At WCB, we are committed to reducing the impact of workplace accidents and diseases on Albertans. We partner with workers, employers, researchers and educators to develop effective tools and programs so we can do our part to improve workplace health and safety while still providing effective disability management services.
Our research program encourages scientific exploration into topics applicable to workers' compensation. We provide funding to high-quality research projects which address some of the pressing issues we face, such as:
- obtaining optimal clinical and return-to-work outcomes.
- improving the efficiency, effectiveness and fairness of claims management and the workers’ compensation system.
In addition to these priorities, we may at times request research proposals to address specific areas of interest. Grants are made available to researchers in many different disciplines, including:
- economics
- law
- epidemiology
- population health
- rehabilitation
- basic sciences
- general social sciences
WCB-Alberta's Research Program provides full funding for projects and sponsorship for co-funding, data access and collection. Co-funding assists researchers who seek funding from other agencies, such as Alberta Innovates and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Researchers may be able to access data held by WCB-Alberta for research purposes. Data requests must satisfy the requirements of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act and may require ethical review by the appropriate institution. Please contact WCB’s Research Program for data inquiries.
2024 grants competition
Our 2024 grants competition is now closed. The submission deadline was Friday, March 22, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. We are no longer accepting 2024 grant applications at this time. The application details below are for information only. Our 2025 grants competition will open for applications in January 2025.
For the 2024 research grants competition, the Research Committee was particularly interested in receiving proposals that focus on:
- The assessment and treatment of work-related psychological injuries.
- Outcomes of medical and other interventions.
- Treatment or service outcomes for individuals from traditionally underrepresented or marginalized groups.
Other topics falling within these general areas of research were also considered:
- Disability management and rehabilitation—Reducing the impact of workplace injury and disease.
- Return to work—Reducing barriers to employability; integrating best practices to promote safe, effective, appropriate and sustainable return to work or re-employment.
- Medical/rehabilitative interventions—Evaluating the efficacy of medical or rehabilitative interventions with a focus on treating occupational disease or injury.
- Changing nature of work and the work environment—Examining current technological, economic, demographic or social factors affecting the nature of work; exploring implications for Alberta’s worker’s compensation system.
- Improving the predictability of WCB financing—Including costs and funding, through a better understanding of their relationship with economic and demographic changes.
- Policy, system design and decision making—In workers’ compensation, examining systemic fairness and efficacy in terms of benefit structure, financing of workers’ compensation and incentive plans, decision making models and review/appeal structures.
- Technological change and innovation—Using emerging technologies or processes to find novel treatment solutions or predictive frameworks to manage workplace injuries.
- Knowledge transfer—Evaluating effective ways of putting research findings into practice for communities of interest.
The project team members could include but are not limited to the fields of clinical medicine, epidemiology, population health, rehabilitation, basic sciences, law, economics and other social sciences.
A WCB technical resource may be made available, upon request, to assist with WCB data extraction and consultation on database issues.
For issues relating to integrating diversity considerations (e.g., sex and/or gender, race and ethnicity, age, etc.) into research project design and research group composition, please use resources from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
The deadline to submit letters of intent for the 2024 funding competition has now passed. Applicants were required to complete the letter of intent application form using our Research Program guide.
Please note that while we support workplace safety and injury prevention, we do not have jurisdiction over occupational health and safety in the province of Alberta. As such, studies that primarily address injury prevention are beyond our mandate and these researchers are encouraged to seek alternate sources of funding.
Questions? Contact us.
If you think your research applies to our business, contact WCB's Research Program and let us know if you'd like to be notified by email of any upcoming funding opportunities.
