Research Services Office
ResearchNet Application Checklist
Canadian Institutes of Health Research
CIHR Fellowship: 2015-2016
This is an overview and checklist of the CIHR Fellowship: 2015-2016 Competition application
process as per the tasks required in ResearchNet: Registration and Application
Fellowships provide support for highly qualified applicants in all areas of health research at the post-PhD
degree or post-health professional degree stages to add to their experience by engaging in health research
either in Canada or abroad. CIHR provides funding opportunities for four themes of health research:
biomedical, clinical, health systems services & social, cultural, environmental and population health.
Additional funds are available through this competition to support Fellowship award applications in the
following specific research areas: Fellowship: Fall 2015 Priority Announcements (Specific Research Areas)
This award provides up to $60,000 per annum for up to 5 years.
Eligibility
1. At the time of application, they applicant must hold or be completing a PhD or a regulated health
professional degree.
2. Applicants who have obtained a doctorate degree (course-based or research-based) more than three
years prior to the competition deadline are not eligible.
3. The program is open to both Canadians and citizens of other countries.
4. See further details in the Fellowship Funding Opportunity Details.
Submission
Your submission includes 1) your final and complete electronic application in ResearchNet; and 2) a
completed internal approvals form, signed by your supervisor’s Department Head and Faculty-level
representative.
The Research Services Office must receive both of these items before your application will be considered
complete and ready for review and submission.
1)
Your final and complete electronic application in ResearchNet
a. See the attached checklist for the completion of your application.
b. All tasks in your application show a status of “Complete”
c. Ensure that your Proposal Information module has identified “University of Calgary” (code:
CBBA) as both the Institution and Institution Paid.
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d. Ensure completion of Identify Sponsors. CIHR requires that sponsors complete their Sponsor
Form 48 hours prior to the institution’s internal deadline. This means that your sponsors must
submit their Sponsor Form by 12:00 p.m. (or 2:00 p.m. ET) on Tuesday, October 27th – contact
them early and notify them of this hard deadline.
e. Print your routing slip and signature pages. You and your supervisor(s) must sign this page. The
signature of institution paid page must be left unsigned, since the University will provide this
approval electronically upon final submission of your application. Upload a PDF of these three
pages to your application.
f. Follow the Consent and Submit task to submit your application. It will be routed to the
University of Calgary’s Research Services Office for final approval and submission.
2) A completed internal approvals form, signed by your supervisor’s Department Head and Faculty-level
representative
a. Print out the Research Funding Application Approvals Form for Trainees:
https://ucalgary.ca/research/files/research/151009-rfaa-training-template-september-2015.pdf
b. Complete the top half of the form. Overhead is not applicable and can be left blank. Indicate any
special requirements (most applications will indicate “No” for each category).
c. Your signature and your supervisor’s signature are NOT required, since your approval is
provided electronically by submission in ResearchNet, and your supervisor’s signature is
included in the application.
d. Send the completed form to your supervisor to obtain the signature of his or her Department
Head and then Faculty-level representative.
i. The Faculty-level representative for Cumming School of Medicine is Dr. Naweed Syed
(contact Carolyn Taylor, taylorc@ucalgary.ca).
ii. For all other faculties, the Faculty-level representative is the Associate Dean (Research).
e. Email the completed form, with signatures of Department Head and Faculty-level
representative, to the Research Services Office (rsogrants@ucalgary.ca).
f. Research Services will confirm via email receipt of your application in ResearchNet and your
Research Funding Application Approvals form.
Deadline
The final deadline for submission of your application and the internal approvals form is 12:00 p.m.
Thursday, October 29th.
Applications will not be accepted after this deadline. Exceptions will only be made with approval from
your faculty Associate Dean (Research).
