of-principle experiment; and/or
- Advance creative and innovative research by proving initial concepts and finding solutions to obstacles.
It is expected that by investing in this early phase research, BHI will enable its research community to establish the necessary preliminary evidence to be successful in securing funding for high-impact integrated brain-heart research through larger external funding programs.
The Exploration Program will support projects that integrate the expertise of researchers from at least two scientific disciplines (e.g., health sciences and political science; psychology and medical biotechnology; mathematics and clinical medicine) and use a research co-production approach in collaboration with patients as well as other knowledge users. To drive creativity and innovation, projects are encouraged to:
- involve researchers that have not previously worked together and from different institutions in Canada or internationally;
- address the scope and priorities of multiple BHI Foundations, Themes and Cross-Cutting Themes;
- address the mandate of more than one of the federal Tri-Agencies: Canadian Institutes of Health Research; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council; and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council;
- involve Early Career Researchers in leadership positions;
- expand the diversity of voices meaningfully engaged, co-leading and benefiting from B-H research to include Indigenous people and underrepresented groups including racialized individuals; African, Caribbean, and Black individuals; persons with disabilities; women; and individuals from 2SLGBTQIA+ communities; and
- involve partner institutions, including cash and in-kind contributions, to expand the scope and reach of the work.
BHI defines patients as individuals with lived experiences with a health issue, informal caregivers (including family and friends) and/or individuals that are at risk of, or otherwise, affected by brain-heart conditions. Knowledge users are people, including representatives of communities and organizations who are likely to use research results to make informed decisions, or anybody who may benefit or be otherwise affected by research results. This can include, but is not limited to Indigenous leaders and communities, patients, health professionals, community-based organizations, health charities, health system leaders, policy-makers, and private sector organizations.