Project Grant: Fall 2023 results

374 grants funded, $325M total investment, 6 bridge grants

The Project Grant: Fall competition has approved 374 research grants, plus 6 bridge grants, for a total investment of approximately $325MFootnote 1.

In addition, 150 priority announcement grants were funded for a total amount of $16,420,000 and 14 supplemental prizes were awarded for a total of $450,000.

The 374 grants approved were awarded to 368 individual nominated principal investigators (6 NPIs were awarded two grants). Of the 374 grants, 91 were awarded to early career researchers, and 7 were awarded for Indigenous health research projects.

The average grant size awarded/duration is $868,506 over 4.4 years.

Geographic breakdown

Province Number of applications submitted Percent of total applications submitted Change from historical (% applications) Number of applications funded Percent of applications funded Change from historical (% funded) Province-specific success rateFootnote * Average grant amount Median grant amount
British Columbia 260 12.0% +0.6pp 40 10.7% -1.4pp 15.4% $1,035,396 $956,250
Alberta 222 10.2% -0.2pp 31 8.3% -2.4pp 14.0% $869,329 $914,175
Saskatchewan 36 1.7% 0.0pp 7 1.9% +0.6pp 19.4% $755,164 $772,650
Manitoba 58 2.7% -0.2pp 9 2.4% -0.1pp 15.5% $914,600 $883,575
Ontario 921 42.3% +0.0pp 162 43.3% +1.8pp 17.6% $821,104 $808,988
Québec 608 28.0% -0.5pp 113 30.2% +0.9pp 18.6% $868,128 $914,175
New Brunswick 9 0.4% +0.2pp 1 0.3% +0.2pp 11.1% $1,866,600 $1,866,600
Nova Scotia 46 2.1% +0.1pp 10 2.7% +0.8pp 21.7% $915,523 $948,600
Newfoundland and Labrador 15 0.7% +0.0pp 1 0.3% -0.2pp 6.7% $799,425 $799,425
Total 2175 100.0% 0.0pp 374 100.0% 0.0pp 17.2% $868,506 $885,488

Note: The applications that were approved conditionally will not appear in the detailed funding decisions database until the conditions have been resolved.

Additional details

Competition results by category
Category Number of applications submitted Percent of total applications submitted Change from historical (% application) Number of applications funded Percent of applications funded Change from historical (% funded) Category-specific success rateFootnote * Average grant amount Median grant amount
Early career researchers (ECRs) 524 24.1% -0.4pp 91 24.3% -0.5pp 17.4% $739,056 $746,755
Mid-career investigators 816 37.5% -2.3pp 135 36.1% -2.3pp 16.5% $865,968 $841,500
Senior investigators 830 38.2% +2.7pp 148 39.6% +3.0pp 17.8% $950,415 $963,900
Knowledge users 5 0.2% +0.0 0 0.0% -0.2 0.0% $0 $0
Integrated KT 519 23.9% +3.5pp 83 22.2% +2.3pp 16.0% $835,215 $657,900
Investigators who identify as female 756 34.8% -0.4pp 139 37.2% +0.6pp 18.4% $785,049 $768,825
Indigenous Health 15 0.7% -0.3pp 7 1.9% -1.1pp 46.7% $1,479,729 $1,323,450
Submitted in French 33 1.5% +0.1pp 6 1.6% +0.4pp 18.2% $566,738 $577,575
Biomedical 1266 58.2% -2.2pp 225 60.2% -0.9pp 17.8% $937,701 $956,250
Clinical 460 21.1% +0.6pp 66 17.6% -1.6pp 14.3% $745,496 $634,950
Health systems/services 219 10.1% +0.9pp 35 9.4% +0.4pp 16.0% $861,719 $589,050
Social / Cultural / Environmental / Population Health 225 10.3% +0.7pp 48 12.8% +2.3pp 21.3% $718,243 $619,650

Streamlining

Only a portion of the Project Grant applications submitted to a competition will ultimately receive funding. It is therefore important for peer review committee members to focus their discussions on the most competitive applications to ensure an accurate comparative evaluation. To help support this goal, a streamlining process is used to remove applications that meet streamlining criteria from the discussion process, thereby allowing committee members more time to judge and discriminate between remaining applications.

