COVID-19 Update #20 - April 22 - Online Cascade training, Ontario COVID-19 Rapid Research Fund, Virtual Research Q&A, Experiential Learning deadline extension, CIHR statement

This is the 20th update to the Schulich Medicine & Dentistry community.

This update includes information about:

  1. Online Cascade training

  2. Reminder: Ontario COVID-19 Rapid Research Fund

  3. Virtual Q&A for researchers

  4. Experiential Learning Innovation Scholars Program

  5. CIHR statement re: funding of incremental costs of research activities

You can now access all these updates online . You can also continue to access the Travel, Education and Visitor Policy , the COVID-19 Travel Reimbursement Policy and the status of our education and research programs online.

Online Cascade training

  • Online Cascade training is now available.
  • The sessions have been designed to teach the basic skills required to keep websites up to date.
  • All online training participants will still be required to attend a full in-person session in the future.
  • As this training session will require hands-on exercises, space will be limited to five participants at a time.
  • Two separate sessions available: Friday, May 8 (11:00 - 12:00 p.m.) and Friday, May 15 (11:00 - 12:00 p.m.).
  • The training will include: recommended browsers; overview of Cascade; folder structure; edit an existing page; upload and use images (image sizes); upload, link, and edit documents; add news articles, if they have that feature on their site; and publishing pages.
  • Sign up online.

Reminder: Ontario COVID-19 Rapid Research Fund

  • The Ontario COVID-19 Rapid Research Fund provides research institutions with funding to contribute to global efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Applicants are invited to submit proposals.
  • The earliest start date is January 1, 2020 and the project can be up to two years in length. There is no maximum funding amount, however, there are caps on certain expense categories. Please consult the ORF-RE Round 10 guidelines for specific limits.
  • Submit your Expression of Interest using this template to Western Research to David Tweddell by Friday, April 24, by 3:00 p.m.
  • Please contact David Tweddell or Alda O’Grady if you have questions.

Virtual Q&A focused on Research

  • You are invited to participate by Zoom in a virtual Q&A that provides updates about the current status of research and preparations for relaunching programs across campus.
  • Register today for the second of the two one-hour sessions dedicated to Schulich Medicine & Dentistry on April 24, 2020 at 11:00 a.m.
  • Attendance is capped at 100 participants per session, so registration is required. You will receive a Zoom invite link upon registration.
  • Sessions are hosted by Dr. Sarah Prichard and Dr. David Litchfield.

Experiential Learning Innovation Scholars Program

  • The deadline for Grant Applications for the Experiential Learning Innovation Scholars Program has been extended to Friday, May 15. If you have any questions about the program, please email the Centre for Teaching and Learning.

CIHR statement re: funding of incremental costs of research activities

  • CIHR shared the following message on April 21.
  • The federal funding agencies have received a few questions about eligible expenses during this unprecedented time, so we wanted to take this opportunity to clarify a few things.
  • First and foremost, we would like to be clear about the agencies’ perspective on paying personnel with existing grant funds: Any members of the research team eligible to be paid from an agency grant continue to be eligible (and should continue to be paid) in the current context. This is our perspective, regardless whether those members of the research team are currently able to work directly on the originally planned project(s).
  • Given the ever-evolving circumstances caused by the pandemic, we also recognize that grant recipients and/or research team members may continue to incur ongoing research costs, as well as incremental costs that would not normally be incurred (for example, compensation and travel) related to agency- funded research activities. The agencies would like to remain as flexible as possible to support grant recipients during this time and acknowledge that some of these costs may be eligible to be paid from agency grant funds. The agencies will therefore defer to administering institutions to determine if incremental costs are consistent with the principles and directives set out in the Tri-Agency Guide on Financial Administration (and if they are, then those expenses will still be eligible to be paid from grant funds).

Please send ALL communication related to the COVID-19 pandemic that you need to be shared with the Schulich Medicine & Dentistry community for faculty, staff, students, learners, trainees and fellows to Jennifer Parraga. The information will be compiled and shared with the School.

Helpful links