Funding, News and Announcements

Hello everyone,

The May CIHR-UD meeting was held by webcast on June 6, 2019. Here are the highlights.

CIHR Updates (Pierre Côté, Kelly Taylor)

Annual University Delegates’ face-to-face meeting will take in Ottawa on June 21, 2019. Agenda will be circulated to UDs once available but will include the CIHR Strategic Plan, Sunset of the Foundation Grant Program, Engagement on New Training Programs, Project Grant Peer Review Committees, the Canadian Common CV. CIHR staff also reported on the 2019 CARA Annual Conference that occurred on May 26-29, 2019.

CIHR has now launched Dimensions: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Canada, which is Canada’s version of Athena SWAN.

The CRCC inaugural progress report is now available online.

Changes to the leadership and composition on CIHR Governing Council were announced. Dr. Jeannie Shoveller of the University of British Columbia, was appointed as Chairperson after serving on the Council since 2017. The Minister also named four new members to CIHR’s Governing Council: Mr. Don Ferguson of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Ms. Debbie Fischer of Toronto, Ontario, Mr. Dominic Giroux of Sudbury, Ontario and Dr. Brianne A. Kent of Vancouver, British Columbia. Their individual biographies can be found here.

Project Grant Competition

Peer review committees are ongoing from May 14 to June 11. Notice of Decision letters will go out on July 10, with a funding start date of October 1, 2019.

Next competition (Fall 2019) registration deadline is August 14, 2019; application deadline is September 11, 2019 and anticipated Notice of Decision is January 22, 2020 for a Funding Start Date of April 1, 2020.

For the Spring 2020 competition the registration deadline is February 5, 2020; application deadline is March 4, 2020; anticipated Notice of Decision is July 8, 2020 for a Funding Start Date of October 1, 2020.

Foundation Grant Update

The final (2018-2019) competition has completed Stage 2 and applicants have received their notice. Peer review for Stage 3, the Final Assessment Stage (FAS), is ongoing. There will be an FAS face-to-face meeting in Ottawa on June 20, 2019. Anticipated Notice of Decision for FAS will be July 16, 2019.

Strategic Grant Update

Canada Graduate Scholarships – Master’s Program - Fall 2019 competition application deadline is December 2, 2019. Notice of decision is in April 2020

Canada Graduate Scholarships – Doctoral Awards – Fall 2019 competition applications submitted by institutions on November 21, 2019. Notice of decision is in April 2020.

Doctoral Foreign Study Supplement Fall 2019 competition - application deadline is October 17, 2019. Anticipated Notice of Results: April 2020

Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships - Fall 2019 competition application deadline for University nominations is early November 2019. Anticipated Notice of Results: Early April 2020

CIHR Fellowships - Fall 2019 competition application deadline is October 1, 2019. Anticipated Notice of Results: Mid-March 2020

Banting Post-doctoral Fellowships - Fall 2019 competition application deadline is September 18, 2019. Anticipated Notice of Results: Mid-February 2020

Catalyst Grant: Patient-Oriented Research – Registration deadline - 2019-06-25   

Chair: Indigenous Research Chairs in Nursing – Application deadline - 2019-06-05

Operating Grant: 9th Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR) – Application deadline – 2019-06-17

Operating Grant: Collaborative Health Research Projects (NSERC Partnered) – Application deadline 2019-06-25

Operating Grant: Joint Program on Neurodegenerative Disease Research (JPND) – Application deadline 2019-06-25

Operating Grant: Terry Fox New Investigator Award – Application deadline 2019-06-28

Other: 2019 CLA/CIHR-ICRH/AZ Canada Emerging Clinician Scientist Award – Registration deadline 2019-06-26; Application deadline 2019-07-31

Other: Canada Graduate Scholarships – Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement (2019-2020) - Application deadline 2019-06-10

Other: Network for Global Governance Research on Infectious Diseases - Application deadline 2019-06-06

Other: New/Mid Investigator: Stars Career Development Award - Application deadline 2019-06-26

Team Grant: E-Rare-3 Joint Transnational Call (2019) - Application deadline 2019-06-11

Team Grant: ERA-Net PerMed - Application deadline 2019-06-17

Team Grant: Human Immunology Initiative: Research Teams - 2019-06-04

Team Grant: NEURON (2019) - Application deadline 2019-06-27

Team Grant: Next Generation Networks for Neuroscience (NeuroNex) - Application deadline 2019-06-14

Strategic Grant Results

CIHR Fellowship (201811MFE) - 162 funded out of 1038; $21M invested over 6 years

Fellowship - Priority Announcement: Gastroenterology (201811FGA) - 2 funded out of 20; $138k invested over 3 years

Fellowship - PA – Hepatology (201811HGY5) - 2 funded out of 5; $135k invested over 3 years

Fellowship - PA: Research in First Nations, Métis and/or Inuit Health (201811FRF) - 3 funded out of 11; $380k invested over 3 years

Fellowship - PA - Research & Knowledge Translation on Urban Housing and Health (201811RAT) - 2 funded out of 4; $180k invested over 2 years

Fellowship - PA - Sleep and Circadian Rhythms (Biomedical)(201811CRB) - 2 funded out of 13; $270k over 3 years

Fellowship - PA - Sleep and Circadian Rhythms (Clinician)(201811CSR) - 2 funded out of 6; $385k invested over 5 years

Team Grant: Sepsis Research Network – LOI (201901SRL) - 2 funded out of 2; $50k invested for 1 year

Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support (201903PCS) - 90 funded out of 172; $1.45M invested in 1 year

Doctoral: Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships (201810CGV) - 170 awarded out of 516; $25.5M invested over 3 years

Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (201809BPF) - 76 awarded out of 602; $10.6M invested over 2 years

CIHR Strategic Planning (Jeff Latimer)

Reminder to share your opinion at: www.letstalk-cihr.ca. There is a survey, a discussion forum and a way to leave a question for consideration. This will close on June 28, 2019. One month will be used to analyze the data and workshops and conferences in the Fall and Winter of 2019 will be scheduled to build the strategy.

New Frontiers Research Fund (Kim Douglas)

There was a ministerial announcement of the results of the inaugural competition on May 13, 2019. Of the 1700 applications originally registered, 1315 were eligible for the competition. 157 grants were awarded for a success rate of 11.9%. The applicants will receive the notes from their reviews at the middle of June. The Exploration and Transformation programs of the NFRF are expected to be announced soon.

Tri-Agency Financial Administration Initiative (Scott Woodruff)

In 2017, the Tri-Agency launched an initiative to streamline and simplify the administration and use of grant funds to increase trust in the grant recipients and administering institutions and to support harmonization efforts within the Tri-Agencies, as highlighted in Canada’s Fundamental Science Review Report, 2017 (the Naylor Report). This work is in response to feedback received from stakeholders regarding the inefficiencies and unnecessary burden imposed by the Tri-Agency Financial Administration Guide’s (TAFAG) policies and guidelines.

The objective is to move to a more client-centric, flexible approach for the administration and use of grant funds; to renew the Tri-Agency approach to financial monitoring reviews in partnership with the administering institutions; and to reduce burden and increase efficiencies of post-award administration (grant recipients & administering institutions).

For researchers, you can continue with your existing grants. A grace period will be in place to allow administering institutions time to update their policies and procedures, as needed. Support material will be available to support stakeholders when the Guide goes live, sometime in the fall.

Timelines for the integration of these changes can be found here.

Next CIHR-UD meeting is on August 1, 2019. Bye for now!!

Roger McLeod
CIHR University Delegate
Associate Dean (Research)
Faculty of Medicine