Deadline extension to support equity, diversity and inclusion
CIHR-CEPI Leadership Award for Excellence in Vaccine Research for Infectious Diseases of Epidemic Potential
CIHR has extended the submission deadline for the CIHR-CEPI Leadership Award for Excellence in Vaccine Research for Infectious Diseases of Epidemic Potential funding opportunity to July 9, 2021 in order to provide more time for women, men, racialized scientists, and others affected by COVID-19 to apply for this competition.
While processing the applications submitted to this competition, CIHR noted a lack of gender equity and diversity even though interest leading up to the application deadline reflected otherwise. There is widespread recognition that the effects of COVID-19 are exacerbated, especially for women, parents of young children, and racialized scientists resulting in a disproportionate impact that is limiting the ability of these applicants to apply for grant competitions. CIHR has, therefore, decided to re-open this funding opportunity and extend the deadline to allow a larger and more diverse pool of applicants to apply.
The decision to extend the submission deadline for this competition does not reflect the quality of the applications submitted, however, it accounts for the current reality and provides more time to complete a full application, given competing commitments and priorities related to COVID: teaching, parenting, home-schooling, caring for loved ones, COVID isolation etc. This reflects CIHR's desire to uphold its commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion principles, which are an integral part of our new CIHR Strategic Plan 2021-2031.
CIHR views championing equity, diversity, and inclusion as fundamental to supporting excellence in research, training, and knowledge mobilization. Therefore, we strongly encourage people from diverse backgrounds, especially women, men, and racialized scientists affected by COVID to apply. Research areas include preclinical development/animal models, clinical immunology, epidemiology, diagnostics for LMIC, and systems immunology/bioinformatics. The evaluation criteria of this funding opportunity have been designed to capture an inclusive definition of research excellence and consider the direct and indirect effects of COVID-19. As such, non-traditional contributions to scientific progress and innovation, key roles in team-based research, and knowledge mobilization activities will be considered when evaluating the quality of the applications.
CIHR will re-open the competition on May 14, 2021. Applicants who have already applied will be provided the opportunity to reopen their application and resubmit by July 9, 2021. If you have any questions about the funding opportunity, including eligibility, project relevancy to a research area, and/or conditions of funding, we encourage you to contact the CIHR Contact Centre (support-soutien@cihr-irsc.gc.ca) where your query will be addressed on a case-by-case basis.
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