Additional Information
For more information on the competition, please visit:
 University of Calgary Funding Calendar (UofC login required)
http://www.ucalgary.ca/research/node/2288
 CIHR Funding Opportunity Details
 CIHR Fellowship Awards – Application Instructions
 CIHR Fellowship Priority Announcement (Specific Research Areas)
 ResearchNet
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Contact
Direct any questions about your application or the submission process to the Research Services Office:
Denise Ward
Research Grants Officer
Email: ward@ucalgary.ca
Telephone: (403) 220-5925
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BEFORE COMPLETING A FELLOWSHIP APPLICATION
To submit a CIHR application, log into ResearchNet and create an application. You are required to follow the
instructions in the Fellowship Awards – Application Instructions:
Applicants and their supervisor(s) must ensure they have the following:
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a ResearchNet account
a CIHR PIN
a Common CV account
Applicants and their supervisor(s) should each only have one ResearchNet account. If ResearchNet was
accessed in the past, do not register for a new account.
TASKS REQUIRED FOR COMPLETING A FELLOWSHIP APPLICATION
A. COMPLETE THE COMMON CV
IMPORTANT: CIHR Nominated Principal Applicants and their supervisor(s) must choose an Academic CV
template. Common CVs (CCV) are required regardless of the citizenship of the applicant and supervisors. To
produce a Common CV:
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Go to the Common CV website and "Login".
Under "CV", select "Funding", then select CIHR from the dropdown and click "Next". Select the
appropriate CV type (CIHR Academic) then click "Next".
Enter all the relevant and necessary data and click on "Done". A validation will automatically be
performed and errors, if any, will be displayed. The validation rules are specific to CIHR and the selected
CV type.
Review the CCV data online via a preview of the PDF.
When satisfied, click on "Submit".
Record the confirmation number that is displayed with the status message (which can also be found
under the "History" tab and on the first page of the CCV PDF).
Enter the recorded confirmation number under the "Identify Participants" section on ResearchNet.
Note: Supervisors must provide their CCV confirmation number to the applicant so that it be recorded in
ResearchNet.
If changes are required to the CCV for a certain application, applicants and/or their supervisor(s) must
repeat the steps above and record the new confirmation number.
Note: During peak periods, there can be a delay for the validation of the CCV confirmation number by
ResearchNet. It is highly recommended that applicants enter their CCV confirmation number and that of
their supervisor(s) in their application well in advance of the competition deadline.
B. COMPLETE THE FELLOWSHIP RESEARCHNET APPLICATION
1.
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Identify Participants
Identify, at a minimum, a Nominated Principal Applicant and a Primary Supervisor. Consult the funding
opportunity and the Individual Eligibility Requirements on the CIHR website for more information.
Note: For the purpose of this funding opportunity, the Nominated Principal Applicant must not hold a
tenure-track or tenured faculty position, nor can they be on leave from such a position (generally
"tenure or tenure-track" refers to an open-ended academic position in which the holder can form a
research group, apply for externally funded research as a principal investigator, and also teach).
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It is the Nominated Principal Applicant's responsibility to obtain their supervisor(s)' CCV confirmation
number and enter it in this section.
2.
Enter Proposal Information
This section collects information related to the research project of applicants.
Title
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CIHR will identify the research project using the project title. For this reason applicants cannot edit their
project title once the application is submitted.
Lay Title
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Provide a title for the project that is in a language clear to the general public. Lay titles are used by CIHR
to inform the public and Parliament about the valuable research supported through public funds.
Lay Abstract
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Describe the project in a way that is accessible to a lay audience. Indicate how the proposed research
can improve personal health, health of populations and/or health delivery system. This information is
used by CIHR to inform the public and Parliament about the valuable research supported through public
funds.
Institution (select: University of Calgary) (code: CBBA)
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Indicate the institution that will administer the award funds (University of Calgary, code: CBBA). Consult
the Institutional Eligibility Requirements on the CIHR website for more information.
If the proposed research will be conducted in Canada, the application will be electronically directed to
the Institution Paid (University of Calgary) for review and approval. This Institution Paid must be entered
as early as possible in order to view the institutional internal deadline.
