Operating Grants support research by individuals and teams.
CIHR Operating grants range from $100k to over $1 million with terms of 12 months to multiple years. Each Operating competition focuses on a different research area.
Application Process
All CIHR Operating Grant competitions use the PI submission process (note: this is different from the Institutional E-approval process used for CIHR Project Grant competitions).
Be sure to confirm the ORS deadlines and procedures relevant to your campus, as well as to your Faculty and/or Department/School, as necessary:
Support & Resources
SPARC supports UBC faculty-led CIHR Operating Grant applications with consultations, resources and sample grants, and grant reviews. We encourage UBC faculty researchers – especially new-to-UBC faculty – to get in touch early to optimize the benefit of our services.
Notes:
- For joint calls or calls with partner agencies where the application submission and peer review processes are managed by these other agencies, SPARC support may be limited.
- SPARC support for CIHR Project Grant takes priority, which means that our Operating Grant support is placed on hold twice per year, from mid-January to the end of February and from mid-July to mid-September.
- If the NPA has access to local support (e.g., UBC Okanagan’s Office of Research Services Research Facilitation, BCCHR's Research & Technology Development Office, Faculty-based Grant Facilitator), for grant reviews, they should work with their preferred provider so that we can collectively support as many UBC researchers as possible.
SPARC provides 1 review per application. To optimize the benefits of grant review, please submit a well-developed draft, which enables SPARC to conduct a combined editorial and criteria review. Grant reviews provide feedback on draft materials to ensure that all criteria are fully addressed, as well as to strengthen logic, coherence and statements of impact. Reviews typically require ~2 business days; however total turn-around time may be longer, depending on the queue of grants. With sufficient capacity, SPARC will conduct a combined editorial and criteria review. During periods of high demand, SPARC may focus on criteria reviews to ensure that all NPAs requesting support receive feedback. All reviews are completed by the Friday prior to the agency deadline, to ensure applicants have time to consider SPARC’s feedback before finalizing their grant for submission.
- Editorial Review: detailed edits and suggestions focused on content clarity and impact, flow and readability and organization/structure, and correct spelling, grammar and punctuation.
- Criteria Review: suggestions to ensure adherence to evaluation criteria and formatting guidelines.
- Note: SPARC does not edit references, verify budgets, edit or format CVs, or provide grant writing or manuscript review services.
Contacts