France-Quebec call for projects: Artificial Intelligence in health

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Context of the call for projects

On 18 July 2022, the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé and the Health Data Hub signed an international cooperation agreement with the aim of jointly strengthening the use of health data for research. This agreement starts with a France-Quebec call for projects to support cutting-edge research in artificial intelligence (AI) applied to the health field. Indeed, in healthcare, AI-enabled applications are a fast-growing field and have become a necessary part of an inevitable transformation of healthcare to help improve care for the population. This call for projects is part of this objective; it should allow the identification of innovative and mature projects, led by Franco-Quebec teams.

 

Partners

 

For more informations

On September 2, 2022 the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé (FRQS) and the Health Data Hub organised a webinar to present the call for projects and to answer all the candidates' questions. The replay as well as the presentation enriched with the questions asked during the event are available in the toolbox on the FRQS website.

More informations here.

 

Objectives of the call for project

The call for projects aims to provide a space for scientific excellence in AI and health, and thus encourage the mobilisation of data by French and Quebec scientists using innovative methods. These collaborations will give rise to important scientific breakthroughs, in the short and medium term, by combining and capitalising on the expertise and structural levers of the two regions, as well as by promoting knowledge transfer.

 

Themes selected

Three main areas around the theme of AI and health have been identified to guide candidate projects, the first being the development of AI-based applications for professionals or patients. The second is the development of population models for prevention or therapy based on innovative data analysis techniques. Finally, the last axis focuses on the development of solutions that demonstrate benefits for the treatment and care of patients.

 

Eligibility criteria

  • Teams must include at least one principal researcher from France, who will represent the project and lead the internal and management activities, in accordance with the conditions and administrative requirements of his/her funding site. As well as a principal researcher from Quebec, who will represent the project and lead the internal and management activities, in accordance with the conditions and administrative requirements of his/her funding agency.
  • A maximum of one co-researcher from France and one co-researcher from Quebec may be added. No minimum is imposed. (The other members of the team have the status of collaborators, no minimum is imposed).
  • Research teams must be composed of researchers working at eligible institutions according to the conditions and administrative requirements of their respective funding site or agency.

 

Priority selection criteri

  • The research project
  • The research team
  • The feasibility
  • Concrete results of the project
  • Specific attention will be given to project leaders practicing open science and respecting the FAIR principles, in line with EU and national open science policy, and making results (documentation, algorithms, programs and results) available in open access and open source.

 

Selection process of the laureates

A joint scientific committee of international clinical and scientific experts will rank the applications in October 2022. The winners will be announced in December 2022.

 

Calendar of selection stages

  • Opening of applications : 18 July 2022
  • Information webinar : 2 September 2022 at 10:30 EST (16:30 Paris time)
  • Application deadline : 30 September 2022 at 10:00 EST (16:00 Paris time)

 

Number of potential laureates

A maximum of two projects will be selected.

 

Budget and support

  • Financial support from the FRQS and the HDH according to a timetable consistent with the activities and with a retention rate, in accordance with the HDH's financial regulations and subject to the signature of a standard user agreement. The funding has a duration of 18 months. The winning projects will receive up to €100,000 for the French team and up to $75,000 for the Quebec team.
  • Support by the HDH in the preparation and submission of applications for access to French data (if relevant).
  • Provision by the HDH of a technological platform to process data securely and with state-of-the-art tools subject to the signing of a standard user agreement (if required).
  • HDH support for the opening of the results.
  • Support by the FRQS and the HDH for the dissemination of the results of the international research project.
  • Basic training on the social acceptability of sharing and using health data (FRQS).