A total of 1164 applications, representing 53.5% of all submitted applications, were streamlined in this competition. Additional details are provided in the tables below.

Province Number of applications submitted Number of applications streamlined Percent of applications streamlined Change from historical (% streamlined) Number of applications discussed Percent of applications discussed Change from historical (% discussed)
British Columbia 260 144 55.4% +13.8pp 116 44.6% -13.8pp
Alberta 222 114 51.4% +7.6pp 108 48.6% -7.6pp
Saskatchewan 36 20 55.6% -1.3pp 16 44.4% +1.3pp
Manitoba 58 36 62.1% +10.7pp 22 37.9% -10.7pp
Ontario 921 482 52.3% +9.1pp 439 47.7% -9.1pp
Québec 608 325 53.5% +10.4pp 283 46.5% -10.4pp
New Brunswick 9 5 55.6% -4.4pp 4 44.4% +4.4pp
Nova Scotia 46 26 56.5% +8.3pp 20 43.5% -8.3pp
Newfoundland and Labrador 15 12 80.0% +22.2pp 3 20.0% -22.2pp
Total 2175 1164 53.5% +9.8pp 1011 46.5% -9.8pp
Application Breakdown Number of applications submitted Number of applications streamlined Percent of applications streamlined Change from historical (% streamlined) Number of applications discussed Percent of applications discussed Change from historical (% discussed)
Early career researchers (ECRs) 524 306 58.4% +10.5pp 218 41.6% -10.5pp
Mid-career researchers 816 436 53.4% +10.5pp 380 46.6% -10.5pp
Senior researchers 830 417 50.2% +8.4pp 413 49.8% -8.4pp
Knowledge Users 5 5 100.0% +41.8pp 0 0.0% -41.8pp
Integrated KT 519 284 54.7% +9.9pp 235 45.3% -9.9pp
Researchers who identify as female 756 395 52.2% +9.1pp 361 47.8% -9.1pp
Indigenous Health 15 2 13.3% +5.6pp 13 86.7% -5.6pp
Submitted in French 33 19 57.6% +10.8pp 14 42.4% -10.8pp
Biomedical 1266 662 52.3% +8.7pp 604 47.7% -8.7pp
Clinical 460 261 56.7% +12.1pp 199 43.3% -12.1pp
Health systems/services 219 123 56.2% +11.3pp 96 43.8% -11.3pp
Social/Cultural/Environmental/Population Health 225 115 51.1% +9.0pp 110 48.9% -9.0pp
Foundation grant holders

Foundation grant holders

This is the fourth Project competition that could be applied to by Foundation Grant holders, specifically grant holders from the 2014 and 2015 Foundation Grant competitions. There were 106 applications from current and former Foundation Grant holders coming from 91 unique applicants. There were 37 funded grants awarded to 36 unique Foundation Grant holders.

Panel Number of unique Foundation Grant holders awarded grants
BMA 3
BMB 1
BSC 1
C2 1
CA2 2
CBB 2
CBT 1
CIA 1
CPT 1
CSA 1
CSB 1
CSC 1
CT2 1
DOL 2
G 2
GMX 1
HS1 2
IMN 3
KTR 1
MCC 2
MID 1
NSA 1
NUT 1
PT 2
RC2 1
VVP 1
Foundation grant holder application pressure

Foundation grant holder application pressure

Figure A: Proportion of applications

Figure A: Long description
PRC Proportion of applications from Foundation grant holders (%) Number of Foundation grant holder applications
BMA 7.1 2
CSB 7.1 2
BMB 6.7 2
CBB 6.2 3
CSA 5.3 1
CPT 5.0 2
MID 4.4 2
NSA 4.0 2
CSC 3.8 1
IMN 3.8 2
BE2 3.3 1
C2 3.3 1
DOL 3.3 1
HDK 3.1 1
CB1 3.0 1
PT 2.9 1
GMX 2.6 1
BSB 2.6 1
CT2 2.5 1
BS2 2.4 1
MCC 2.4 1
HS3 2.4 1
NSB 2.3 1
MPI 2.3 1
HS1 1.8 1
BCA 0.0 0
BME 0.0 0
BSA 0.0 0
BSC 0.0 0
CA2 0.0 0
CB2 0.0 0
CBC 0.0 0
CBT 0.0 0
CHI 0.0 0
CIA 0.0 0
CIB 0.0 0
CIC 0.0 0
CID 0.0 0
CMZ 0.0 0
G 0.0 0
GSH 0.0 0
HLE 0.0 0
HPM 0.0 0
HS2 0.0 0
IHR 0.0 0
KTR 0.0 0
MOV 0.0 0
NUT 0.0 0
PB1 0.0 0
PH1 0.0 0
PH2 0.0 0
PS 0.0 0
RC1 0.0 0
RC2 0.0 0
RS 0.0 0
SDA 0.0 0
TIR 0.0 0
VVP 0.0 0

