In 2021, leading cardiovascular research funders, including Heart & Stroke, joined forces in a new partnership to advance the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the world’s biggest killers, including heart attack and stroke. The Global Cardiovascular Research Funders Forum (GCRFF) was founded by uniting 11 leading independent cardiovascular research funders.
The Forum aims to accelerate the pace of progress by creating opportunities for cross-border coordination and collaboration between world-leading cardiovascular researchers and organisations.
The Forum includes many of the biggest independent funders of cardiovascular research in the world, who together support more than US$600 million in research annually. The organisations have supported countless breakthroughs that have improved the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cardiovascular diseases worldwide.
The objects of the GCRFF are:
- Better identification of gaps in research, increased benefits of joint approaches, and better recommendations.
- Help researchers in different countries to collaborate more effectively and plan ambitious, practice changing clinical trials for successful delivery from the outset.
- Allow individual research funders to input into the trial design at the outset, in contrast to the current situation, where additional funders are often approached late after initial support for the trial has been secured from one funder, and the trial has already started.
- Reduce the risk to the funder(s) because there is greater assurance that the trial will be deliverable, and costs are spread.
Since its inception in 2021, the GCRFF have undertaken the following projects:
- International Request for Information 2023
The GCRFF requested information from the international cardiovascular research community to understand the most urgent research needs for women’s cardiovascular health. The request for information invited researchers to identify priority research gaps related to women’s cardiovascular health from an international perspective. -
International Data Challenge 2024
The GCRFF invited scientific researchers to compete in a data challenge to better accelerate science through funding. Researchers could win up to $20K USD using the American Heart Association Precision Medicine Platform to answer this question: How can the organizations that fund cardiovascular and stroke science most effectively fund research to drive discoveries and improve lives? As a member of GCRFF, Heart & Stroke encouraged interested researchers to submit a proposal and shared the message of the GCRFF. -
International Research Challenge on Women’s Cardiovascular Health 2024
GCRFF launched the International Research Challenge on Women's Cardiovascular Health on September 25, 2024. This award represents an international, multi-institutional, and multi-disciplinary research network grant of up to $10 million USD over 5 years. This competition is a first-of-its-kind research funding opportunity to drive transformative research and build capacity at the international level. This initiative aims to support transformative research and address urgent knowledge gaps in women’s cardiovascular health, that are of international relevance. Deadline for interested applicants is January 15, 2025.
If you have questions regarding Heart & Stroke’s involvement in the GCRFF, please email research@heartandstroke.ca.