Western’s Strategic Support For CIHR Success

Western's Strategic Support For CIHR Success

Changes to the CIHR Operating Grants Program:
CIHR has proposed changes to its current Open Suite of Programs (Operating Grants):

• Project Scheme: 3-5-year awards focused on a single project, with reviews based primarily on the merits of the proposed project
• Foundation/Programmatic Research Scheme: Long-term support for investigators with demonstrated track records of success (seven years)

It is expected these changes will be implemented during the Fall of 2013.

The objective of this pilot funding is to increase the competitiveness of key researchers applying to new CIHR funding programs who would benefit from smaller amounts of funding to produce publications (Foundation/Programmatic Scheme) or key study data (Project Scheme).

Projects funded under this program will be restricted to those with clear short-term deliverables (less than one year in length) that better position the investigator (or team of investigators) for either the project or program scheme.

Some examples may include:

• Statistical support to analyze data
• Support for additional consumable supplies or animals to facilitate the completion of high-volume experiments
• Funding for key pieces of data for preliminary experiments or the final pieces of data to finalize a publication

Specific stipulations for this program:

• The program will not fund infrastructure or multi-year operating or pilot studies, conference travel, new graduate students or post-doctoral students
• Researchers accepting funds will be required to apply to the Fall 2013 open operating grant competition
• Funds will be provided for specific requests, and may not be reallocated without prior approval

Applications are to comprise of a short project description, including a detailed budget, budget justification, timelines and key deliverables (one page maximum).

At this time, no formal budget cap will be provided; however, the onus is on the researcher to provide a reasonable budget and to keep in mind the ultimate goals of the funding program and the requirements outlined above.

Applications will be reviewed by an internal Ad hoc committee to ensure alignment with the goals of the program and the University, and candidates will be invited to present a 10-minute talk to a panel of University officials. This will occur in the middle of October, at which time the funding of successful projects will also be decided.

For more information about the program, or for questions as they relate to project appropriateness, contact Bryce Pickard, Manager, Research Development, bpickard@uwo.ca (519.661.2111 ext. 85313).

Important dates:

• Project descriptions: due Thursday, October 4, 2012
• Panel Presentation date: TBD