Figure B: Proportion of fully funded grants

Figure B: Long description
PRC Proportion of fully funded grants awarded to Foundation grant holders (%) Number of fully funded Foundation grant holders
BMA 40.0 2
CSB 20.0 1
BMB 0.0 0
CBB 12.5 1
CSA 0.0 0
CPT 14.3 1
MID 14.3 1
NSA 0.0 0
CSC 25.0 1
IMN 11.1 1
BE2 0.0 0
C2 0.0 0
DOL 16.7 1
HDK 0.0 0
CB1 0.0 0
PT 16.7 1
GMX 0.0 0
BSB 0.0 0
CT2 16.7 1
BS2 0.0 0
MCC 14.3 1
HS3 0.0 0
NSB 0.0 0
MPI 0.0 0
HS1 10.0 1
BCA 0.0 0
BME 0.0 0
BSA 0.0 0
BSC 0.0 0
CA2 0.0 0
CB2 0.0 0
CBC 0.0 0
CBT 0.0 0
CHI 0.0 0
CIA 0.0 0
CIB 0.0 0
CIC 0.0 0
CID 0.0 0
CMZ 0.0 0
G 0.0 0
GSH 0.0 0
HLE 0.0 0
HPM 0.0 0
HS2 0.0 0
IHR 0.0 0
KTR 0.0 0
MOV 0.0 0
NUT 0.0 0
PB1 0.0 0
PH1 0.0 0
PH2 0.0 0
PS 0.0 0
RC1 0.0 0
RC2 0.0 0
RS 0.0 0
SDA 0.0 0
TIR 0.0 0
VVP 0.0 0
Past Foundation grant holder application pressure

Past Foundation grant holder application pressure

Figure A: Proportion of applications

Figure A: Long description
PRC Proportion of applications from past Foundation grant holders (%) Number of past Foundation grant holder applications
BMA 3.6 1
CSB 7.1 2
BMB 3.3 1
CBB 2.1 1
CSA 10.5 2
CPT 2.5 1
MID 2.2 1
NSA 12.0 6
CSC 0.0 0
IMN 3.8 2
BE2 6.7 2
C2 6.7 2
DOL 6.7 2
HDK 6.2 2
CB1 3.0 1
PT 2.9 1
GMX 7.9 3
BSB 0.0 0
CT2 0.0 0
BS2 0.0 0
MCC 2.4 1
HS3 4.8 2
NSB 7.0 3
MPI 2.3 1
HS1 1.8 1
BCA 6.8 3
BME 0.0 0
BSA 7.7 3
BSC 6.4 3
CA2 5.4 2
CB2 0.0 0
CBC 0.0 0
CBT 3.3 1
CHI 3.2 1
CIA 2.0 1
CIB 0.0 0
CIC 0.0 0
CID 0.0 0
CMZ 6.9 2
G 5.4 3
GSH 0.0 0
HLE 0.0 0
HPM 5.1 2
HS2 0.0 0
IHR 0.0 0
KTR 3.3 1
MOV 0.0 0
NUT 3.1 1
PB1 0.0 0
PH1 0.0 0
PH2 5.4 3
PS 0.0 0
RC1 1.6 1
RC2 4.9 3
RS 5.0 2
SDA 0.0 0
TIR 0.0 0
VVP 5.6 2

