Canadian Blood Services – James Kreppner Award Program

In order to honour the contributions of James Kreppner to Canada’s blood system, the James Kreppner Award has been established in his name. The objective of the Canadian Blood Services James Kreppner Award program is to support legal and bioethics research relevant to Canadian Blood Services’ priorities.

The James Kreppner Award Program competition will support one (1) legal and/or bioethical research project with up to $50,000 for a period of one year. Research priorities for the James Kreppner Award include the legal, regulatory and/or ethical aspects of (a) donation, collection, storage, and use of blood, blood products, and novel uses of hematopoietic stem cells; and (b) organ and tissue donation and transplantation. While relevant applications from all eligible researchers are strongly encouraged, the following high priority areas have been identified and research proposals addressing these will be prioritized:

1. Advancing a medico-legal definition of death in Canada;
2. Issues relevant to novel uses of hematopoietic stem cells (e.g. regulatory, consent, use, notfor-profit / for-profit partnerships, intellectual property and risk);
3. Issues relevant to the use of new technologies in healthcare (e.g. AI, robotics, machine learning);
4. Strengthening and increasing donation for blood, blood components, hematopoietic stem cells, organs and tissues (e.g., donation incentives, alternative consent models, donor risk perception); and
5. Issues relevant to long-term storage of biological samples (e.g., cord blood banking, autologous and allogeneic blood stem cell collections, consent for novel uses of biological samples not previously disclosed).

The James Kreppner Award Program competition is held on an annual basis.

Eligibility

Applicant: The Applicant must be a Canadian legal or bioethics researcher affiliated with a Canadian academic program as a faculty member. The Applicant is responsible for submitting the application, delivering the project as approved, and reporting on project progress to Canadian Blood Services. Priority will be given to applicants that are not (at the time of application) employees of/or contracted to Canadian Blood Services, in the case of equally
ranked applications.

Team composition: There is no restriction on the number of team members; however, all team members must have a defined role in the project, and their expertise must be clearly required to adequately address the project goals.

The project must have a clear plan with defined goals and deliverables that will be completed within the one-year term of the award and that are aligned with the research priorities outlined in Section I.

While not mandatory, priority will be given to projects that are collaborative in nature and, when relevant, include team members from different disciplines: for example, teams including subject matter experts in transfusion, blood stem cell transplantation or organ/tissue transplantation, and in legal and/or bioethics research, as appropriate. Applicants are encouraged to propose research collaborations with Canadian Blood Services and can contact centreforinnovation@blood.ca for help identifying potential collaborations.

Budget: The proposed project budget must not exceed $50,000 for one year.

• Funds may be used for salary support for the Applicant. A letter of support must be provided by the academic institution, indicating the institution’s commitment to provide research and office facilities (as required) and to protect the Applicant’s time.
• Funds may be used for trainee stipends, research staff (e.g., research assistants) salaries and benefits, expendable materials and supplies, project team collaborative and networking activities (e.g., team meetings, conference calls), and knowledge dissemination activities (e.g., publication costs).
• James Kreppner Award funds are only to be used towards the direct costs of research; no funding is to be used for indirect costs (e.g., institutional overhead)

Application Process and Evaluation

• Complete the Canadian Blood Services James Kreppner Award Program Application Form and prepare the supporting documents for the Application Package, as per the Instructions in the Application Form.
• Submit the Application Package (Application Form and supporting documents) by email to Canadian Blood Services’ Centre for Innovation at centreforinnovation@blood.ca on or before the competition deadline, as per the Instructions in the Application Form. No applications or additional material will be accepted after the deadline.
• The duly received James Kreppner Award Program Application Package constitutes an agreement to adhere to the conditions governing the award.
• Canadian Blood Services will acknowledge receipt of the application by email. It is the responsibility of the Applicant to ensure the Application Package has been received by Canadian Blood Services. Please contact the Centre for Innovation if your Application Package is not acknowledged.

Contact

Enquiries should be addressed to the Centre for Innovation at centreforinnovation@blood.ca or by phone at (613) 739-2564
OSR Contact: Agnes Wong, Grants & Agreements Officer, 514-398-3102

See the Guidelines

For more information, visit the Canadian Blood Services website