2025-26 Departmental Results Report: Gender-based Analysis Plus

Section 1: Institutional GBA Plus governance and capacity

Governance

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) has a Gender-based Analysis (GBA) Plus Framework to coordinate related work and operationalize commitments to the Health Portfolio, the Department of Women and Gender Equality and within the CIHR Strategic Plan 2021-2031 and the Tri-Agency Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan . The CIHR GBA Plus Responsibility Centre leads, enhances, supports, and monitors implementation of CIHR’s GBA Plus Framework and the actual practice of GBA Plus. It is comprised of the GBA Plus Focal Point and staff within the Research Impact Unit of the Science Strategy Branch.

Strategic guidance on GBA Plus/EDI-related matters in health research is also provided by CIHR’s Science Council, while operational guidance and decision-making is provided by senior management. CIHR’s Governing Council is responsible for developing and approving CIHR’s strategic directions and applies an EDI lens to all deliberations.

CIHR continued to advance its equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA) priorities through ongoing collaboration with employee-led networks and committees, such as the CIHR Anti-Racism, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (CAREDIA) Committee, the Persons with Disabilities Network and the Black Employees Network (BEN). The CAREDIA Champion leads the Committee alongside an employee co-chair, providing shared leadership between senior management and staff. Together, these networks and committees have worked collaboratively to identify and address systemic barriers, promote inclusive practices and support the integration of EDIA principles across CIHR’s workplace, governance, and decision-making processes, advancing this ongoing agency-wide priority.

In 2025-26, CIHR continued to work with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to uphold the Tri-Agency EDI Action Plan. The agencies continued to collaborate through an Interagency Committee on EDI.

Capacity

The CIHR GBA Plus Framework seeks to build GBA Plus organizational capacity and sustain the practice of GBA Plus through three streams:

GBA Plus in CIHR-Funded Research

• Continued to require the consideration of diverse biological factors (e.g. sex, age), intersecting aspects of social location (e.g. gender, race, disability) and Indigenous Rights in research funding proposals, where applicable.
• Continued to launch funding opportunities with requirements supporting meaningful representation and inclusion of research team members that are from groups who have historically been underrepresented.

These measures are helping to ensure that CIHR-funded research is relevant, culturally safe, and impactful for the diversity of people living in Canada.

GBA Plus in CIHR's Funding System

• In partnership with the other federal research funding agencies, launched updated learning modules to help participants in peer and merit review processes to recognize and mitigate bias. First launched in 2016, the modules were refreshed to be more user-friendly and accessible and expanded to address bias related to race, gender identity, disability and sexual orientation.
• Launched the Research Excellence, Diversity, and Independence (REDI) Early Career Transition Award for 2025. The Award builds on the success of the first iteration of the program (REDI 2022) and supports racialized women, Black scholars and Indigenous Peoples as they transition to independent research careers.
• Continued to support Black post-secondary student researchers and postdoctoral researchers by increasing financial support at the undergraduate, Master’s, Doctoral and Postdoctoral levels. In 2025-26, CIHR supported 109 scholarships through this initiative.
• Continued to collect applicant and peer reviewer data through the expanded Tri-Agency Self-Identification Questionnaire and monitor the diversity of applicants, funding recipients and peer review committee members across CIHR’s programs.
• Continued to implement From Intention to Impact: CIHR’s Anti-Ableism Action Plan, which proposes actions to address barriers experienced by persons with disabilities who interact with CIHR.
• Continued to apply equalization measures to the Project Grant Program competition to remove barriers to funding for researchers from historically underrepresented groups.

These measures are helping CIHR remove systemic barriers to ensure that we are capitalizing on the full extent of Canada’s scientific talent.

GBA Plus in CIHR's Workplace

• Published the second iteration of the CIHR Accessibility Plan (2026-2028)
• Continued to implement actions to create an inclusive and anti-ableist organization, such as developing standing offers for accessibility services for meetings and events hosted by CIHR, pilot-testing automated live English-French translation features and creating accessible-by-default meeting materials.
• Required employees to complete the Canada School of Public Service’s (CSPS) Introduction to Gender-based Analysis Plus, which must be renewed every three years; Accessibility Learning Series and Recognizing the Impacts of Systemic Anti-Black Racism in the Workplace. These training commitments comprise of courses provided by the Canada School of Public Service and are documented in each employee’s performance agreement, with completion monitored and assessed at year-end.
• Launched an organization-wide campaign in early 2026 to support compliance with mandatory GBA Plus training requirements and ensure employees remain current with their training obligations. In addition, all new employees are required to complete a series of EDI-related learning modules as part of the onboarding process. Further, CIHR implements mandatory training commitments each fiscal year for employees and senior management on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (EDIA).

