Funding, News and Announcements

May 5, 2017

​Dear Colleagues,

​As you know, we have recently completed Stage 2 of peer review for the current Project Grant Competition. This experience has confirmed that the current reformed project grant competition process is unsustainable on many levels. As a consequence, it is clear that significant changes are required, and that these must be informed through an iterative consultation process with Scientific Directors, College Chairs, and other community leaders. Some elements of the new system may have advantages, and these too need to be considered. This process will take time.

Therefore, the Project Grant Competition registration that was to close on May 30, 2017 will be delayed until August 15, 2017, with an application deadline of September 15, 2017. To mitigate the impact of this delay on the research community, CIHR will financially extend all existing Open Operating and Project Grants scheduled to expire between September 30, 2017 and March 30, 2018 until March 31, 2018. Subsequent competition dates will be determined through the above-mentioned consultation process.

I’m sure that this news will raise a lot of questions. I promise that we will share information as soon as we can, but I can confirm that the decisions for the Fall 2016 Project Grant competition will still be released on May 15, and the additional investment in that competition announced April 13 still stands. In fact, as a result of the decision to delay the Spring 2017 Competition, we will actually be investing an additional $100 million in the Fall 2016 competition.

We thank you for your ongoing patience, feedback and guidance as we work together to develop a stable and effective Project Grant system.

Sincerely,

Roderick McInnes CM, MD, PhD, FRSC
Acting President, Canadian Institutes of Health Research