cihr update cags, november 2013 presented by peggy borbey interim director, science, knowledge...

CIHR UpdateCAGS, November 2013

Presented by Peggy BorbeyInterim Director,

Science, Knowledge Translation and Ethics

peggy.borbey@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

Today I will talk about…

1. Strategic Priorities

• Health Research Roadmap – Reforms of Open Programs

• Patient-Oriented Research Training• Training Strategy Development

2. CIHR Training Program Updates

• Competition Deadline Changes• Changes to Fellowship Program• Vanier/Banting Programs

CIHR’s Five Year Strategic Plan 2009-2015

Health Research Roadmap

Health Research Roadmap

Design of the new Open Suite of Programs is complete, piloting and implementation are beginning

• Existing suite of open grant funding mechanisms will be reorganized into two new schemes:

Foundation Scheme

Project Scheme

CIHR's direct training programs are not affected

Foundation Scheme

- Stage 1 will assess the applicants’ experience in mentoring and training for career paths in research and other non-academic occupations

- Mentorship is a significant component (20%) of the Stage 2 grant evaluation: Applicants will be required to submit a plan for

engaging, training and mentoring students, trainees, emerging scholars and new/early investigators for research careers within and outside of academia

Canada’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR)

Canada’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR) is about ensuring that the right patient receives the right intervention at the right time.

The objective of SPOR is to foster evidence-informed health care by bringing innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to the point of care, so as to ensure greater quality, accountability and accessibility of care.

Canada’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research (SPOR)

SPOR is a coalition of federal, provincial and territorial partners-all dedicated to the integration of research into care:

- patients and caregivers - researcher

- health practitioners - policy makers

- provincial/territorial health authorities - academic institutions

- charities- pharmaceutical sector

Training ComponentTwo avenues are currently being developed to support training in POR:• Development of a training and career development strategy

for POR• Training, mentoring and career support integrated within SPOR

elements, such as the SUPPORT Units and Networks.

Development of a CIHR Training Strategy

CIHR is developing a training strategy to focus its training efforts and guide future activities

Considerations include:• What are the needs of Canadian trainees and

trainers in light of a changing labour market environment?

• How can CIHR encourage and provide recognition for quality training?

• How can CIHR best influence outcomes for the trainees it supports?

• How, and who, tracks these outcomes?

Development of a CIHR Training Strategy

Strategy would incorporate support through direct training programs and indirect training (through grants or training programs)

In 2012-13:- Estimated 5,700 trained through CIHR’s largest

operating grant program + many more in our strategic targeted grant programs

- More than 2,000 trained through CIHR’s direct training programs

- More than 1,300 trained through the Strategic Training Initiative in Health Research (STIHR)

Development of a CIHR Training Strategy

There are currently many surveys of trainees performed by:• Granting councils• Statistics Canada• CAGS• CAPS• Universities

Also many reports on trends in higher education, trends in labour markets and skills gaps

Development of a CIHR Training Strategy

Some challenges related to training in Canada:• Training the right # of PhDs with the right set of skills

for the labour market• Ensuring high quality mentorship that will maximize

the benefits for both the trainee and the trainers • Research career stability• Other…we are gathering additional perspectives

on challenges

CIHR is committed to working with stakeholders to address these challenges

Overview of CIHR Training Programs and Vanier/Banting

CIHR Direct Funding Awards

CIHR also supports trainees, indirectly, through research grants.

In 2012-13, over 1300 trainees were supported via the CIHR STIHR program. This includes:

• 70 undergraduate• 275 master’s students• 590 doctoral students• 315 post-doctoral students• 115 other students

Plus at least 1000 Fellows, 1300 Doctoral Students, 1500 Masters’ and 1900 Undergraduates were supported by research grants.

CIHR – Building Research Capacity

Competition Deadline Changes

To gain operational efficiencies in the delivery of training and salary awards programs, the application deadline for the Doctoral Research Award, Fellowship and New Investigator Salary Award programs have been modified.

Funding Opportunity

New Application Deadline

Eligibility calculated

as of…

Doctoral Research Awards October 1, 2013 October 1, 2013

Fellowships November 15, 2013 October 1, 2013

New Investigator Salary Awards December 2, 2013 September 15, 2013

Changes to Fellowship Program

• CIHR Fellowship program moved to one annual competition per year.

• Number of fellowships awarded will be maintained at approximately 170 per year and the overall budget allocated to this program will remain unchanged at $21M over five years. 

• Competition deadline moved to November 15, 2013 (rather than October 1) and the anticipated notice of decision will be on April 30, 2014.

Changes to Fellowship Program

Open Reforms – Fellowship Pilot Project – Phase 2

• Structured application process to better align application information with the program’s adjudication criteria

• Build on the remote review and online discussion functionalities that were implemented in Phase 1

• Introduce a new rating scale and ranking process

Competition launch: Vanier and Banting : July 9, 2013

Application deadlines: Vanier: November 6, 2013Banting: October 23, 2013

Decision Release:Vanier and Banting: March 31

Vanier and Banting Programs – Timelines

• Competition launch: June 2014• Application deadlines: last week of September 2014• Decision Release: last week of January 2015

An earlier release date would respond to the community’s request and align the program with other prestigious national and international fellowships programs who release decisions earlier in the year.

Changes to 2014-15 Banting PDF Competition Timelines

Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships

Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships Program

Supplemental CIHR Training

Science Policy Fellowships• Short-term policy assignments in government• Available to PhD students, post-docs and

independent researcher

Science to Business Awards• Funding for doctorate holders to pursue an MBA

Common CV

A cleaner, more reader-friendly PDF layout of the CCV was introduced this summer.

CIHR remains committed to working with the community and with CCV to refine and improve the

CCV.  

Contact us …

Program E-mail

Clinician Scientists ClinicianScientists@cihr-irsc.gc.ca.

Doctoral Research Awards incl. CGS Doctoral Awards

DRA@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

Fellowships Fellowships@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships banting@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships vanier@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

Health Professional Student Research Awards HPSRA@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

Master’s Awards CGSMA@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

MD/PhD Grant MD-PhDGrants@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement CGSMSFSS@cihr-irsc.gc.ca 

New Investigators NewInvestigators@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

Science to Business Fellowships@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

Science Policy Fellowships Fellowships@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

STIHR STIHR@cihr-irsc.gc.ca