What We've Heard: Concerns and Clarification
In response to some of the comments and questions we have received from the community in recent weeks, we have posted additional information and clarifications. This information can also be found in an updated version of the town hall presentation.
What We've Heard
CIHR is creating hard funding caps of $125,000 per year per grant for the Project Scheme and $300,000 per year per grant for the Foundation/Programmatic Scheme.
Clarification
The grant values in the Design Discussion Document are averages based on the level of funding that researchers currently receive. The expectation is that grant values in both schemes will vary and be commensurate with the needs of each individual program or project. Modeling predicts a distribution of program and project grant values as shown in the figure below.
Projected Program and Project Counts (steady state) in new Open Schemes
What We've Heard
Only people who hold more than one CIHR Operating Grant will be eligible for the Foundation/Programmatic Scheme.
Clarification
In our proposed design, applicants do not need to hold multiple grants to be eligible, or competitive, in the Foundation/Programmatic Scheme. There are currently many researchers who sustain successful programs of research supported by one CIHR grant. These individuals will be eligible and should continue to be successful under the new scheme.
What We've Heard
CIHR's Foundation/Programmatic Scheme is intended only to support senior investigators with long and established track records. Mid-career investigators will not be successful in this scheme.
Clarification
The Foundation/Programmatic Scheme is intended to support excellent researchers with excellent research programs at all stages of the career pipeline. The proposal is to have an individual's track record assessed relative to his/her career stage and in the context of his/her area of research.
The mid-career stage is clearly an area of concern for the research community and CIHR, and we are committed to monitoring their success and that of those at other career stages.
What We've Heard
Institutional support in the Foundation/Programmatic Scheme will result in a loss of academic and scientific freedom to pursue innovative and impactful research.
Institutional support in the Foundation/Programmatic Scheme will disadvantage researchers in smaller institutions.
Clarification
The requirement for institutional support in the Foundation/Programmatic Scheme is not intended to stifle innovation or scientific freedom. On the contrary, providing longer-term, flexible funding is expected to increase scientific freedom to explore innovative lines of research.
Institutional support is not about matching dollars, but is meant to ensure that the researchers funded through the Foundation/Programmatic Scheme have the necessary resources, tools, and time to be successful.
What We've Heard
CIHR's consultation is not real and everything has already been decided.
CIHR will be implementing all of the proposed changes effective March 31, 2012 and the research community will not have time to transition.
Clarification
CIHR is fully engaged in its consultation of the proposed changes to the Open Suite of Programs. This engagement began last fall with a targeted set of researchers and other stakeholders and has grown in both scope and reach to include the entire research community. We are listening, and using the input to inform program and peer review design details and how we transition and phase in changes. In June, we will provide the community with a summary of the feedback received through the engagement process, including how we are planning to use the feedback to inform the design. No firm design decisions will be announced until the fall of this year.