Funding, News and Announcements

Hi all,

Following are brief highlights from a somewhat delayed October CIHR University Delegates teleconference:

Project Grant Update
CIHR received 3,418 completed applications from the initial 3,914 registrations for the 2017 Project Grants competition. To accommodate this intake of applications, CIHR has established 65 review committees (up from the proposed 63 in September’s update, and consisting of the “original” 53 committees plus duplicate committees in high intake areas such as cancer, neuroscience and behavioral sciences). All Committee Chairs have been recruited, with CIHR finalizing the SOs (2 per Committee). At this point, 1,273 reviewers have been confirmed (the target is 1,320 reviewers), with COI declarations and application assignments currently underway. Notably, the decline rate for reviewing was 44%, with scheduling conflicts cited to a large extent. Reviewer webinars are in progress (ending October 20^th), with Chair webinars now complete. Face-to-face reviews are still scheduled to take place from November 15^th to December 14^th.

Foundation Grant Update
CIHR received 303 applications for Stage 1 (from the 322 registrations) for the 2017 Competition. COI / ability to review declarations have been completed, and draft assignments to Competition Chairs were to have been completed by the end of this past week; assignments are expected to go out to reviewers later this week, with reviewer webinars scheduled for October 23^rd and 27^th. The Notice of Decision for Stage 1 remains December 7^th, 2017.

College of Reviewers
Recruitment continues for the College, with CIHR currently engaged in “Wave 2” enrollment over a (now) 2-phase approach. The first phase of Wave 2, focusing on individuals who have been nominated PIs on CIHR grants within the last 5 to 7 years and meet the membership requirements, is near completion, with some additional follow-ups still required; of the approximately 2,100 individuals contacted thus far, over 1,500 have accepted an invitation to the College. Membership now stands at more than 3,600. Phase 2 of this second wave of recruitment involving institutional and self-nominations is commencing shortly. The UDs asked whether a College directory that is publically available and searchable was in the offing. CIHR indicated that they are “thinking about it”, but at this stage are not sure how to approach and are open to suggestions.

With respect to addressing review quality (i.e., assessing reviewer competency) – a query from UDs last month, CIHR has launched two learning modules (Quality reviews; Unconscious Bias – “Excellence in Peer Review”) that are also available to the community at-large. Interestingly, there is no intention at this point to monitor whether reviewers have actually availed themselves of these modules, even though they are indicated as “required”. CIHR has also developed a review quality “checklist” for reviewers.

CIHR received 407 applications for the ECR Observer Program (please see here for the Project grant peer review taking place October-November and announced last month). Assignments to Committees have been made, with notifications having gone out to successful applicants on October 4^th.

CIHR Updates / Odds and Sods
I want to draw your attention to recently posted CIHR funding policy updates as they relate to nominated principal applicant eligibility (specifically those living abroad) and the definition of an “independent researcher”. The re-definition in particular allows CIHR to be more inclusive of independent researchers who work at research organizations that are outside of academia (e.g. NGOs, research hospitals, research institutes) and are therefore not necessarily in positions that involve the supervision of students.

There was no detailed update on the current search for a new President, with CIHR hearing only that there was a strong list of candidates. (Note that this is a government appointment and not under CIHR’s control.)

Rumors are apparently circulating about a CCV overhaul. CIHR indicated that nothing is being done regarding the CCV, at least from their end.

As always, please do not hesitate 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