Funding, News and Announcements

On behalf of Dr. Mark Filiaggi, Associate Vice-President Research

Hi everyone,

Below is a brief update from the April teleconference for CIHR University Delegates. I have attempted to capture the most salient issues with details as relevant, though I suspect it will take me several of these teleconferences to fully bring the relevant context to many of these ongoing issues – something my predecessor, Gerry Johnston, was so skilled in doing. Here goes:

Common CV

There has been a recent change in CCV governance, with an operational committee established in February consisting of Tri-Council representation along with members from the business and IT communities. This committee is tasked with providing operational oversight, including prioritizing change requests and performing risk assessments for those changes. A user group has also been established to trial new elements of the CCV and to provide input on changes to improve the overall quality of this tool. Please let me know if you are interested in joining this group, as they are always looking for volunteers.

Perhaps more notable are changes being implemented. We have been promised easier access to CV templates (rather than having to drill down on the sight). They will be updating as well date and location fields, and there will be improvements to the PDF format. With respect to the publications section (a sore spot for many), the PubMed ID will no longer be a route to populating the publications section. Instead, attention is being focused on bulk input functionality using common reference tools such as Reference Manager. The UDs did ask that CCV discussions be added to the docket for June’s face-to-face meetings. We have been told that the CCV output will look “different” for the Foundation Scheme applications.

Peer Review Manual

A first draft of the peer review to be utilized for the Foundation scheme has been passed on to UDs for review and comments. This document is intended to supplement system training and videos. Included in this document will be Stage 1 and Stage 2 adjudication criteria, how online discussions will work, and what information is to go to CIHR. For Stage 3, pre-meeting activities and how the meeting itself will be conducted are described. There is no mention of recruitment in this document.

Recruitment of New IAB Members

CIHR is renewing membership for its 13 Institute Advisory Boards. The IABs meet at least twice a year to advise the Institute on health research priorities. They also consider how best to shape and implement health research strategies in line with these priorities, and to accelerate the flow of knowledge into health benefits. If you are interested in taking on this important role, please submit your application online by April 11 at http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/26486.html

Other Stuff

Agenda items for the June face-to-face meeting of CIHR UD delegates were discussed. Key elements of this one-day meeting will be a Foundation Scheme update, further discussion of the Project Scheme (the second arm of the evolving OOGP) including a presentation of results from some initial piloting competitions, and earnest discussion around the College of Reviewers. To this busy docket UDs have requested more general updates from CIHR regarding strategic planning and funding (i.e., the goals for research capacity), and around the CCV. The state of Ethics at CIHR will be discussed at the May UD teleconference and may find its way to the face-to-face in June.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Regards,

Mark Filiaggi
CIHR University Delegate

Associate Vice-President Research
Filiaggi@dal.ca
(902)494-7102