Seeking Nominations for Community Reviewers
(2006-08-02) The Canadian Institutes of Health Research are committed to enhancing public and stakeholder engagement in health research in Canada. To this end,
CIHR is seeking nominations for applications from members of the public who are interested in serving as community reviewers (lay reviewers) on
CIHR's peer review committees for the fall, 2006 open operating grants competition. This involvement enhances the accountability and transparency of the peer review process.
We are seeking applications from a range of individuals, such as: practitioners and/or volunteers who work with various health research or health care providing organizations, business leaders, policy makers, program administrators, care givers, and individuals that work in such institutions as the media or education.
The community reviewer's role is:
- to provide a mechanism for public accountability for the peer review process;
- to provide a mechanism for education and outreach regarding the merits of CIHR's scientific review process and the value of CIHR's investment in research;
- to review the lay summary of the applications to ensure that they are written in plain language; and
- to provide constructive comments that may be incorporated into the feedback to the applicants regarding the quality of the lay summary.
You can access information on community reviewers in addition to the CIHR Community Reviewers application form at "Involving the Canadian public in the CIHR peer review committees".
Please note, CIHR is in the process of piloting the Community Reviewers initiative, and only a limited number of peer review committees will be participating in the fall competition. While the nominee may not be chosen to sit on a peer review panel during the fall competition, the application will be kept on file for two years and you may be contacted to participate in the future.
Questions can be sent to Gavin Lemieux at (613) 941-0651 or glemieux@cihr-irsc.gc.ca.
