CIHR Project Grant - Fall 2017

Sponsor

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)

Program

Update on the Fall 2017 Project Grant competition July 10, 2017

Description

The Project Grant program is designed to capture ideas with the greatest potential for important advances in fundamental or applied health-related knowledge, the health care system, and/or health outcomes, by supporting projects with a specific purpose and a defined endpoint. The best ideas may stem from new, incremental, innovative, and/or high-risk lines of inquiry or knowledge translation approaches.

Research Areas

• The Project Grant program is open to applicants in all areas of health research that are aligned with the CIHR mandate: "To excel, according to internationally accepted standards of scientific excellence, in the creation of new knowledge and its translation into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened Canadian health care system." The onus is on the applicant to clearly demonstrate the alignment of the application with CIHR's mandate.

The Project Grant program is expected to:

• Support a diverse portfolio of health-related research and knowledge translation projects at any stage, from discovery to application, including commercialization;
• Contribute to the creation and use of health-related knowledge;
• Promote relevant collaborations across disciplines, professions, and sectors.

Eligibility

1. The Nominated Principal Applicant must be an independent researcher or a knowledge user.
2. The Nominated Principal Applicant must have an academic or research appointment at an eligible institution if they are an independent researcher (See Institutional Eligibility Requirements for eligibility process and associated timelines).
3. If the Nominated Principal Applicant is a knowledge user, there must be at least one Principal Applicant who is an independent researcher.
4. Principal Applicants must be an independent researcher or knowledge user (inclusion of one or more Principal Applicants is optional).
5. Co-Applicants can be one of the following (inclusion of one or more Co-applicants is optional):
   • An independent researcher;
   • A knowledge user;
   • A trainee.
6. While individuals can apply to Foundation Grant and Project Grant competitions during overlapping competitions, the same application cannot be submitted to both competitions, as per section 1-E of the CIHR Grants and Awards Guide. If the same application is found to have been submitted to overlapping Foundation Grant and Project Grant competitions, the applicant will be asked to withdraw one of his/her applications. CIHR will not consider inclusion of components of a proposal into a second proposal as the same application. Note: Individuals applying to both programs will not be allowed to change their role (Nominated Principal Applicant or Program Leader) on either application.
7. An individual cannot submit more than two Project Grant applications per competition as a Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA). If the NPA submits more than two applications, CIHR will automatically withdraw the last application submitted based on time-stamp of submission.
8. Individuals who hold a Foundation Grant in the role of Program Leader are not eligible to apply to the Project Grant competition in the role of Principal Applicant.

Early career investigator

The Project Grant competition has a specific funding envelope to support Early career investigators. Competition processes and peer review for this cohort will be fully integrated within the competition as a whole with no additional steps being required on the part of the applicant.

Inclusion within this cohort will be based on the status of the Nominated Principal Applicant on June 13, 2017. All time spent in research appointments will be taken into consideration when determining eligibility. Should an applicant hold or have held a part-time appointment, CIHR will count that time as 50% (e.g., a one-year part-time appointment will count for 6 months towards the 60 month maximum).

Leaves of absence will be considered in the calculation of eligibility (i.e., will not count towards the 60-month maximum) and should be included in the Employment section under Leaves of Absence in your Common CV.

Maximum Project Value

Within the overall competition budget, there will be a specific funding envelope of $12.5M over the multi-year terms of the grant for large grants. Large grants are defined as those within the top 2% of total grant amount requested by all applicants within the competition and will therefore vary with each competition. Thus, individual grant applications requesting a total of $12.5M or more from CIHR will be withdrawn.

The Project Grant competition will also have a specific funding envelope to support Early career investigators

The budget requested will not be factored into the scientific assessment of the application; however, CIHR will seek the advice of peer reviewers on the budget requested.

CIHR reserves the right to determine the final amount awarded.

To complete the budget request, applicants must:

• Indicate the amount that is required in each budget category, along with a comprehensive description of what the funds will be used for, in order to justify that the requested resources are appropriate to financially support the project as described in the application.

Indirect Costs

0%

Special Notes

Specific Instructions

• ResearchNet specifies certain formatting requirements for the Research Proposal and attachments of your application. The reason for these formatting requirements is to ensure that all applicants have exactly the same amount of space to write their proposals. This also facilitates the work of peer reviewers who must review multiple applications. Please note that failure to comply with these requirements can negatively impact evaluation of your application in the competition.
• The research proposal should stand alone (i.e. it should contain all the information required to support your research plan) and should contain a complete description of your project. Additional attachments may be uploaded under Other Application Material task in ResearchNet as outlined in the Application instructions. There is no page limit to these attachments. Reviewers are under no obligation to read Other Application Materials.
• To complete the budget request, applicants must indicate the amount that is required in each budget category, if applicable, along with a comprehensive description of what the funds will be used for, in order to justify the amounts requested. 
• Indigenous Health research (IHR) committee: For an application to be considered for review by the IHR committee and for the IHR peer review members to assess the level of engagement as required by TCPS 2 - Chapter 9 on Research Involving the First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples of Canada and Indigenous partnering community/organization ethical guidelines, the following steps must be completed at registration:
  1. Selecting ‘yes’ to the question regarding the TCPS 2 – Chapter 9 (“Does your proposal address the TCPS 2 - Chapter 9 Research Involving the First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples of Canada and Indigenous partnering community/organizational ethical guidelines?”)
  2. Providing a detailed justification in the related text field to indicate how the project addresses the principles of the TCPS 2 – Chapter 9
  3. Selecting the Indigenous Health Research (IHR) Committee as the first suggested committee.

Information For Co-applicants

If you need to meet a deadline set by the lead institution for this opportunity, please ensure that you provide the Office of Research with at least five days in advance of the lead institution’s deadline to review the application, or your proposed component of the project. Please be in touch with the Office of Research (contact information below) ahead of the deadline if it looks like it will be difficult for you to submit all the required documentation on time (i.e. budget, proposal, OR-5 Form).