Funding, News and Announcements

Hi everyone,

With apologies for the delay, here are highlights from the June CIHR University Delegates teleconference:

CIHR Updates
If you not have not already done so you may find interesting some recent postings to the CIHR website related to the ongoing reform of CIHR programs:

  • Response Letter to the U15: http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/49791.html

  • CIHR Internal Reviews – Management Response and Action Plan: http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/49761.html. This plan is in response to 2 internal reviews focused on internal capacities and implementation processes: an Internal Audit Consulting Engagement Report – to assess the lessons learned from the reforms pilots; and Reforms Client Relationship Management (CRM) Project Independent Third Party Review – to assess business systems.

  • 2014 Foundation “Live Pilot” Report: http://cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/49771.html; contained within are some of the demographics related to this competition as well as a summary of the survey data collected.

Project Scheme 2016 Pilot Update
No doubt most of you are aware of the delays that have besieged this first Project pilot linked to establishing final reviewer assignments for the 3,818 full applications received. While CIHR remains committed to a July 15 funding announcement date, many in the research community remain concerned about the quality of the peer review as reviewers drop out (due to other time commitments) and review timelines get compressed. UDs have certainly voiced your concerns to CIHR, and have sought further clarification on how reviewers are being identified. Of particular concern were anecdotes of reviewers not getting assignments and the loss of some Virtual Chairs due to a shift in time lines; CIHR did not have these numbers at the time of the call. An update on the process can be found here: http://cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/49822.html. The Final Stage Assessment Committee (“Stage 2” for the Project scheme) is scheduled to meet on July 7 to discuss "grey zone" applications, with particular emphasis on applications with large variances in independent reviewer rankings; Virtual Chairs from the Stage 1 reviews will serve on this Assessment Committee. CIHR was asked to clarify the use of the $30M federal budget injection. As indicated previously, this full amount is being applied to the Project scheme competition and will specifically target Early Career Researchers, funding projects that fall below the competition cut-off (there is already a commitment to have a minimum quota of 15% of the Project funds go to ECR applications, so this would be above and beyond those ECR projects that would have been funded).

For those of you who like to look ahead, the next Project Grant competition is expected to be launched on June 30. Applicants will have until August 23 to register, and September 20 to apply.

Foundation Scheme – Pilot 2 Update
The final assessment phase (Stage 3) was scheduled to take place June 13-14. Note that this Final Assessment committee consists of Virtual Chairs from Stage 2, given that they have been part of the online discussion of these applications and are also familiar with the process. CIHR is still “grappling” with the issue of notification and continues to consult on this issue. Unlike the first pilot, NO notifications have been given to investigators regarding the status of their applications; last year, those not moving on to Stage 3 were made aware of this in May. I understand that the feedback from the U15 VPRs group in their recent teleconference with CIHR was to provide such notification. CIHR has indicated that they are currently developing a better description of the Stage 3 process to help applicants better understand the process, and look to have this available later this summer. Though budget recommendations still need to be reconciled, CIHR is suggesting that somewhere in the range of 100-115 Foundation grants will be awarded.

The next Foundation Grant competition (the first competition to be “open” to all researchers) is expected to be launched on June 30. Applicants will have until August 9 to register, and September 13 to submit a Stage 1 application.

College of Reviewers Update
CIHR announced the appointment of the inaugural Chairs of the College of Reviewers (College). This appointment includes an Executive Chair and fifteen College Chairs. You can view the full list of Chairs here: http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/49811.html

CIHR Gold Leaf Prizes
CIHR has announced a new suite of prizes for individuals or teams for excellence in health research and its translation into benefits for Canadians, with awards for “Impact”, “Discovery”, “Outstanding Achievements by an Early Career Investigator”, and “Transformation” (Patient engagement). Each CIHR Gold Leaf Prize has a value of $100,000. Full descriptions can be found here: http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/27894.html. Note that nominations close September 6, 2016.

As always, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Regards,

Mark Filiaggi
CIHR University Delegate
Associate Vice-President Research
filiaggi@dal.ca
(902) 494-7102