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CIHR University Delegate Update

Published: 22 January 2013

Update from CIHR University Delegate

By marianna.newkirk [at] mcgill.ca (Marianna Newkirk)
January 10, 2013

Common CV and March CIHR submissions: The same rules apply as for the last round of submissions, in that you will be able to upload a document listing your contributions, should you so wish. They are making minor modifications to the site at present and an announcement will come out in a week or so about the CCV requirements for the next competition.

CIHR Reforms: Do read the reform document now on the CIHR website. Feedback to CIHR is welcome. Drs. Aubin and Beaudet will be visiting McGill on March 20 to host a town hall on this to discuss the why, how and when for this, although much of this is spelled out in the document. (Once the precise details are established, notifications will be sent out). Along with the town hall they will be meeting with the VP RIR, Deans and other key administrators to discuss what is required for “institutional support” for the foundation grants (as yet to be clarified). Please note, on the conference call, there was much discussion about the quality of reviews of CIHR grant applications and the clear need to improve them in many cases with the hope that the new system will help. It must be remembered that grant reviews are not like manuscript reviews, as the composition of the committee and the nature of the competing grants in any one competition does vary over time. Responding to reviewers has to be thought through carefully given that reality.

SPOR: See this website. Two main components to this initiative: one a support unit which is to be infrastructure to support clinical studies. Each region has/is submitting their business plan for the support unit and Quebec has submitted theirs. There will be a workshop on January 17 and up to six representatives from each region are attending. (FRQS is actively involved; McGill has been at the table on this.) The other component is the networks. Currently there are two that are quite well developed: 1) Mental health – call for proposals will come within a month and they will be very proactive to make sure that all stakeholders know about this and will participate if interested. Information about how the proposals will be evaluated will be circulated at the time of the call. 2) Community based, primary care – still in development.

There will be additional networks in the future, and in order to make sure that the national steering committee does not over look opportunities and needs, there will be a call for an Expression of Interest (EOI) which is not a letter of intent. They hope, through the EOI mechanism, that they can gain information on strengths or gaps in patient-oriented research Canada-wide. Once the additional networks are determined, staged calls will be launched.

Marianna Newkirk, PhD
Associate Dean (Research)
Faculty of Medicine, McGill University

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