Foundation Grant: 2015-2016 competition results

The Foundation Grant competition will support 120 research programs for a total of $292MFootnote 1 over the next 7 years.

Applications funded: 120, average grant size: $2.2 million, average grant duration: 5-7 years

Mid-career/senior investigators – 87 fundedFootnote 2

  • Average grant size: $3,282,939
  • Median grant size: $2,838,143
  • Grant duration: 7 years

New/Early Career Investigators Cohort – 33 fundedFootnote 2

  • Average grant size: $1,140,364
  • Median grant size: $1,067,334
  • Grant duration:  5 years

Geographic distribution

Geographic distribution long description

Updated on July 21, 2016 – The data now correspond to the final results published in the funding decision database.

Province  Applications submitted Applications funded
British Columbia 103 applications submitted (11%) 19 applications funded (16%)
Alberta 103 applications submitted (11%) 13 applications funded (11%)
Saskatchewan 9 applications submitted (1%) 1 applications funded (1%)
Manitoba 29 applications submitted (3%) 4 applications funded (3%)
Ontario 377 applications submitted (41%) 48 applications funded (40%)
Quebec 261 applications submitted (29%) 33 applications funded (27%)
New Brunswick 2 applications submitted (less than 1%) 0 application funded
Nova Scotia 23 applications submitted (3%) 2 applications funded (2%)
Prince Edward Island 1 application submitted (less than 1%) 0 application funded
Newfoundland and Labrador 2 applications submitted (less than 1%) 0 application funded
Total 910 applications submitted 120 applications funded

View full list of Foundation Grant competition recipients

Note: Since some of the applications were approved conditionally (based on meeting certain conditions), these specific applications will not appear in the detailed funding decisions database until and unless conditions are met.

Additional details

The new/early career investigators and mid-career/senior investigators were reviewed as two separate cohorts.

Breakdown of competition results for the new/early investigator cohort

A total of 265 applications were submitted from the new/early investigator cohort, and 33 were funded.

Breakdown of competition results long description

Application breakdown Applications submitted Applications funded
Women 97 applications submitted (37%) 15 applications funded (45%)
Indigenous health 17 applications submitted (6%) 4 applications funded (12%)
Submitted in French 7 applications submitted (3%) 0 applications funded (0%)
Pillar I – Biomedical research 140 applications submitted (53%) 20 applications funded (61%)
Pillar II – Clinical research 51 applications submitted (19%) 4 applications funded (12%)
Pillar III – Health systems / services research 34 applications submitted (13%) 6 applications funded (18%)
Pillar IV – Social / cultural / environmental / population health research 40 applications submitted (15%) 3 applications funded (9%)

Breakdown of competition results for the mid-career/senior investigators cohort

A total of 645 applications were submitted from the mid-career/senior investigator cohort, and 87 were funded.

Breakdown of competition results long description

Application breakdown Applications submitted Applications funded
Women 185 applications submitted (29%) 14 applications funded (16%)
Indigenous health 53 applications submitted (8%) 10 applications funded (11%)
Submitted in French 7 applications submitted (2%) 3 applications funded (3%)
Pillar I – Biomedical research 405 applications submitted (63%) 62 applications funded (71%)
Pillar II – Clinical research 108 applications submitted (17%) 10 applications funded (12%)
Pillar III – Health systems / services research 51 applications submitted (8%) 8 applications funded (9%)
Pillar IV – Social / cultural / environmental / population health research 81 applications submitted (12%) 7 applications funded (8%)

Peer Review Details

The Foundation Grant competition was supported by a three-stage competition and review process.

Stage 1

  • A total of 432 individual reviewers participated in the peer review process which was monitored by 30 virtual chairs.
    Applications Number of reviewers assigned to each
    14 (2%) 3
    104 (11%) 4
    792 (87%) 5
  • The peer-review process resulted in total of 4,418 individual reviews.
  • 265 applications were successful at stage 1 and were invited to submit a stage 2 application (260 stage 2 applications were submitted - 77 early/career investigators, 183 established investigators).

Stage 2

  • A total of 171 individual reviewers participated in the peer review process which was monitored by 16 Virtual Chairs.
    Applications Number of reviewers assigned to each
    2 (1%) 4
    258 (99%) 5
  • The peer-review process resulted in total of 1,298 individual reviews.
  • 160 applications were successful at stage 2.
  • Based on stage 2 results, CIHR identified the highest ranked applications to be considered for funding. These applications constituted the "green zone" and did not require further evaluation.

Final assessment stage

  • The final assessment stage committee was comprised of 16 virtual chairs from stage 2, a Chair and a Scientific Officer.
  • 96 applications with high consolidated rankings and significant variation in those rankings were discussed.
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