Certification Requirements
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If the application is selected for funding, the necessary certification requirements must be met in
accordance with policies on ethical conduct of research. Relevant policies:
Agreement on the Administration of Agency Grants and Awards by Research Institutions
CIHR Funding Policies
Period of Support Requested
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Indicate the period of support required. Please refer to the section "Duration of support" from the
funding opportunity for the maximum duration of funding available depending on your academic profile.
Proposed Start Date
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Please indicate the date the research project would begin (which cannot be earlier than the "Funding
Start Date" specified in the funding opportunity) throughout the tenure of the award.
Percentage of Time Spent on Different Activities
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Indicate the percentage of time to be spent on different activities. Applicants are expected to spend at
least 75% of their time in the proposed research training (Research + Course work) throughout the
tenure of their award.
Descriptors
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Provide keywords that describe the research project, the techniques and the methodologies it will
employ, as well as the areas of interest.
Areas of Research
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Select the areas of research that best describe the proposal from the list provided.
Classification
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Select the classifications that best describe the proposal from the list provided.
Themes
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Select a primary theme classification. Indicate additional theme classifications only if the substance of
the application significantly overlaps more than one theme. Consult the definition of the four CIHR
Themes on the CIHR website for more information.
Note: The theme will be used, along with other elements of the application, to assign the application to
the most appropriate Peer Review committee. For more information, please refer to the Peer Review
Committees and Mandates – Fellowships.
Suggested Institutes (Categories)
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Select a primary CIHR Institute whose research mandate is related to the application's research area(s)
and objective(s). Additional Institutes should only be selected if the substance of the application
significantly overlaps with the research mandate of more than one Institute.
3. Complete Application
3.1 Additional CCV Information – Nominated Principal Applicant
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To be completed by the applicant only.
The applicant can provide the following CV information as it cannot be captured in the Common CV,
that is:
o Applicants must, for each multi-authored publication, define their role in the publication
and indicate their percent contribution to the team effort.
o Applicants are invited to comment on environmental factors that affected their capacity to
publish.
Maximum 7000 characters (including spaces).
3.2 Training Expectations
Applicants are to:
 Provide an overview of how their previous research training relates to the present proposal and
elaborate on their career goals.
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Describe how the training they expect to acquire will contribute to their productivity and to the
research goals they hope to achieve, and how this award will enable them to establish themselves
as independent investigators.
Indicate why they decided upon the proposed training location and what they expect to learn from
the training experience.
Provide justification if they are planning to hold this award in the same research environment (i.e.
research/paid institution (or its affiliate), supervisor or co-supervisor) where they completed their
previous degree.
Maximum 7000 characters (including spaces).
3.3 Research Project Summary
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The research project summary should be completed in collaboration with the proposed
supervisor(s).
The research project summary should be written in general scientific language, which is an
important skill to acquire for future success in the research environment as applications are being
reviewed by multi-disciplinary committees.
Include the specific hypothesis of the research and describe their role on the project.
The research project summary is among the most important parts of the application. Applicants and
their supervisor(s) should make sure that it provides a concise account of the subject matter, an
overview of each part of the research plan, specific project aims and the methodology. The
summary should reflect the significance of the project.
Maximum 3500 characters (including spaces), including references. Figures and tables are not
accepted.
3.4 Research Training Environment
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In addition to the supervisor's CCV, this section describes the space, facilities and personnel support
that is available to the applicant.
It should demonstrate the commitment of the proposed supervisor(s) and their institution to
support the development of the applicant's research project (funding, facilities, equipment, etc.)
and professional development.
Maximum 1750 characters (including spaces).
4. Identify Sponsors
This section collects information on the three sponsors who will provide an assessment of the
applicant. These assessments should come from people under whom the applicant has trained and/or
who have had a good opportunity to assess their potential for research.