Figure B: Proportion of fully funded grants

Figure B: Long description
PRC Proportion of fully funded grants awarded to past Foundation grant holders (%) Number of fully funded past Foundation grant holders
BMA 20.0 1
CSB 0.0 0
BMB 16.7 1
CBB 12.5 1
CSA 33.3 1
CPT 0.0 0
MID 0.0 0
NSA 11.1 1
CSC 0.0 0
IMN 22.2 2
BE2 0.0 0
C2 20.0 1
DOL 16.7 1
HDK 0.0 0
CB1 0.0 0
PT 16.7 1
GMX 14.3 1
BSB 0.0 0
CT2 0.0 0
BS2 0.0 0
MCC 14.3 1
HS3 0.0 0
NSB 0.0 0
MPI 0.0 0
HS1 10.0 1
BCA 0.0 0
BME 0.0 0
BSA 0.0 0
BSC 12.5 1
CA2 33.3 2
CB2 0.0 0
CBC 0.0 0
CBT 16.7 1
CHI 0.0 0
CIA 11.1 1
CIB 0.0 0
CIC 0.0 0
CID 0.0 0
CMZ 0.0 0
G 25.0 2
GSH 0.0 0
HLE 0.0 0
HPM 0.0 0
HS2 0.0 0
IHR 0.0 0
KTR 20.0 1
MOV 0.0 0
NUT 14.3 1
PB1 0.0 0
PH1 0.0 0
PH2 0.0 0
PS 0.0 0
RC1 0.0 0
RC2 10.0 1
RS 0.0 0
SDA 0.0 0
TIR 0.0 0
VVP 16.7 1

Large grants awarded

Large grants are defined as being in the top 2% of total requested grant value within a competition. In this competition, the cutoff for large grants was $2,595,000. A total of 43 applications fell into this category. A budget of $16.27 million was available to fund those applications that are not from the Indigenous Health Research (IHR) panel. Large grants from the IHR panel are funded by IHR funds.

Large grants awarded
Category Number of applications submitted Percent of total applications submitted Number of applications funded Percent of applications funded Success rateFootnote * Average grant amount Maximum grant amount
All large grants 43 2.0% 6 1.6% 14.0% $2,798,504 $4,846,275
Non-IHR large grants 42 1.9% 5 1.4% 11.9% $2,899,205 $4,846,275

Equalization

In order to ensure equal representation of certain demographics in the funded projects we equalize the success rates for these groups. That means that the proportion of these groups in the funded projects is at least as high as the proportion of these groups in the applications.

Early Career Researchers

The success rate for early career researchers (ECRs) is equalized. This means that the proportion of ECRs funded will not be less than the proportion of ECR applicants to the competition. This equalization is for the competition as a whole, not by committee.

The total number of fully funded projects for applicants in this career stage went from 69 (before equalization) to 91 (after equalization).

French applications

The success rate for applications submitted in French is equalized. This means that the proportion of French applications funded will not be less than the proportion of French applications to the competition. This equalization is for the competition as a whole, not by committee.

The total number of fully funded projects for applications in French went from 3 (before equalization) to 6 (after equalization).

Female applicants

The success rate for female applicants is equalized. This means that the proportion of females funded will not be less than the proportion of female applicants to the competition. This equalization is for the competition as a whole, not by committee.

The total number of fully funded projects from female applicants went from 130 (before equalization) to 139 (after equalization).

Indigenous Health Research

All applications reviewed by the Indigenous Health Research committee went through an iterative peer review process.

Based on the recommendation of the review committee, 7 Indigenous health research projects were awarded funding. CIHR is proud to support these projects as part of its commitment to invest 4.6% of its annual budget in Indigenous health research.

Bridge Grants and Priority Announcements

In addition to the 374 fully funded grants there were also 6 Bridge Grants totaling $600,000. There were 150 Priority Announcement grants funded for a total of $16,420,000 as well as 14 supplemental prizes for a total of $450,000.

Budget Size and Project Length

Category Average total budget Change from historical (total budget) Average duration (years) Change from historical (duration) Average annual amount Change from historical (annual amount)
All Requests $1,097,508 +$137,035 4.31 +0.03 $250,414 +$30,762
Funded applications (requested) $1,158,249 +$133,173 4.41 -0.01 $263,378 +$35,415
Funded applications (awarded) $868,506 +$104,445 4.40 0 $197,566 +$27,111

Peer Review

Details about the Project Grant: Fall 2023 peer review participants are available separately.

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