Start your Research Study

• Connect with us to discuss your idea, help you build your research team or create a research plan. Unsure if your project idea is better suited for QI or evaluation?

• Use the IH Project Navigation Map  for project definitions, review processes, contacts and resources

• If you’re including patient partners on the research team, early involvement is key! Learn about things to consider before recruiting patient partners.

There are several funding agencies for researchers. These organizations offer funding programs that award research grants through peer-reviewed competitions. Common agencies include:

• Government agencies (e.g. Canadian Institutes of Health Research or Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research)

• Non-profit foundations (e.g. Kelowna General Hospital Foundation)

• Other organizations (e.g. RCCbc’s Rural Physician Research Support Project grant)

Principal investigators are responsible for the oversight of their study. Contact us for help with who can conduct research within Interior Health and understanding key responsibilities.

If you are requesting Interior Health data for research, you will be asked to submit a Data Request via the Operational Approval process. We encourage you to connect with us to discuss your data request in advance of your application to confirm feasibility and availability of the data you need.

All research within Interior Health requires both Ethical and Operational approval. These application processes are separate and can be started in any order; however, the ethics application must be submitted before the operational approval review can be finished. After all required approvals are complete, we issue an Institutional Certificate of Approval.

• Operational approval: We review the application to determine the human or physical resources you are requesting from Interior Health for your research and identifies the Interior Health administrators responsible for those resources. Once identified, the application is sent to these administrators for review and approval. You can begin your Operational Approval application by submitting the online Study Intake Form. Given the operational and ethical approval processes are separate, there are confidentiality restrictions that lead to some overlap in questions in the applications.

• Ethics approval: Ethical approval is obtained via an application for ethical review by the Interior Health Research Ethics Board or via a harmonized ethical review application using the Provincial Research Ethics Platform. Once you submit your REB application, you will be notified of the parallel Operational Approval process (although the Operational approval application can be started first). Visit our Research Ethics Review page for more details.