Applying for the CIHR Spring Project Grant? DASH can help!
Health researchers interested in using multi-regional data in their CIHR Spring Project grant applications can get support through HDRN Canada’s Data Access Support Hub (DASH). DASH is a critical resource for research studies seeking to compare results across multiple provinces or territories. “Accessing data from multiple regions can feel daunting,” said Jordan Hunt, DASH Team Lead based at the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), an HDRN Canada member. “We want to make sure that researchers know just what kind of supports are available when they access multi-regional data through DASH.”
DASH supports include a centralized data access request form and coordinated support throughout the data access process. Other DASH tools include a Data Assets Inventory, searchable by keyword, category or region, and an Algorithms Inventory, an online collection of published algorithms measuring population health, health service use, and the determinants of health that have been validated or tested for feasibility of implementation in two or more Canadian territories or provinces, or nationally. These and other DASH services are provided by a multi-centre coordination team comprising HDRN Canada members from various provincial and territorial data centres, as well as pan-Canadian organizations, including CIHI and Statistics Canada. “The goal is to make it easier for researchers to access health and health-related data from multiple provinces and territories,” Hunt added. “DASH staff do this by bringing data centres together to make the data request and access process as streamlined as possible for individual researchers and research teams.”
For researchers whose studies require multi-regional data in the CIHR Project Grant application process, DASH can provide feasibility confirmation, cost estimates, and Letters of Support. Interested researchers must submit an online intake form by February 21, 2024 — two weeks in advance of CIHR’s deadline.