Graham Seed Fund program launched
By Lisa Loiselle, Research Communications
On October 31, the University of Waterloo launched the Graham Seed Fund (GSF) program – a funding opportunity designed to broadly encourage innovative health care solutions to challenges of today and tomorrow from the “patient perspective” and a pipeline for research and innovation at the intersection of health, technology and society. The GSF with its Health Transformation through Technology initiative seeks to leverage and build health system partnerships by providing resources for collaborating directly with a full range of health providers and clinicians. This collaborative, interdisciplinary model will help to quickly advance solutions for challenging areas in health technology. Further, GSF responds to Waterloo’s strategic priority of creating a globally recognized hub for innovative and transformative health technologies.
The standing room only event was held in the Enterprise Theatre, East Campus 5 at the University of Waterloo. The purpose of the event was to provide information about the seed fund, share some resources for collaboration with the health-care partners and provide space and opportunity for leaders and experts in health innovation to engage with one another. A diverse group of people were in attendance for the launch event including a delegation from the sponsor- Graham Trust, tech partners, waterloo researchers and community members. They came from on and off campus to learn more about the seed fund, hear about the available resources for collaboration with health care partners, and engage with leaders and experts in health innovation.
Vivek Goel, president and vice-chancellor, University of Waterloo, welcomed the audience and started with a reminder, “Indigenous Peoples of this land bear a disproportionate share of burden of poor health, determinants of health, issues of access to health services, not matter where along the continuum of health you look at. So, as we think about the innovation that we might develop, let’s keep that in mind and look for the partnerships that we can be doing with Indigenous People. In our THT initiative we’ve put this front and centre and we look forward to working with our community partners as we move this forward.”
President Goel was followed by Catherine Burns, associate vice-president, health initiatives who provided details of the GSF program including the research focus areas, eligibility, program requirement, allowable expenses, application process and deadlines. She also emphasized the programs priority. She shared that priority will be given to proposals where a healthcare stakeholder is a member of the research team, and the stakeholder should be actively engaged in defining the research problem, research design, research approach and application.
Yibei Zhao, research development officer, also addressed the audience and shared the importance of partnerships, including those with hospitals, industry, public/non-profits and academic institutions, and collaboration with stakeholders. Finally, Sarah Laferriere, Manager Research & Clinical trials, Grand River Hospital, spoke about how collaboration and partnerships mobilize research for impact and the successful and ongoing partnership between University of Waterloo and the Office of Innovation & Research at the hospital.
More details about the GSF funding opportunity can be found on the Transformative Health Technologies website.