IMHA's Research Tool Box
Pyramid of Research Excellence
By applying for grants through the open and strategic competitions, researchers can move up the pyramid from independent research to increasingly larger Multidisciplinary Networks, to National Centres and to International Consortiums.
Each program in the "Tool Box" is actually a building block contributing to the creation of IMHA's "Pyramid of Research Excellence". This Pyramid actually represents IMHA's Strategic Plan for helping researchers move from working independently on isolated projects, to working together in teams of ever-increasing size and breadth. For example, a researcher might enter IMHA's Pyramid by applying for an Operating Grant. Later on, he/she may decide to apply for a Training Program or Development Grant that will help advance his/her career even further by giving him/her the opportunity to work in a team and stakeholder environment. As time goes by, his/her changing knowledge and experience may lead him/her to join an even larger Network by successfully applying for an ICE or NET grant or even an IHRT/CAHR. At the end of the day, this researcher just might find himself/herself taking part in or heading up a National centre of excellence or even an International Consortium.
Success Rates of IMHA's Funding Programs since 2001
Over the past four years, IMHA's strategy has proven to be quite successful. As the following table illustrates, the average success rate for IMHA researchers applying for programs through the Institute's program "toolbox" has been generally higher than that of the open competition which ranged between 24 to 33 percent during the same time period. 2003 - 2004 was a particularly good year for IMHA researchers.
| 2001-2002 | 2002-2003 | 2003-2004 | 2004-2005 | Total Investment | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rec'd | App. | S. Rate | Rec'd | App. | S. Rate | Rec'd | App. | S. Rate | Rec'd | App. | S. Rate | ||
| Team Planning and Development Grants | 11 | 5 | 45% | 14 | 3 | 21% | $956,739 | ||||||
| Inventions, Tools, Techniques, and Devices for Research in Health Care | 11 | 4 | 35% | 22 | 7 | 32% | 25 | 4 | 16% | $3,526,043 | |||
| Strategic Training Programs | 15 | 10 | 67% | 4 | 2 | 50% | $9,203,691 | ||||||
| NET Grants | 6 | 3 | 50% | 15 | 4 | 27% | $3,650,847 | ||||||
| New Discoveries and High Risk Grants | 2 | 1 | 50% | 14 | 8 | 57% | 13 | 6 | 46% | $1,763,429 | |||
| Priority Announcements | 24 | 23 | 96% | 45 | 22 | 49% | 28 | 4 | 14% | $3,463,016 | |||
Legend
Rec'd - Applications Received
App. - Grants Approved
S. Rate - Success Rates
** For a historical record of the individual researchers whom IMHA has funded since 2001 please click on the respective year.
Priority Announcements
Creativity knows no bounds and, for this reason, CIHR continues to encourage independent, innovative research under the Open Competitions program. In 2004/05, 114 funded researchers self-identified with IMHA through the Open Competition. Researchers who apply through the Open Competition and affiliate with IMHA also have an opportunity to receive Institute funding under the Priority Announcement Program. This important program provides operating grants to researchers whose peer-review ratings are above the excellence cutoff when CIHR funds have been exhausted. With Priority Announcement funding from Institutes, researchers can continue to obtain pilot data and take advantage of peer review feedback towards resubmission to the Open Competition.
To date, in 20005/06 IMHA was able to provide support to the following researchers through its Priority Announcements program:
