Operating Support Program – Management Action Plan
Preamble
The investigator-initiated landscape has evolved significantly since the completion of the CIHR Operating Support Program (OSP) Evaluation (2011-12 to 2017-18), which assessed the former Open Operating Grants programs (OOGP) as well as the successor programs - the Foundation Grant program and the Project Grant program (PGP). Most notably, we have seen the sunsetting of FDN and the emergence of PJT as the sole investigator-initiated grant research program. Since its inception, PJT itself has changed markedly to address feedback from the research community and other stakeholders, and to ensure its continued improvement and ability to address emerging policies and practices.
Within the Management Action Plan (MAP), we outline such changes and improvements already implemented in the PGP and which are relevant to the recommendations made within the evaluation.
While this list is intended to outline those changes already in place, and thereby provide a better context for the management action plan activities, it is also important to recognize that further progress continues to be made as the CIHR Strategic Plan is rolled out. The OSP management action plan is relevant to most strategic plan activities. Be it through championing a more inclusive concept of research excellence including actions related to DORA, anti-racism and accessibility and addressing bias in peer review or by introducing new streams of funding, work is under way on multiple fronts. Focusing on the principles of equity (fairness), diversity (representation), and inclusion (valued participation), action plans are being developed in themes across the strategic plan including international collaboration, anti-racism, ableism, and accessibility among others.
- Recommendation 1: CIHR should revise the PGP objectives to ensure they are clearly defined, fully aligned with, and support key aspects of the CIHR Act related to building Canadian health research capacity.
- Recommendation 2: CIHR needs to ensure that investigator-initiated research funding is distributed as equitably as possible while minimizing the potential for peer review bias. The design and implementation of investigator-initiated grants must account for differences within the health community observed by the evaluation (e.g., pillar, sex, career stage and language) as well as in the research more broadly.
- Recommendation 3: CIHR needs to improve the monitoring and assessment of activities and investments in investigator-initiated research.
- CIHR needs to enhance the way performance data is collected related to capacity building (e.g., indirect support of trainees), knowledge translation beyond academia (i.e., informing decision making), collaborations, health impacts, and broad socio-economic impacts to better understand the full impact of grant funding.
- CIHR needs to revise the current end of grant reporting template and process in order to improve the availability, accuracy, and reliability of the data collected.
- CIHR should consider additional ways to collect data beyond end of grant reports via interim reporting as well as longer term follow-up to assess impact.
Evaluation of Operating Support Program (2011-12 – 2017-18)
Recommendation #1 | |||
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CIHR should revise the PGP objectives to ensure they are clearly defined, fully aligned with, and support key aspects of the CIHR Act related to building Canadian health research capacity. | |||
Management Response | |||
Management agrees with the recommendation and wishes to ensure understanding that the objective of building Canadian health research capacity is a joint responsibility beyond that of the PGP alone and is also embedded in the Training and Career Support action plan. CIHR has developed a Management Action plan to address the recommendations in the Training and Career Support Evaluation (TCS MAP). The TCS MAP was approved in the Fall of 2022 and includes activities which will inform and support those within this OSP MAP. The Training and Career Support Framework and Action Plan is intended 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. |
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Action and Rationale | Expected Completion /Implementation Date | Timeline of MAP Action | Responsibility for Action |
1.a.
Key activities: |
Accountable
Responsible for action
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1.a.i. Develop objective |
March 2025 | FY 2024-25 | |
1.a.ii. Align process |
March 2025 | FY 2024-2025 | |
Recommendation #2 | |||
CIHR needs to ensure that investigator-initiated research funding is distributed as equitably as possible while minimizing the potential for peer review bias. The design and implementation of investigator-initiated grants must account for differences within the health community observed by the evaluation (e.g., pillar, sex, career stage and language) and well as in the research more broadly. | |||
Management Response | |||
Management agrees with the recommendation. Numerous improvements have been made on this front since the completion of the evaluation, as outlined below.
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Action and Rationale | Expected Completion /Implementation Date | Timeline of MAP Action | Responsibility for Action |
2.a The work guided by the Priority Steering Committees of Priorities A and B of the CIHR strategic plan, to develop a concept for research excellence (PSC-A) and evaluate the current suite of open programs (PSC-B) will provide some direction for additional activities to be considered within this recommendation, including efforts in anti-racism and accessibility. Work has now also been completed on the integration of an enhanced self-identification data (EDI+) questionnaire into the PGP competition for the Fall 2022 competition which will enable further analysis to inform decisions which support equitability of funding. Careful consideration for the establishment of baselines and targets for funding will be made based on data collected and its ability to inform appropriate measures for further equalization. |
Accountable
Responsible for action
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2.a.i Informed by the review of the self-identification data, review current equalization principles within the Project Grant to identify additional identity dimensions across which equalization is necessary to support equitable distribution of funds (beyond the dimensions for which equalization is already in place - sex, Early Career Researchers, Indigenous Health Research, and official languages). |
March 2024 | FYs 2022-2024 | |
2.a.ii Refine peer reviewer recruitment processes to ensure diversity of membership by leveraging the self-identification data. |
March 2024 | FYs 2023-2024 | |
2.a.iii CIHR has taken steps to reduce bias in peer review by implementing mandatory training related to Unconscious Bias for peer review committee members and a Review Quality Assurance program (RQA) to monitor, improve and track individual peer reviewer performance. PDD and the College of Reviewers will analyze the results of the RQA program to assess the success of mandatory training on unconscious bias for peer review committee members and improve individual peer review performance. A new bias module is also under development. |
March 2024 | FYs 2023-2024 | |
Recommendation #3 | |||
CIHR needs to improve the monitoring and assessment of activities and investments in investigator-initiated research.
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Management Response | |||
Management agrees with the recommendation.
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Action and Rationale | Expected Completion /Implementation Date | Timeline of MAP Action | Responsibility for Action |
3. CIHR has committed to the acquisition and design of a new tri-agency grants management system which includes advanced reporting functionality. This constitutes a major investment by the three granting councils. With the guidance of PSC-B, CIHR will support the Discovery Phase of the Tri-Agency Grants Management Solution (TGMS) which will explore options to improve data related to research funding, management and sharing by integrating data collection business needs into the design. (TGMS). |
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Responsible for action
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3.a. Continue to contribute to the Business Architecture of the TGMS through active involvement in the TGMS Business Working Group to validate existing data collection and outline the new data components required to enhance reporting on investments. |
2023-24 | 2023-24 | |
3.b. Conduct a review of current formats and models of grant reports to ensure that the timing and frequency of reporting along with the types and formats align with needs to report on progress and impacts of funding. |
March 2025 | 2024-25 |
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