The response to our call for comments has been extensive and we would like to thank all individuals who took the time to send in their views or those of their organization. Your comments were comprehensive, thorough and constructive.
CIHR to Maintain Two Annual Operating Grant Competitions
At its meeting on November 21st, the Research Priorities and Planning Committee discussed feedback from the research community. We understand the time pressures and uncertainty that you are facing as you try to plan your work for the next year without knowing whether CIHR will transition to a single, annual operating grant competition. For this reason, while we have not yet had time to assess all of your suggestions, we thought it was important to inform you quickly of the Committee's decision concerning the CIHR Operating Grants Program. We have heard your concerns and after careful review, have decided to maintain the current system of two annual operating grant competitions.
Improving Peer Review
As Dr. Bernstein stated in his October message, it is crucial that CIHR works with members of the research community to explore ways of strengthening and sustaining the peer review system.
We were pleased to see that so many of you had also made a number of interesting observations and suggestions on how to improve CIHR Peer Review. We were already considering a number of the suggestions that you have put forth, but many of your comments are extremely innovative and deserving of further analysis. You will understand that before taking any decisions, we will need to carefully assess and analyze all of the implications of proposed changes.
Next Steps
It is evident that the research community is engaged and determined to help us make CIHR an even better research organization. As we move forward, it is very important that we continue to speak to each other. We are committed to keeping you apprised of all of our decisions. Finally, I invite those of you who did not already share your thoughts and concerns with us to write to me at VPResearch@cihr-irsc.gc.ca
Dr. Pierre Chartrand
Vice-President, Research