Together, these measures support CIHR’s efforts to build organizational capacity, foster an inclusive workplace culture, and strengthen awareness of equity and accessibility considerations across the organization, helping to ensure a workspace that is inclusive, equitable and representative of the diversity of Canadians.

Human resources (full-time equivalents) dedicated to GBA Plus

In 2025-26, a total of 10.5 full-time equivalents (FTEs) were dedicated to working on GBA Plus.

Section 2: Gender and diversity impacts, by Program

Core responsibility: Funding Health Research and Training

Program name: Investigator-Initiated Research

Program goals: This program provides funding to conduct research in areas related to health aimed at the discovery and application of knowledge. Funding is provided to researchers and academic organizations to conduct research, mobilize knowledge, and build capacity through research training and salaries. CIHR’s Investigator-Initiated Research Program collects sufficient data to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts across different identify dimensions.

Target population: All Canadians

Distribution of benefits

Please note that the various groups are described in a scale at the end of the document.

Specific demographic group(s) to be monitored

The demographic groups monitored include women, visible minorities, Indigenous Peoples and persons with disabilities. These groups have historically faced barriers in CIHR’s funding system.

Key program impacts on gender and diversity

Not available

Key program impact statistics:

Core responsibility: Funding Health Research and Training

Program name: Research in Priority Areas

Program goals: This program provides funding for targeted grants and awards aimed at addressing priority areas identified by CIHR in consultation with other government departments and agencies, partners, and stakeholders. CIHR’s Research in Priority Areas Program collects sufficient data to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts across different identity dimensions.

Target population: All Canadians

Distribution of benefits

Specific demographic group(s) to be monitored

The demographic groups monitored include women, visible minorities, Indigenous Peoples and persons with disabilities. These groups have historically faced barriers in CIHR’s funding system.

Key Program impacts on gender and diversity

Not available

Key Program Impacts Statistics:

Core responsibility: Funding Health Research and Training

Program name: Training and Career Support

Program goals: This program provides funding directly to promising current and next generation researchers to support training or career development. CIHR’s Training and Carer Support Program collects sufficient data to enable the monitoring and reporting of program impacts across different identity dimensions.

Target population: All Canadians

Distribution of benefits

Specific demographic group(s) to be monitored

The demographic groups monitored include women, visible minorities, Indigenous Peoples and persons with disabilities. These groups have historically faced barriers in CIHR’s funding system.

Key program impacts on gender and diversity

The CIHR Research Excellence, Diversity and Independence (REDI) Early Career Transition Award was launched in 2022 to support racialized women and Black scholars transition to independent research careers. As of the end of the 2025-26 Fiscal Year, 63% of awardees have already transitioned or are actively progressing towards independent roles.

Key program impact statistics:

GBA Plus data collection plan

To monitor GBA Plus in its funding system, CIHR tracks diversity in applicants for and recipients of CIHR funding across all its three programs through the Tri-Agency Self-identification Questionnaire. The questionnaire collects information from CIHR applicants and peer reviewers across eight identity dimensions, including age, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, population group, language, and identity as Indigenous or a visible minority. This information enables CIHR to identify, understand and address diversity and potential inequities in its funding system. Aggregate results are reported internally in the Program Information Profiles (PIPs), and externally for CIHR’s Project Grant program results and four related indicators in the Departmental Results Framework.

Scales

Gender scale

• First group: predominantly men (80% or more men)
• Second group: 60% to 79% men
• Third group: broadly gender-balanced
• Fourth group: 60% to 79% women
• Fifth group: predominantly women (80% or more women)

Income-level scale

• First group: strongly benefits low income individuals (strongly progressive)
• Second group: somewhat benefits low income individuals (somewhat progressive)
• Third group: no significant distributional impacts
• Fourth group: somewhat benefits high income individuals (somewhat regressive)
• Fifth group: strongly benefits high income individuals (strongly regressive)

Age group scale

• First group: primarily benefits youth, children or future generations
• Second group: no significant intergenerational impacts or impacts on generations between youths and seniors
• Third group: primarily benefits seniors or the baby boomer generation

Date modified:

2026-11-06