Background
The current Call for Applications (CFA) provides the details to apply for the third McGill Interdisciplinary Initiative in Infection and Immunity (MI4) Pfizer Early Career Investigator Award (ECA) competition.
The overarching goal of MI4 is to bring together investigators from across the McGill community and its partners to foster interdisciplinary research. With a re-focussing of its scope in 2022, MI4 supports efforts to discover, develop, and implement innovative solutions for microbial threats to human health across the lifespan.
With this donation from Pfizer Canada, early career scientists and researchers across the McGill and MUHC community have an opportunity to carry out research across three broad thematic areas: Pandemic Threats, Antimicrobial Resistance, Microbes that Shape Human Health.
Two $100,000 awards are awarded annually:
- one to the top MUHC applicant
- one to an applicant from a non-MUHC institution.
Both PhDs and MDs are encouraged to apply and, when possible, awards will be given to one PhD and one MD.
Applications must be aligned with MI4’s scope of health research. Applications will be ranked by the criteria described in the Call for Application.
Key Dates
- Launch of MI4 ECA – Year 3: May 12, 2023
- ECA application deadline: June 26, 2023 11:59 PM Eastern Time
- Evaluation period: June 27 to July 31, 2023
- ECA announcement to applicants: August 2023
Funding Available and Funding Cycles
Objectives of the ECA Program
The objective of the Early Career Investigator Award program is to provide promising new investigators with support for preliminary and proof-of-concept studies that will position them to secure external funding.
Scope
The ECA program supports investigators that undertake innovative research within the MI4 scope across three major themes of health research: Pandemic Threats, Antimicrobial Resistance, and Microbes that Shape Human Health. Projects can include, but are not limited to:
- fundamental research
- clinical research
- population level studies
- health services research
- social science or health economics
Eligibility
The applicant must meet the conditions of University Researcher or Clinical University Researcher as defined by the Fonds de Recherche du Québec. In accordance with the CIHR definition of an early career investigator, the applicant must be less than 5 years from their first faculty appointment at the time of submission. This period of eligibility may also be extended by parental or other University-approved leaves of absence. The applicant must have obtained a full-time professional degree (MD) or PhD degree or equivalent and must devote a minimum of 50% of their time to research for the duration of the award.
The ECA is supported by funds held at the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC-RI) and McGill University. Accordingly, an ECA requires investigators to be based at either the MUHC-RI or McGill University, which includes non-MUHC-RI sites (i.e., the Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital, Jewish General Hospital, the Douglas Institute). An investigator’s location is defined as the primary location where their research is conducted and funds are held.
An applicant will only be eligible to receive one ECA award. However, if an applicant is not successful in the current award competition, they may apply again the following year.
Investigators with outstanding MI4 final reports and/or other deliverables from other competitions will not be eligible to apply.
Available Funds and Funding Term
In the current round of the MI4 Pfizer ECA program, funds are available to support two investigators at $100,000 each for a term of 12 months. MI4 Pfizer ECA funds are non-renewable and unspent funds must be returned to MI4 at the end of this period.
Submission Deadline and Procedure
The deadline for submissions is June 26, 2023 at 11:59 PM, Eastern Time.
Applications must be submitted by email in PDF format to grantsmcgilli4.med [at] mcgill.ca, copying admincoordmcgilli4.med [at] mcgill.ca and mi4programmgr.med [at] mcgill.ca.
Contact
If additional information is required to complete the MI4 Pfizer ECA submission, please contact admincoordmcgilli4.med [at] mcgill.ca. Generally, a response will be provided within two business days.
