Introducing HIROC’s Collaborate Safety Grant!

The HIROC Foundation
grey backdrop with the logo for Collaborate. Text below says Safety Grants Program Funded by the HIROC Foundation

Since its inception in 2018, the HIROC Foundation’s Safety Grants Program has supported our Subscribers in their innovative applied safety initiatives. 

“We launched the HIROC Grants Program because we recognize that creating sustainable change in safety requires investment – in ideas, people, and partnership. And we know how much knowledge exchange can play a role in this,” says HIROC’s CEO, Catherine Gaulton. 

To date, the HIROC Foundation has invested over $1 Million dollars, supporting 87 safety initiatives at Canadian healthcare organizations. 

As HIROC’s Safety Grants Program continues to grow, we are making a few changes! 

  • Cultivate Safety Grant: This is HIROC’s original one-year safety grant the healthcare community knows and loves, just rebranded as the Cultivate Safety Grant. Stay tuned for more details on the application process opening later this summer.
  • Collaborate Safety Grant: New in 2025, the two-year Collaborate Safety Grant launches May 8. Application specifics can be found on HIROC’s Safety Grants Program webpage. 

 

What is the Collaborate Safety Grant?

HIROC’s Collaborate Safety Grant is a two-year grant with a total value of $40,000. Exclusively for HIROC Subscribers, the grant is aimed at supporting innovative safety initiatives in collaboration with academic partners. More specifically, the Collaborate Grant is designed to fund a Masters, PhD, or recent-graduate student(s), working on one of the qualified safety themes below. The Grant allows for the potential for additional top-up funding from other funding partners.  

Up to five Collaborate grants may be awarded in 2025, with each grant providing $20,000 per year for two years. 

Collaborate Grant breakdown:

  • $30K provided towards funding a Masters, PhD, or recent-graduate student or intern from an accredited Canadian University. Subscribers may wish to consider how this amount may be eligible for other funding programs
  • $10K provided to the healthcare organization for grant administration and operational costs
     

Who can apply for the Collaborate Safety Grant?

All HIROC Subscribers are eligible to apply for the Collaborate Grant during the application cycle (May 8 to June 30, 2025).

  • Applications may be for existing or planned safety initiatives over a two-year period
  • Applications require Subscribers to have an academic partner with an accredited Canadian University

 

What themes may qualify for the Collaborate Safety Grant?

  • Exploring psychological safety in perinatal/neonatal environments (hospital and out-of-hospital birth settings)
  • Supporting decision making and interprofessional collaboration in perinatal/neonatal environments
  • Supporting intrapartum fetal health surveillance
  • Detection and response to patient deterioration
  • Systems-level interventions and risk considerations for prevention of death by suicide while under care
  • Understanding systemic factors in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) that impact patient/resident/client safety
     

Why should my organization apply for the Collaborate Safety Grant?

The HIROC Foundation’s Collaborate Safety Grant seeks to:

  • Bring together forward-thinking healthcare leaders and researchers, towards improving safety and partnering to create the safest healthcare systems in Canada
  • Build capacity and a knowledge base within the Canadian healthcare workforce by skilling up interns working on real-world challenges in Canadian healthcare
  • Address areas of higher risk for patients, healthcare providers, organizations, and communities through projects that work towards tangible outcomes for improving safety
  • Leverage the strength of collaboration between healthcare organizations and academic institutions

Additionally, each Collaborate Safety Grant recipient is supported by HIROC’s Healthcare Safety and Risk Management (HSRM) team. We seek true partnership with you from start to finish, including:

  • Consultation with HIROC’s in-house experts in risk management, patient safety, quality improvement, clinical experience, and human factors
  • Tapping into HIROC’s network of pan-Canadian Subscribers and healthcare leaders
  • Sharing and amplifying learnings through HIROC’s Subscriber events
  • Co-authoring peer-reviewed publications and conference submissions

For more information, visit the HIROC Foundation’s Safety Grants Program webpage.