CIHR Training and Career Support Program Evaluation – Management Action Plan (MAP)
Preamble
The training and career support landscape has evolved significantly since the review period covered by the CIHR Training and Career Support Program Evaluation (2000-01 to 2016-17). In this time, CIHR has launched a variety of new and innovative training and career support programs and funding opportunities relevant to areas covered by the Evaluation recommendations.
These investments include (but are not limited to):
- The annual Health System Impact Fellowship, supporting impact-oriented career paths of doctoral trainees and post-doctoral fellows studying in health services and policy research or related fields (a total investment of $24M from 2017 to 2021);
- The Network Environments for Indigenous Health Research (NEIHR), launched in 2018, representing a commitment of $100.8M over 16 years to support a variety of activities, including capacity development, to augment the awareness, capacity and relevance of Indigenous health research that improves the health of First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples across all health research domains;
- The CIHR-NSERC-SSHRC Healthy Cities Research Training Platform (HCRTP), launched in 2019, building capacity and establishing opportunities for trainees across jurisdictions and sectors that promote healthy, resilient, sustainable and equitable cities ($4.95M over 6 years, plus $125K in development funding);
- The Patient-Oriented Research Transition to Leadership Awards, launched in 2019, providing six years of support in two phases: Phase 1 supports the career readiness of graduate trainees and post-doctoral fellows pursuing a patient-oriented research career ($3.9M over a maximum of 3 years); once an academic appointment has been secured, Phase 2 provides salary and research allowance support to these individuals as they launch their independent careers ($8,740,000 available over a maximum of 4 years);
- The Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research National Training Entity, launched in 2019, supporting capacity development in the broader patient-oriented research community ($5.25M over 6 years);
- The Health Research Training Platform pilot Training Grant, launched in 2021, supporting the development of training and mentoring platforms, to build capacity and increase the career prospects of trainees and early career researchers across sectors ($31.1M over 6 years);
- The Clinical Trials Training Platforms, launched in May 2022, will support the development of highly qualified personnel needed in each step of the clinical trials pipeline by providing training and mentoring for trainees, researchers, healthcare professionals and clinical research professionals across institutions, disciplines, jurisdictions and sectors ($25.5M over 3 years).
These activities represent strategic investments from CIHR Institutes, ring-fenced initiatives and partners, and are in complement to the suite of CIHR-specific and Tri-Agency scholarships and awards available annually at the Masters, Doctoral, post-doctoral, and post-health professional levels.
In addition to investments, the strategic context guiding CIHR's approach to training and career support has also shifted significantly. In 2021, CIHR launched the new CIHR Strategic Plan 2021-31: A Vision for a Healthier Future, which features a commitment to Strengthen Canadian Health Research Capacity (Priority B). As part of this priority, CIHR will be developing a framework and implementing an action plan to address gaps in training and support across all career stages, transitions, and paths (Priority B, Strategy 3). Related training and capacity development strategies have also emerged at the Tri-Agency level. This includes the Tri-Agency Early Career Researcher Action Plan (2018-25) and the forthcoming Tri-Agency Training Strategy (in-development).
To maximize their relevance, the actions outlined in the CIHR Training and Career Support Program Evaluation MAP are therefore framed within 1) the context of the broader CIHR approach to training and career support, and 2) in consideration of the new CIHR Strategic Plan, the forthcoming CIHR Training and Career Support Framework and Action Plan, and related Tri-Agency Strategies and Action Plans. In addition, to align with CIHR's Strategic Plan, all activities within the MAP will be undertaken with a lens of building research capacity amongst equity-seeking and rights-holding communities.
