Frequently Asked Questions: Health Research Training Platform (HRTP) Pilot

1. What is the Health Research Training Platform (HRTP) Pilot and why is CIHR investing in it? How will trainees and ECRs benefit?

The Health Research Training Platform (HRTP) Pilot funding opportunity is a new capacity development initiative designed to provide trainees and early career researchers (ECRs) with access to interdisciplinary training environments (i.e., “platforms”) where they will gain the skills required to succeed in academic and non-academic careers. HRTP is intentionally designed to embed trainees and ECRs in collaborative programs of research that span multiple institutions, disciplines, jurisdictions, and sectors.

As outlined in our Strategic Action Plan on Training, as health research evolves to become more interdisciplinary, and as career paths for graduate students and post-doctoral fellows change, we have an opportunity to support trainees through the development of skills that increase their career prospects and employability. HRTP is designed to respond to a need – borne out by the literatureFootnote 1,Footnote 2,Footnote 3,Footnote 4,Footnote 5,Footnote 6 and in feedback from the community – that there exists a gap in training opportunities that can be met through a more programmatic approach that privileges development of academic and non-academic skillsets.

Each platform will administer an extensive training program that covers academic, science policy, and professional development skills, such as grant writing, project management, science communication, interdisciplinary research, open science, and knowledge mobilization, among other areas. Finally, by intentionally funding salaries through the HRTP, ECRs should be freed up to engage more fully in research.

The CIHR Act specifically calls on CIHR to help develop the next generation of health researchers. While we recognize that mentorship happens organically through the Project Grant competition – and the majority of CIHR’s grants and awards budget continues to flow to investigator-initiated research (e.g., in 2019-20, 79% of CIHR’s discretionary funding was earmarked for investigator-initiated research) – we also have an obligation for capacity development. The HRTP is one – but by no means the only – component of CIHR’s capacity development efforts. As the community will see in our forthcoming Strategic Plan, supporting the career development of the next generation of health researchers is a top priority for CIHR.

2. Where is the budget for this pilot coming from?

This is a priority-driven funding opportunity supported by nine CIHR Institutes and the Drug Safety and Effectiveness Network, along with a number of partners. Funding for the HRTP does not come from the budget for CIHR’s investigator-initiated (“open”) programs (e.g., the Project Grants).

3. Who is eligible to apply?

The Nominated Principal Applicant (NPA) must be an independent investigator or knowledge user affiliated with an eligible institution. ECRs may apply as an NPA. In fact, to be eligible for funding, at least one of the three lead applicants of each application must be an ECR.

Additional eligibility requirements are outlined in the Eligibility section of the funding opportunity.

4. What informed the development of the HRTP Pilot competition?

The HRTP Pilot competition represents one component of CIHR’s Strategic Action Plan on Training and is based on the literature and feedback from the community (Institutes Advisory Boards, MITACS, the CIHR External Advisory Committee on Training, the results of our engagements with the community on the development of the new CIHR Strategic Plan) that programmatic approaches to training and career development are an effective approach for addressing gaps in health research training. The design for the HRTP Pilot competition is also informed by an evaluation of the former Strategic Training Initiative in Health Research Program, which ran from 2008-2013, as well as international examples, such as the European Union’s Innovative Training Networks, the NIH’s Strengthening the Biomedical Research Workforce (BEST) program and the Wellcome Trust’s Graduate development programme. The design of the HRTP also builds on lessons learned from other CIHR initiatives, e.g., the Kidney Research Scientist Core Education and National Training Program (KRESCENT)Footnote 7, and the tri-council Healthy Cities Research Training Platform.

5. How were the HRTP Pilot competition’s funding pools (i.e., research areas) selected?

Through this pilot competition, funds will be available to establish up to 12 platforms across 11 funding pools focused on specific fields of research. The research areas were selected based on the priorities of CIHR’s Institutes, as they provided funds for this funding opportunity. Some funding pools are narrower in scope to reflect priorities of particular Institutes while others are more open ended. Additional information about each funding pool is provided in the Research Areas section of the funding opportunity.

6. Why is CIHR calling this a pilot?

CIHR is treating this funding opportunity as a “pilot” as it plans to take lessons learned from the development and implementation of this competition into consideration for future enhancements to its capacity development programs. For CIHR, this is an opportunity to test a design that aligns with CIHR’s Strategic Action Plan on Training and addresses needs raised by the community.

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