EOIs: Advancing Accessibility Standards Research Program (Canada)

Purpose

• To fund research projects that inform the development of next-generation accessibility standards.
• These are model standards that fall within federal areas of responsibility. Your research project must align with this purpose.
• Projects funded under this program must involve:
  • people with disabilities
  • experts with disabilities and lived experience
  • other experts and organizations.

Objectives

• Objective 1
  • Work with different people and organizations across Canada to move accessibility standards research forward to help create a national network of accessibility expertise.
  • This includes fostering collaboration with others. This is one of the goals of having project partners. Project partners should be from across different sectors and/or disciplines.
• Objective 2
  • Involve people with disabilities, other experts, and organizations to inform the research.
  • This means encouraging the participation of people with disabilities in research activities. It also means recognizing their expertise due to their lived experience.
• Objective 3
  • Identify and share research, information, best practices, and tools about accessibility barriers and standards.
  • This includes enabling the sharing of the research results with diverse stakeholders. This must be done in a way that is understandable and useful. This is to ensure that standards development is informed by evidence-based research.

Priority Research Areas

• Specific priority research areas
  • The effect of climate change on people with disabilities
  • The impact of legal capacity on access to federal or federally regulated programs and services
  • Office furniture and its design
  • Plain language in contract writing
  • Travel experience at the federal level; for example, travel by air, train, ferry, and bus (when the bus or ferry route crosses a provincial border), including the experience of people with cognitive disabilities
• Priority areas identified in the Accessible Canada Act
  • The built environment
  • Communication, other than information and communication technologies
  • Design and delivery of programs and services
  • Employment
  • Information and communication technologies
  • Procurement of goods, services, and facilities
  • Transportation

Funding Information

• The total amount of funding available depends partly on the duration of your project. You may request up to the following amounts per fiscal year:
  • $250,000 in 2025 to 2026
  • $200,000 in 2026 to 2027
  • $150,000 in 2027 to 2028

Eligible research activities

• The following are examples of possible research activities.
  • Assessing current knowledge and identifying gaps in priority research areas to support the next generation of standards development.
  • Performing research that will inform standards development in priority areas.
  • Reviewing, assessing, and synthesizing the current body of evidence on accessibility standards in 1 or more priority areas.
  • Identifying gaps in the evidence and sources of best practices. This should support the development of the next generation of accessibility standards.
  • Looking at current accessibility standards in Canada. This includes looking at how people or organizations use them and what these standards have achieved.
  • Furthering research that will increase knowledge and generate data within federal areas of responsibility.
  • Understanding the lived experiences of people with disabilities.
  • Understanding what accessibility means in the priority research areas.
  • Furthering research on the experiences, understandings, and perspectives that people with disabilities have about accessibility in the priority areas.
  • Conducting other research activities that support the objectives of the funding program.
  • Developing recommendations or best practices.

Ineligible research activities

• The main activities of your organization.
• The improvement of tools or methodologies that are specific to your organization.
• Local infrastructure or renovation projects.
• The development of standards.
  • Standards Council of Canada defines a standard as a document that provides an agreed-upon set of rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results. In the context of this program, a standard is developed and put in place by a recognized standard development body. That is why research projects can aim to support and inform accessibility standards but cannot be aimed at developing them.
• The development of tools that use the research results. This includes maps, apps, technology, audit guides, and training guides and activities.

Eligibility Criteria

• This call for expressions of interest is open to all Canadian organizations that are legal entities in Canada. To be eligible, your organization must fit into one or more of the following categories:
  • research or educational institution (such as a university)
  • not-for-profit organization
  • Indigenous organization, including a band or tribal council or other self-governing entity
  • provincial or territorial organization (excluding provincial or territorial governments)

For more information, visit Government of Canada.