WIKIMEDIA, CANADIAN FLAGIn a June 27 open letter to Canada’s Minister of Health Jane Philpott, 1,198 researchers (so far) have expressed concern over “the imminent crisis facing Canadian health researchers.” They are referring to recent changes to how the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) will review grant applications. Specifically, the signatories hope the agency will reinstate face-to-face meetings of peer-review panels, rather than relegate those negotiations to an online grant-evaluation system.
The changes are part of a system revamp initiated by CIHR President Alain Beaudet a few years ago after receiving recommendations from an international review panel led by the former US National Institutes of Health director, Elias Zerhouni, Science reported. In an effort to reduce researchers’ burden of constantly applying for grants, the CIHR created two types of grants: in addition to more-traditional “Project scheme” grants, which offer five years of funding for more focused research projects, the agency now offers “Foundation scheme” grants, which provide annual funding for up to seven years, for more open-ended research. And in an effort to improve “quality, fairness and transparency” and reduce reviewer fatigue, the CIHR instituted an online system that distributes grant applications to four reviewers who ...
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