2016-2017 Foundation Grant competition: Summary of stage 1 results

(2017-02-02)

The stage 1 review process for the 2016-2017 Foundation Grant competition is now complete.

CIHR would like to extend its thanks to the close to 300 reviewers and Competition Chairs who made this stage of the process possible. Today, applicants are being notified of the status of their stage 1 application. Successful candidates are being invited to submit their stage 2 application to the competition by March 14, 2017.

To ensure career stage equity in the competition, approximately 50% of the applications submitted from new/early career investigators are moving to stage 2. This will ensure a sufficient pool of applications to ultimately award a minimum of 15% of grants to new/early career investigators.

It is also important to note that the number of female applicants moving forward is proportionate to the number of applications they submitted. As a result, CIHR did not have to take action to ensure an equal proportion moving forward, as it had promised to do if necessary. This is encouraging compared to the previous two Foundation Grant competitions where there were inequities in the success rates between female and male applicants at stage 1.

Peer Review Overview - Stage 1

  • Of the 600 applications received, 234 applicants (39%) are invited to submit a stage 2 application.
  • Applicants are invited to apply to stage 2 if:
    • the application had a minimum consolidated ranking above 70%; or
    • at least two reviewers ranked the application above the 66th percentile (new/early career investigators) or 75th percentile (mid career/senior investigators).
  • A total of 245 individual reviewers participated in the peer review process which was monitored by 45 competition chairs.

Stage 1 competition results

Applications Submitted (% of total submitted)
Applicants New/Early Career InvestigatorFootnote ** Mid Career InvestigatorFootnote *** Senior Career InvestigatorFootnote *** Total
FemaleFootnote * 38 (32.8%) 70 (35.4%) 64 (22.4%) 172 (28.7%)
Male 78 (67.2%) 128 (64.6%) 222 (77.6%) 428 (71.3%)
Total 116 (19.3%) 198 (33%) 286 (47.7%) 600 (100%)

Invited to Stage 2 (% invited)
Applicants New/Early Career InvestigatorFootnote ** Mid Career InvestigatorFootnote *** Senior Career InvestigatorFootnote *** Total
FemaleFootnote * 21 (36.8%) 24 (43.6%) 24 (19.7%) 69 (29.5%)
Male 36 (63.2%) 31 (56.4%) 98 (80.3%) 165 (70.5%)
Total 57 (24.4%) 55 (23.5%) 122 (52.1%) 234 (100%)

We look forward to working with reviewers for the next review stages. The anticipated Notice of Decision for the competition is August 3, 2017.

Please visit the Foundation Grant Program website if you have any questions, or contact support-soutien@cihr-irsc.gc.ca.

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