Strategic Plan

Clinical research looks different in the North. This is a strength and a responsibility that informs the NCCR’s 2025-2028 strategy. As a relatively new organization working to advance health equity by growing clinical research capacity in Northern BC, the NCCR is not seeking to replicate what exists in southern or urban environments. Rather, it is working to build a clinical research centre reflective of the health needs and priorities of Northern, remote, rural and Indigenous populations.

Over the next three years, the NCCR will focus on:

  1. Facilitating the production of Northern-relevant clinical research evidence
  • Creating a more visible and cohesive organizational identity for the NCCR and communicating with key audiences in ways that increase the Centre’s reach and impact.
  • Building relationships and partnerships with leading clinical research organizations and funders.
  • Mobilizing and training clinicians, research staff, early career researchers and trainees to conduct clinical research in Northern BC.
  • Engaging with patients and community members in the North to better understand their needs and priorities for participating in clinical research.
  1. Creating the enabling conditions for clinical research in the North
  • Development of standard operating procedures for clinical trials.
  • Completing implementation of a provincially harmonized, cloud-based clinical trial management system.
  • Ensuring regulatory compliance for future clinical trials.
  • Recruitment, retention and training of NCCR staff in key clinical research roles.
  1. Building capacity to integrate cultural safety and humility in Northern clinical research
  • Ensuring all NCCR staff complete foundational and northern-relevant training in Indigenous cultural safety, Indigenous community research partnerships and the First Nations principles of OCAP®.
  • Creating opportunities for NCCR staff and affiliated researchers to grow their knowledge and skills around culturally safer clinical research practices.
  • Working collaboratively, and with the necessary guidance, to refine and implement the Centre’s engagement plan for Indigenous communities in the North.
  • Integrating cultural safety considerations into the operational review processes of NCCR