Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) Fellowships

Table of Contents

This funding opportunity is no longer offered. Please refer to the regular Fellowship open competition.

Additional Information

The text below provides further details on the Fellowship Funding Opportunity in the area of Aging - Longitudinal Studies. For more information on how to apply and eligibility consult the Fellowship Priority Announcement in Specific Research Areas listed below:

Summary

The purpose of this CLSA Fellowship is to build and strengthen research capacity and expertise in Canada in health measurement studies with emphasis on the Canadian Longitudinal Study of Aging and similar longitudinal studies of aging.

Background

This funding opportunity is announced under the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) led by the CIHR Institute of Aging. The CLSA is a large, national, long-term study of adult development and aging. The CLSA will follow approximately 50,000 Canadian men and women between the ages of 45 and 85 for at least 20 years. The CLSA will study the changing biological, medical, psychological, social, and economic aspects of their lives and how these factors, individually and in combination, impact aging. By following adults over a number of years - before they enter old age and as they age - we will be better able to understand the roles different factors play in both maintaining health and in the development of disease and disability. The unique focus is not on disease itself but rather on adaptation throughout aging and old age. This ground-breaking Canadian study will start in the fall of 2008 in partnership with Statistics Canada and other stakeholders. The resulting data will generate new knowledge about the processes and factors that affect health and aging to enable them to better identify ways to prevent disease, promote healthy aging and improve health services for older Canadians.

The CLSA will also provide a research platform for years to come. To maximize the research outputs and impact of the CLSA, CIHR must look ahead and build and strengthen research capacity and expertise in the development, design, planning, data collection and analysis of health measurement studies which assess a broad range of health measures and factors influencing health.

Objectives

The specific objectives of this CLSA Fellowship are to:

  • Build and strengthen expertise in the planning, conduct and analysis of longitudinal studies which assess a broad range of health measures and factors influencing health. The CLSA and other similar longitudinal studies are models of such studies.
  • Increase the participation of emerging researchers in activities related to the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging

Relevant Research Areas

The CIHR Institute of Aging will consider relevant those applications that relate to development, design, planning, data collection and/or analysis health measurement studies with emphasis on the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging and similar longitudinal studies.

The following examples are provided (these examples are not intended to be exhaustive and there is no intent to imply that applications in these areas would be more successful than those in other areas):

  • Analysis of data from national/international longitudinal studies of aging;
  • Work with national/international longitudinal studies in areas related to planning, methodology or development;
  • Development of health measures appropriate to longitudinal studies of the aging population;
  • Research in the biology of aging;
  • Research concerning ethical considerations of longitudinal data collection with aging population;
  • Research on the impact of longitudinal research on new programs, products and policies.

Possible Training Sites

Candidates are encouraged to consider a supervisor who is a researcher linked to the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, such as the CLSA Principal Investigators, CLSA Theme Leaders and other Key Co-investigators of the CLSA, and/or to other national/international longitudinal studies of aging, including collaborative projects under the UK New Dynamics of Aging Programme.

Contacts

For questions about this initiative and research objectives contact:

Linda Mealing, Associate Director, CLSA
CIHR
Telephone: 613-941-0057
Fax: 613-954-1800
Email: linda.mealing@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

Past Winners

December 2009 Competition

Johnstone, Jennie
Title: Identifying Immune Biomarkers that Predict Influenza in the Nursing Home Elderly
Research Institution: McMaster University
Supervisor: LOEB, Mark B

Zheng, Houfeng
Title: The Role of Rare Genetic Variants in Common Disease
Research Institution: Jewish General Hospital (Montreal)
Supervisor: RICHARDS, Brent

June 2009 Competition

Ladouceur, Martin
Title: Genetic and Environmental Determinants of Vitamin D levels in Canadians
Research Institution: Jewish General Hospital (Montreal)
Supervisor: RICHARDS, Brent

Newall, Nancy E
Title: Loneliness and social engagement among older adults: Examining the importance for health and for the development of age-friendly communities
Research Institution: University of Manitoba
Supervisor: MENEC, Verena H

December 2008 Competition

Gillis, Jesse
Title: Tracking functional changes in gene coexpression over age using differential coexpression meta-analysis
Research Institution: University of British Columbia
Supervisor: PAVLIDIS, Paul

Peters, Frédéric
Title: Exploration longitudinale des altérations cognitives et neuroanatomiques chez les personnes âgées atteintes de troubles cognitifs légers sous-tendus par des anomalies cerebro-vasculaires
Research Institution : Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal
Supervisor : BELLEVILLE, Sylvie N

June 2008 Competition

Gill, Dawn P
Title: Predicting the Rate of Functional Decline in Alzheimer's Disease, Vascular Dementia, and Dementia with Lewy Bodies
Research Institution: University of Washington (Seattle)
Supervisors: KUKULL, Walter A; KOEPSELL, Thomas D

Middleton, Laura E
Title: Predictors of Healthy Cognitive Aging in the Oldest Old
Research Institution: University of California (San Francisco)
Supervisor: YAFFE, Kristine

June 2007 Competition

Bielak, Allison A
Title: It's never too late to engage in lifestyle actitivites for successful cognitive aging
Research Institution: Australian National Univeristy (Canberra)
Supervisor: ANSTEY, Kaarin J

Fiocco, Alexandra J
Title: Evaluating the biochemical markers of optimal cognitive aging in a 10-year longitudinal study
Research Institution: University of California (San Fransisco)
Supervisor: YAFFE, Kristine

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