Peer Review Panels and College of Internal Scientific Reviewers

College of Internal Scientific Reviewers

The Temerty Faculty of Medicine is seeking volunteer grant proposal reviewers to enroll in our College of Internal Scientific Reviewers. The College will provide on-campus faculty with scientific peer review of their draft CIHR Project Grant proposals.

To participate in our peer review mechanism (detailed below), you must be a member of the College of Internal Scientific Reviewers. You can sign-up at the bottom of this page.

Can I have my own Proposal Reviewed?

Yes. The College of Peer Reviewers will operate on a quid pro quo basis: if you wish to have your proposal reviewed, you must join the College and be willing to review your peers’ proposals, either in the upcoming competition or future ones.

Do I need to sign up to the College each competition?

No, you will remain enrolled each competition.

Peer Review Panel Model

The peer-review panel model seeks to recreate the panel-style review that takes place at CIHR. Panels are established by research theme and/or physical lab location proximity. Rather than reviewers returning written comments, feedback is provided during an in-person review meeting. Reviewers are assigned grants based on applicant summaries (i.e., CIHR Project Grant Summary) and come to the panel review meeting to discuss the applications assigned to them. 

Participating panels include MaRS, Nutritional Sciences, Immunology, Pharmacology & Toxicology, the Donnelly Centre, and the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute. Approximately 50% of on-campus Temerty Medicine faculty who had their CIHR Project Grants reviewed by these panels ranked in the top 100-70% of their CIHR review committee. For context, the historical (three-year) average for on-campus Temerty Medicine applicants in this range is 33%. While this increase cannot be solely attributed to the peer review process, we anticipate that peer review has helped to increase application quality. In addition, participants have shared that they enjoyed learning about their peer’s research and gaining insights about the peer review process.

Signing up for a Peer Review Panel

If your department already participates in a peer review panel, connect with your departmental chair or panel lead to indicate your interest in joining the  panel. For the 2024 Spring CIHR competition, panel meetings will be held in February 2024.

If your department does not currently host a peer review panel and you are interested in forming a new peer review panel focused on your research area, please talk to your department chair and reach out to medicine.editors@utoronto.ca. 

Why Participate?

• Reviewers of funded proposals will receive a $500 contribution to their unrestricted research account (PI CFC) in recognition of their feedback.
• Participation as an internal scientific reviewer is also an eligibility requirement for the Faculty's Pathway Grants. To be eligible for a Pathway Grant, applicants must be signed up as members of the College of Reviewers and must have submitted their CIHR Project Grant for internal peer-review.

Additional benefits of the Peer review panel include:

• Exposure of junior faculty to the panel review experience
• Providing researchers an opportunity to learn about the work of their peers
• Creating opportunities for future collaboration

Spring 2024 Review Timelines

The CIHR Project Grant registration deadline is February 7, 2024 and the full application deadline is March 6, 2024.

Dates with an asterisk (*) are approximate and will vary slightly from panel to panel.

Please contact Alex De Serrano to join the College of Reviewers.