Systemic racism in the health research funding system creates barriers and causes harm to communities impacted by racism. |
Engage with the research community to develop and implement solutions addressing barriers caused by systemic racism in the health research funding system.
Progress Update
Learn about CIHR's progress towards developing an anti-racism action plan and addressing systemic racism in the health research funding system: Developing CIHR's Anti-Racism Action Plan
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Emerging evidence of the disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the research community, and the potential for exacerbating inequities.
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Implement solutions to mitigate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the research community.
Progress Update
- 2020: Adjusted timelines of the Round 2 COVID-19 Rapid Research Funding Opportunity to mitigate barriers for researchers experiencing increased care-giving responsibilities, and other impacts:
- Increased the application intake window to provide more time for preparing an application.
- Extended the peer review deadline to allow more time to complete reviews.
- 2020: Equalized funding under the COVID-19 May 2020 Rapid Research Funding Opportunity to ensure that
- Indigenous Health Research applications funded made up a minimum of 4.6% of the total competition budget (proportional to Canada's Indigenous population).
- French applications funded were approximately equal to the proportion of grants submitted.
- 2020: Encouraged applicants to CIHR COVID-19 funding opportunities to consider inclusion of groups underrepresented in science, and a diversity of experiences on research teams.
- 2020: Extended Tri-Agency Scholarships and Fellowships for eligible students and postdoctoral researchers for an additional four months. This represents an investment of up to $40 million to help students and postdoctoral researchers complete their research projects and training.
- 2020: Increased support for students, trainees, and research support personnel funded through CIHR research grants. This represents an additional investment by the Government of Canada through CIHR of up to $79.3 million to address income challenges related to delays in research created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Gender inequities exist in competition success rates of certain CIHR and Tri-Agency funding programs. In particular, inequities exist in funding programs that include an assessment of the applicant, in addition to assessment of the research.
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Implement solutions to mitigate unconscious bias in the adjudication process of CIHR funding programs.
Progress Update
- 2016: Developed a Gender Equity Framework, as a component of the CIHR Equity Strategy.
- 2016: Implemented corrective measures in the Foundation Grant program, when necessary, to ensure the proportion of female applicants moving to the second stage of peer review was at least equal to the proportion of females applying.
- 2016: Required completion of Bias in Peer Review training module by peer reviewers in certain funding programs. The module addresses gender biases in peer review, as well as biases related language, culture, age and institution.
- 2017: Developed resources to mitigate unconscious bias in the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship program and the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships program. Also added information on unconscious bias and other equity considerations to reviewer, referee and institution guides.
- 2019: Sunset CIHR's Foundation Grant program due, in part, to consistently observed disparities across gender, age and institution size.
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Early career researchers (ECRs) have lower success rates in certain funding programs.
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Implement solutions to mitigate challenges experienced by ECRs.
Progress Update
- 2016: Implemented corrective measures in the Project Grant program, when necessary, to ensure the proportion of ECRs funded is equal to the proportion of ECRs applying.
- 2020: Extended ECR status by one year for those who held ECR status as of March 1 2020 or who secured their first academic appointment after this date to account for disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- 2020: Doubled leave credits for ECRs applying to the Project Grant competition.
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Students and post-doctoral fellows supported through CIHR awards do not have access to parental leave benefits through Employment Insurance, which hinders the ability to sustain research training.
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Improve access to paid parental leave for students and post-doctoral fellows supported through awards.
Progress Update
- 2016/2017: Launched a harmonized 6-month Paid Parental Leave (PPL) policy allowing students and postdoctoral fellows to take paid leave following a child's birth or adoption. With this policy, award holders are no longer required to provide proof that they are not eligible for other parental leave benefits. The new policy also extends leave coverage to trainees and postdoctoral fellow indirectly funded from research grants (previous policy only included recipients of CIHR and Tri-Agency awards).
- 2019: Extended paid parental leave allowances for students and postdocs from 6 to 12 months.
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Researchers or trainees who take leaves of absence for medical or care-giving reasons disrupt their research productivity, which may negatively impact how they are evaluated by selection committees.
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Implement solutions to mitigate biases experienced by researchers or trainees who take leaves of absence.
Progress Update
- 2000: Began taking leaves of absence into consideration in the calculation of eligibility of an Early Career Researcher.
- 2016: Revised Project Grant competition to enable all applicants who have taken a leave of absence within the past 7 years to include supplemental publication information as a separate attachment (with the supplement covering time equivalent to the period of leave). The Canadian Common CV only includes publications from the last seven years, thus researchers who took leaves of absence during this time were previously disadvantaged.
- 2017: Included instructions in selection committee guides for the Vanier Graduate Scholarship and Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships programs for consideration of circumstances that may have affected research achievement, such as career interruptions and interpersonal and career responsibilities.
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Systemic changes are needed to mitigate barriers faced by underrepresented groups – including women, Francophone researchers, Indigenous Peoples and organizations, persons with disabilities and Black and other communities marginalized by race - in CIHR's funding system.
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Implement strategies to mitigate barriers and support participation of underrepresented groups in CIHR's funding system.
Progress Update
Francophone researchers:
- 2016: Launched a CIHR Action Plan on Official Languages. The Plan includes measures to ensure that health researchers from both linguistic groups have equitable access to CIHR programs and services, including the need to consider official languages and official language minority communities (OLMCs) in the peer review process.
- 2019: Increased the Project Grant competition application page limit for research proposals submitted in French, based on evidence that documents written in French require approximately 20% more space than those written in English. French research proposals therefore have a limit of 12 pages for Project Grants (compared to the 10-page limit for English proposals).
Indigenous Peoples and organizations:
- 2016: Launched a CIHR Action Plan: Building a healthier future for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples. The action plan includes measures to reduce barriers to CIHR funding for Indigenous researchers including:
- An iterative peer review process for Indigenous-focused research applications;
- A strategy to strengthen capacity through training and mentoring; and
- A commitment to increase investments in Indigenous health research to a minimum of 4.6% (proportional to Canada's Indigenous population) of CIHR's annual budget.
- 2018: Launched the Network Environment for Indigenous Health Research (NEIHR) initiative – a $100.8M, 16-year capacity-building investment. The funded network will provide supportive research environments for Indigenous health research driven by and grounded in Indigenous communities.
General:
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Lack of data for tracking and monitoring equity and diversity in CIHR's funding system.
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Implement tools to collect and monitor data on the participation of individuals from underrepresented groups in CIHR's funding system.
Progress Update
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Systemic and cultural biases in the broader research enterprise prevent underrepresented groups from advancing in scientific leadership.
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Implement strategies to influence the broader research enterprise to adopt more equitable and inclusive practices.
Progress Update
- 2018: Started purposefully incorporating EDI language and/or assessment criteria in CIHR and Tri-Agency funding opportunities to require or encourage consideration of EDI on research teams and in dissemination activities. Recent examples include:
- 2019: Launched, in collaboration with NSERC and SSHRC, several programmatic initiatives to promote EDI in Canadian institutions, including:
- 2019: Released, in collaboration with NSERC and SSHRC, a Tri-Agency Statement on EDI.
- 2019: Published an official letter, in collaboration with NSERC and SSHRC, stating a shared commitment to ensuring EDI on panels and events supported by and/or participated in by the agencies.
- 2020: Launched, in collaboration with NSERC and SSHRC, a Tri-Agency EDI Action Plan to respond to EDI recommendations captured through a national consultation led by the Canadian Research Coordinating Committee.
- 2021: Established two internal advisory groups, one focused on promoting EDI in the funding system and in funded research, and the other focused on promoting EDI within CIHR.
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