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Applicants must enter the sponsors' names within their application and press on "Click and Send
Sponsor Request". Sponsors will then receive two emails:
o The first email is to notify them of a request to complete a sponsor assessment.
o The second email provides the link that the sponsors need to access in order to complete
and submit the electronic form. The deadline for submission is indicated within the form.
IMPORTANT: The assessment form must be completed and submitted online by the sponsors 48
hours prior to the institution internal deadline (which means prior to 12:00 p.m. MT (2:00 p.m. ET)
Tuesday, October 27th, 2015) and be written in English or French. Once an assessment is submitted,
it will automatically be attached to the application.
It is the applicant's responsibility to follow up with sponsors to ensure the assessments are
submitted prior to the deadline date and therefore ensure the application completeness. Only after
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all three sponsors have submitted their assessments will this task be marked as complete in your
ResearchNet Application Task List. Applicants do not have access to the content of the assessment
submitted by sponsors. However, applicants may follow the status of the assessment directly under
this section.
5. Apply to Priority Announcements / Funding Pools (Optional)
Priority Announcements/Funding Pools on CIHR's core competitions offer additional sources of funding
for highly rated applications that are relevant to specific CIHR research priority areas or mandates.
They are listed on the CIHR website together with CIHR's other current funding opportunities. For
requirements on individual Priority Announcements/Funding Pools, applicants must verify the "How to
Apply" section of each of these on the Funding Opportunities page. This section will indicate if relevance
information is required at the application stage.
To apply for funding through a Priority Announcements/Funding Pool, applicants must select the Priority
Announcement/Funding Pool title from the list and the Relevant Research Area(s) addressed by the
proposal, then press save. If a relevance form is required, a text box should appear.
6. Print/Upload Signature Pages
Note: All 3 pages of the document must be uploaded as part of the application prior to submission.
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If proposing research in Canada:
Print the signature page PDF file which is found on ResearchNet.
Verify the requirements for original signatures by consulting: Required Signatures on Application
Forms and Meaning of Signatures on Application Forms in the CIHR Grants and Awards Guide.
Only supervisor(s) signatures are required. Printed names should always accompany signatures.
IMPORTANT: No institutional signatures are required on the pages at the time of application.
Scan and upload the signed signature pages, including the routing slip, as one PDF (not exceeding
30 MB), in the "Print/Upload Signature Pages" task in ResearchNet prior to submitting the
application.
All necessary signatures must be obtained and uploaded on ResearchNet prior to the Research
Institution's (Institution Paid) deadline date (12:00 p.m. MT (2:00 p.m. ET) Thursday, October 29th,
2015)
The Research Services Office at the University of Calgary will electronically approve and forward the
application to CIHR (see Submission on pg. 1 of this checklist)
7. Preview
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Applicants must review all components of the application. If a section is incomplete, the missing
information must be provided to successfully submit the application.
The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the information provided is complete and that it
conforms to the application requirements. ResearchNet does not validate the content of the
uploaded document(s).
Note: Applicants cannot preview their CCV information through ResearchNet. They must verify the
information directly on the CCV portal.
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8. Consent and Submit
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Applicants must review the terms listed and respond to the questions regarding consent in order to
submit their application.
Applicants must click Submit to send the application.
It is highly recommended that applicants submit their application well ahead of the CIHR deadline. If
the applicant's institution is part of eApproval, their institution's research office may return the
application to the applicant with comments or questions. Many institutions have internal deadlines
for receipt of applications ahead of the CIHR deadline, and applicants are to confirm with their
institution what the internal deadline is.
If the applicant has performed this task correctly they will receive the following confirmation
email(s):
With eApproval
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The applicant will receive two confirmation emails:
The first when the Institution Paid (University of Calgary) receives the application, and
A second once the application has been submitted by the Institution Paid to CIHR.
Please note that your application will only be submitted if the Research Services Office receives the internal
approvals form (Research Funding Application Approvals for Trainees). See Submission on pg. 1 of this
checklist.