Funding, News and Announcements

Sent on behalf of Dr. Mark Filiaggi:

Hi everyone,

My apologies for the delay in getting this out to you but it has been a rather hectic month. Following is a brief update from the April teleconference for CIHR University Delegates:

Foundation Pilot 1 Update

This competition is now into Stage 2, with 445 of the 467 successful Stage 1 applications having been received. Notably, the remaining 22 applicants opted to apply to the transitional Open Operating Grant instead. Details are provided below.

Stage 2 decisions will be made available to applicants on May 15^th. Unsuccessful applicants will be provided a decision package with reviews. Those approved for consideration in Stage 3 will not be provided any additional information such as ranking [as those that fall into either the “grey” or “green” zone will not have been formally approved through formal governance procedures at this time]. CIHR is currently estimating that 70-80% of those reaching Stage 3 will be funded. For Stage 2, CIHR secured 222 reviewers (~half of what was used in Stage 1 with one-third the application pressure) and 18 Virtual Chairs; almost all applications have 5 reviewers, with a few outliers having 4. Importantly, applicants unsuccessful at any stage in this Pilot round will be eligible to apply to the second Pilot (registration deadline: July 27^th).

Transitional Open Operating Grant Competition

CIHR received 2,690 applications (of the 3,330 registered) for this competition, a surprising 6% decrease from last year’s OOG competition (2,862). Approximately 450-600 of these applications are expected to be funded, keeping in mind that the final number will depend in part on what transpires with the Foundation grant competition given that they come from the same budget. Decisions are expected July 15^th in concert with the Foundation results, with a funding start date of July 1^st.

Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF)

CIHR sought to clarify questions that have arisen regarding the CFREF program and eligibility for CIHR funding. Delegates were reminded that any CFREF awards will be made to institutions, not individual researchers. Having said that, independent researchers whose salaries are being funded through CFREF will be eligible to apply for Tri-Council funding but will not be able to hold this funding (assuming their applications are successful) unless a different salary source is found to support that researcher. My guess is that this will continue to be a source of confusion for institutions fortunate enough to receive these significant tranches of funding.

Open Access Publishing

As of February 2015 there is harmonized Tri-Council policy regarding Open Access publishing that is essentially modeled after the policy that has been in place with CIHR since 2008. So for health researchers it will be business as usual with respect to meeting obligations of public access either through online repositories or through Open Access journals.

Positioning Trainees for Success

CIHR provided a brief overview of its renewed focus on trainees in relation to CIHR’s new strategic plan (Roadmap II). The full presentation can be found here. A key aspect of these considerations is “positioning health research trainees for success where they are needed”, noting that only a relatively small fraction of the ~6,000 postdoctoral fellows are expected to end up as tenure-track academic researchers. Additionally captured in this initiative are the need to recognize and value training efforts, particularly those that expose trainees to diverse expertise and/or environments, and the need as well to build capacity in targeted areas such as data-intensive and patient-oriented research. Delegates asked whether renewal of the STIHR program is being considered as part of this process; CIHR is apparently looking at aspects of this program that were especially successful (eg., cross-disciplinary training). As an aside, some delegates questioned the decision by CIHR to download the Masters awards to universities, particularly in light of CIHR’s stated desire to reduce institutional administrative burdens through the many funding program reforms; they are supposedly rethinking this approach based on some of the feedback received thus far.

Institution Engagement

Dr. Jane Aubin, VP Research at CIHR, visited Dalhousie on April 2^nd, using the opportunity to discuss, and receive feedback on, “modernization” of the Institutes, reforms to the Open programs and CIHR’s new strategic plan (Roadmap II). Resource materials provided for this visit, including Dr. Aubin’s presentation, can be found at the Dalhousie Research Services website. Hopefully you had an opportunity to attend the Town Hall. Please feel free to pass along any lingering questions you may have.

Regards,

Mark Filiaggi
CIHR University Delegate

Associate Vice-President Research

filiaggi@dal.ca

(902) 494-7102