Project Grant: Application Instructions

Now that you have submitted your Project Grant Registration on ResearchNet, here are the instructions to guide you in completing your Project Grant Application. Please ensure that you also read the Funding Opportunity details and familiarize yourself with CIHR’s funding policies.

When preparing your application, you will need to follow all instructions and requirements. This includes following guidelines regarding formatting (font sizes, spacing, page limits, etc.) and the use of supporting material. CIHR reserves the right to withdraw your application if it does not meet these requirements.

If you experience technical difficulties with your ResearchNet account, or if you have any questions regarding the application process, please reach out to the CIHR Contact Centre promptly and ahead of the application submission deadline:

CIHR Contact Center
Telephone: 613-954-1968
Toll Free: 1-888-603-4178
Email: support-soutien@cihr-irsc.gc.ca

Officers are available Monday to Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. ET.

Important Notes

• The application form will open once you have submitted your registration.
• Information collected in your registration was used to determine which peer review committee will review your application.
• The Nominated Principal Applicant must remain the same between registration and application. Other participants can be added, removed, or change roles between registration and application.
• As part of CIHR’s commitment to ensuring that its programs and peer review processes result in the fair and impartial treatment of all participants, applicants to all CIHR programs must complete an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Self-identification Questionnaire.
  • All application participants must complete the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Self-identification Questionnaire before your internal institutional competition submission deadline. Collaborators are exempt.
  • For more information about the How to complete the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Self-identification Questionnaire, please refer to the Frequently Asked Questions and How-To Instructions.
• If you submit an application in French, you are allowed two additional pages in your research proposal.
• Information provided in your application package must be self-contained. Links to documents hosted on a Google drive (or other similar drive) must not be included in your application. Reviewers will not be accessing any content hosted on such drives.
• Specific considerations will be taken into account in the review of applications containing a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) as a major component as well as those submitted to the following committees: Indigenous Health Research (IHR), Commercialization (CMZ), and Tri-Agency Interdisciplinary Peer review (TIR) committees.
• CIHR recognizes the need to develop guidance on the use of generative artificial intelligence (such as ChatGPT) and will work towards the development of grant administration policies as technology evolves. In the interim, we recommend applicants to CIHR programs use caution when using such tools in the preparation of grant applications.
• All peer review committee members consent to the Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Policy of the Federal Research Funding Organizations, as well as CIHR Standards of Practice for Peer Review – CIHR. All documentation and information that CIHR entrusts to peer reviewers is to be maintained in strict confidence at all times.
• CIHR is a signatory of the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which recognizes the need to improve the ways in which research is evaluated beyond widely used journal-based metrics (e.g., Journal Impact Factor). Applicants are encouraged to highlight a broad range of contributions and impacts in their applications and reviewers are instructed to include them in their assessments.

General Application Process

Before you begin your application, here are some important details to remember:

• You cannot submit more than two Project Grant applications per competition as a Nominated Principal Applicant. If you do, CIHR will automatically withdraw the last application submitted based on the time-stamp of submission.
• You must use ResearchNet to submit your application(s).
• It is your responsibility to ensure that your application is complete prior to submitting it to CIHR.
• CIHR uses the eApproval process for this competition. Your institution must approve the application before you submit it to CIHR. Make sure to check with your institution to determine if there are any internal deadline dates.
• You must submit your application before the deadline posted on ResearchNet. This means that you must complete the "Consent and Submit" section of the application before the deadline. CIHR cannot legally accept an application until the "Consent and Submit" section is completed as part of the submission process.
• Your Institution Paid will be able to view limited information from application fields (e.g., project title, yearly budget requested, etc.) while your application is in progress; your Institution Paid will be able to view your full application once you submit it for eApproval.

Date modified:

2023-08-02