Evaluation of CIHR Training and Career Support Program (2021)
| Recommendation #1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
CIHR needs to continue to provide funding that contributes to building health research capacity to meet the objective of the CIHR Act and the needs of trainees and the health research community. Specifically, CIHR should continue to:
|
|||
| Management Response | |||
| Agree | |||
| Action and Rationale | Expected Completion / Implementation Date | Timeline of MAP Action | Responsibility for Action |
| CIHR will continue to provide funding support to trainees, Postdoctoral fellows, and post-health professional degree recipients, through its current programs. | Underway, and funding support related to this action will remain ongoing in the longer term | FY 2022-25 (To align with timelines for the new CIHR Training and Career Support Framework and Action Plan, and the Tri-Agency Training Strategy) |
Lead: Vice-President, Research – Programs |
| CIHR will also enhance its funding approach to more fulsomely meet the objective of the CIHR Act, and to align with current as well as forthcoming CIHR and Tri-Agency strategies. Of note, the implementation timeline and scope for some elements of this action will therefore have tri-agency dependencies. | Strategic work related to this action to be completed by March 2025 (refer to Recommendation #2) | ||
| Recommendation #2 | |||
|
CIHR needs to define and outline how it will achieve "the provision of sustained support for scientific careers in health research" as specified in the CIHR Act, across the full spectrum of training and career support mechanisms (both direct and indirect). |
|||
| Management Response | |||
| Agree | |||
| Action and Rationale | Expected Completion / Implementation Date | Timeline of MAP Action | Responsibility for Action |
|
As identified in CIHR's Strategic Plan 2021-31, CIHR will co-develop, with the health research community, a Training and Career Support Framework and Action Plan to address gaps in training and support across all career stages, transitions, and paths. The Framework will define and outline how CIHR will support the achievement of relevant objectives in the CIHR Act, including "the provision of sustained support for scientific careers in health research" across the full spectrum of training and career support mechanisms. The accompanying Action Plan will outline how the objectives of the Framework will be achieved. Of note, the full delivery of key activities will have human resource and economic constraints. Key activities: |
March 2025 | FY 2022-25 |
Lead: Vice-President, Research - Learning Health Systems In collaboration with: |
| Complete gaps and opportunities analysis through scanning and targeted engagements. | March 2023 | FY 2022-23 | |
| Develop a CIHR Training and Career Support Framework, informed by gaps and opportunities analyses, to guide, coordinate and communicate CIHR's priorities in this area. | March 2024 | FY 2023-24 | |
| Develop an accompanying Action Plan to outline how the objectives of the CIHR Training and Career Support Framework will be achieved and coordinated. The activities included in the Action Plan will encompass ongoing CIHR advancements in the training and career support space (see Preamble) as well as additional novel actions. | March 2025 | FY 2024-25 | |
| Recommendation #3 | |||
|
CIHR needs to align investments and activities in training and career support to meet the objectives of the Act, the training strategy, and the next strategic plan. |
|||
| Management Response | |||
| Agree | |||
| Action and Rationale | Expected Completion / Implementation Date | Timeline of MAP Action | Responsibility for Action |
|
Guided by the CIHR Strategic Plan 2021-31, the CIHR Act, and keeping in mind the forthcoming CIHR Training and Career Support Framework and Action Plan, CIHR will continue to invest in, and develop, new training and career support activities to strengthen Canadian health research capacity (Strategic Plan, Priority B). Of note, the full delivery of key activities will have human resource and economic constraints. Key activities: |
March 2025 | FY 2021-25 |
Lead: Vice-President, Research - Learning Health Systems In collaboration with: |
| Fund innovation in training and career support via Institutes and strategic initiatives (as identified in CIHR's Year 2 Strategic Plan Action Plan), leveraging recent novel training and career support investments (see Preamble), and capturing learnings to enhance future funding opportunities and associated activities. | March 2022, and ongoing | Ongoing | |
| Align investments with the CIHR Training and Career Support Action Plan, to support the coordination of related activities across CIHR. This will include building upon existing funding innovations (activity 3a) and designing new opportunities to address remaining gaps. | March 2025, and ongoing | FY 2024-25 | |
| Recommendation #4 | |||
|
CIHR needs to improve the monitoring and performance measurement of all training and career support activities and investments (both direct and indirect). |
|||
| Management Response | |||
| Agree | |||
| Action and Rationale | Expected Completion / Implementation Date | Timeline of MAP Action | Responsibility for Action |
|
CIHR will improve the assessment of training and career support activities and investments to monitor outcomes and impacts and inform future needs and directions. This is in alignment with CIHR's commitment to a learning health systems approach. Of note, the full delivery of key activities will have human resource and economic constraints. Key activities: |
March 2026 and ongoing | FY 2022-26 |
Lead: Vice-President, Research - Learning Health Systems In collaboration with: |
| Review the Training and Career Support Performance Information Profile indicators to update performance indicators and, where relevant, identify new indicators for efficient and effective performance monitoring. | March 2023 | FY 2022-23 | |
| Update mechanisms to better monitor and assess the performance of direct and indirect CIHR training and career support activities and investments (e.g., end of award and end of grant reports) and, if appropriate, develop additional tools to support timely reporting (e.g., interim/progress reporting). | March 2026 | FY 2025-26 | |
- Date modified: