CIHR Project Grant

NEW: Important Changes for Fall 2024

CIHR has outlined important changes for the Fall 2024 competition;

• Risk Assessment Form (New Fall 2024): If your research proposal involves one or more partner organizations from the private sector, the Nominated Principal Applicant will need to complete and upload a Risk Assessment Form with their application. 
  • Additional information is available on the CIHR Research Security page and The National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships
• STRA Attestation Forms (New Fall 2024): If your research activities aim to advance any of the listed sensitive technology research areas, then a separate attestation form is required from each researcher with a named role on the grant application.
  • Refer to the listed sensitive technology research areas page and Named Research Organizations page when completing your application. Additional information is available regarding CIHR Research Security and Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern.
  • Note: Named roles include the Nominated Principal Applicant, Principal Applicants, Co-Applicants, Principal Knowledge Users, and Knowledge Users. It does not include Collaborators or other members of the research team not playing one of the applicant roles above (including, for example, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, research staff, etc).
• New Equalization Measures (New Fall 2024): starting with the Fall 2024 Project Grant competition, CIHR will equalize Project Grant applications from nominated principal investigators (NPIs) who self-identify as a racialized person or who self-identify as a person with a disability. This intervention is based on the Tri-Agency Self-Identification Questionnaire, so please verify your responses as only those who self-identify as a racialized person/visible minority or having a disability will be eligible for this new equalization measure. Note: CIHR already equalizes in the Project Grant program, when needed, for early career researcher NPIs, female NPIs and applications submitted in French.
• RCT & CMZ Headings and Evaluation Criteria (New Fall 2024): the headings and evaluation criteria for applicants submitting a randomized control trial (RCT) as a major component of their research proposal will be changing. In addition, based on feedback from peer reviewers, projects submitted to the commercialization (CMZ) peer review committee will need to adhere to a prescribed structure of research proposal headings.
• Limiting Supplementary Attachments (New Spring 2024) – Items like publications, supplementary figures, & consent forms will no longer be permitted. Please consult the Project Grant application instructions for more information.
• Formatting (New Spring 2024): CIHR is more strictly enforcing alignment with font and formatting requirements and reserves the right to withdraw your application if it does not meet these requirements, including larger margins of 0.79” / 2 cm (previous requirement was 0.75”) that contain no information, and single line spacing (NOT 6 lines of text per inch) with no condensed or narrow fonts.
  • Note: CIHR has implemented an automated process that scans the applications for compliance for font, margins, and line spacing that is able to catch even the smallest deviations that our reviews cannot.  Applicants are responsible for ensuring that all attachments comply with all formatting and spacing requirements. 
• Attachment Template (new Spring 2024): CIHR has created a template for attachments with the new formatting. To avoid risk to your application, please use the provided template for all attachments and retain the template formatting.
  • If you need to do any copy and pasting into the template, CIHR has suggested that you use the “merge formatting” toggle that appears by the text when you paste – see screenshot below
  • If you would like more security in the process, you can also go into the options of Microsoft Word to change all pasting to default to “Merge Formatting” in the Advanced settings or through “Set Default Paste”.

(Check with your department/faculty for additional deadlines)

Registration

Researchers who intend to apply for a Project Grant must complete their registration in ResearchNet by/before August 14, 8 p.m. EDT 

Full Application

Internal Deadline: Submit structurally complete draft for institutional review no later than August 27, 2024, 10 a.m. EDT. 

Meeting this deadline means;

• Submission of ROLA proposal.
• Submit your complete draft application in the ResearchNet portal.
  • Note: The draft application should list all team members, partners, and/or knowledge users and include any planned priority announcements (if applicable).

Note: Applications can be returned upon request once they have been downloaded by Research Services. Please email researchoffice@uwo.ca to request the return of your application.

Applications will be reviewed in the order they are received in ResearchNet and applications received after the internal deadline will receive truncated reviews.

External Deadline: Submit final version of your application no later than September 11, 2024, 10 a.m. EDT.

Meeting this deadline means;

• Final version of the application submitted in the ResearchNet portal.
  • Note: When you submit your application in ResearchNet, it will be routed through Western Research for submission to CIHR prior to the sponsor deadline.

Note: When you submit your Registration in ResearchNet, it will be sent directly to CIHR. When you submit your Application in ResearchNet, it will be routed through Research Western for review and final submission to CIHR.

What is considered a structurally complete draft for Institutional Review?

• A complete draft with all sections, complete final list of team members, any partner organizations, priority announcements you plan to include, response to previous reviews if you are resubmitting and including a response, and required attachments in place for the review. 
• Do not remove anyone from the team in order to submit for review as this has implications for Research Security requirements and eligibility checks.
• Do not include any placeholder text/attachments as this greatly reduces the effectiveness of the review and can result in errors not being caught prior to submission.
• Note: A common delaying factor in submitting for the internal deadline is team member invitations not being accepted. Please complete the team member invites and various administrative elements of the application as early as possible so you can submit by the internal deadline. 

• Registration instructions (the application will open once your Registration is submitted)

A Common CV is not required at this stage

• Application instructions *Application opens when Registration is submitted
• CIHR CCV Biosketch - Quick Reference Guide

• Fall 2024 Funding Opportunity Details
• CIHR Project Grant Program Overview
• Fall 2024 Registration Instructions
• Fall 2024 Application Instructions
• CIHR Project Grant FAQ
• CIHR Learning for Applicants (includes links to SGBA+ training modules)
• Fall 2024 Priority Announcements (PAs)
  
• Research Security at Western
• Knowledge Translation for CIHR Project Grant Applications helpsheet
• Western Research EDID webpage 
• Indigenous Research recording
  
• SGBA Helpsheet for CIHR Project Grant

CIHR Webinars

CIHR will be hosting webinars to support participants with the requirements of the funding opportunity and to answer questions on how to apply.  Webinar details and archived webinars are on the CIHR website.

Western Webinars

Fall 2023 Virtual Panel Discussion about CIHR Project Grant Peer Review  

• Recording of Project Grant Peer Review Webinar (must be signed into Western Office 365 to access)
• Project Grant Peer Review Slides  (must be signed into Western Office 365 to access)
• Project Grant Peer Review Discussion Notes  (must be signed into Western Office 365 to access)

Fall 2022 Virtual Panel Discussion about CIHR Project Grant Peer Review  

• Recording of Project Grant Peer Review Webinar (must be signed into Western Office 365 to access)

Fall 2021 Virtual Panel Discussion about CIHR Project Grant Peer Review  

• Recording of Project Grant Peer Review Webinar (must be signed into Western Office 365 to access)
• Project Grant Peer Review Webinar Presentation  (must be signed into Western Office 365 to access)

Spring 2021 Western Webinar and Q&A with Jane Rylett and Tim Regnault

• Recording of Project Grant Webinar and Q&A (must be signed into Western Office 365 to access)
• Project Grant Webinar Presentation Slides (must use UWO ID to access)