Funding, News and Announcements

On behalf of Mark Filiaggi, CIHR University Delegate, Associate Vice-President Research

Hi everyone,

Following is a brief update from the May teleconference for CIHR University Delegates:

Knowledge Synthesis Project Scheme Pilot

A significant portion of the meeting was used to demo the project scheme (the second arm to the CIHR Open Operating grant reforms, the other of course being the Foundation scheme) piloted in the Fall 2013 Knowledge Synthesis competition. Both applicant and reviewer access were demonstrated. Entering information can be done directly with the capacity for some formatting, or by a “cut and paste” method via a Word document (with the promise again of format retention, more or less). Entry is restricted by character count, and while inserting figures should be possible by the next pilot, how many characters a figure takes up is still being “debated”. A few questions arose as to why a “simpler” file upload was not pursued instead; clearly, though, more control over input and structure can be exacted by the current approach. A one-page project summary does double-duty as the lay language summary, so use of “plain” language will be important in this section.

Reviewer access offered a glimpse of how each of the criteria will be reviewed and rated independently (not as a whole), with an allowance for comments on strengths and weaknesses. How reviewer rankings are generated was also shown; only after one completes the stage 1 review is there access to the other reviewer ratings and comments. Other elements of the review (discussion threads; generation of final stage 1 rankings – or adjusted rank order; stage 2 review and binning; how some applications may be designated for review at face-to-face-discussions) from the reviewer perspective were shown as well. Results from surveys of the applicants and reviewers (including how long, on average, reviews took) for this pilot will be presented at the face-to-face University Delegates meeting in Ottawa in June. Stay tuned!

Peer Review Manual

CIHR received 30 sets of comments thus far on the draft Peer Review Manual, with comments generally falling in three areas: (1) factual information that needed correcting; (2) areas that require further elaboration – eg, how new investigators will be assessed; and (3) questions related to design elements and application processes that will be addressed through other means (eg, budget info). They are currently incorporating the feedback and expect to provide a revised version by the end of the month.

Foundation CV

We have been told that the Foundation CV has been finalized and will be available (“go live”, as it were) later this week.

Ethics Update

CIHR staff provided a brief update on this somewhat contentious matter, reviewing briefly the report from the task force (an extract of recommendations is available here: http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/47633.html). Rather than accept the key recommendation of creating a leadership position in this area via a VP Ethics, CIHR has instead opted for a re-invigorated Standing Committee with an expanded role and membership moving forward; the full CIHR response to this report can be found on the website (http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/48037.html). Note that there is currently an active call for expressions of interest to serve on this committee, with a deadline of May 12.

Annual University Delegates Meeting in Ottawa

The remaining minutes were spent finalizing the agenda for the June 6th meeting in Ottawa. A brief time will be spent on CIHR strategic planning and to address any ongoing Foundation scheme issues. The remaining morning will review the Project Scheme Pilot for the Fall 2013 Knowledge Translation competition. A significant portion of the afternoon will be devoted to discussion of the College of Reviewers, with some time set aside for discussion of the Common CV (a collective UD request!) and a summary of the previous evening’s UD-only dinner discussion.

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