Funding Programs - Career Investigator Program

The application deadline for the 2007/08 Career Investigator competition has passed. Instructions remain on this page for reference.

2007/08 Career Investigator Program Instructions

Applicants should read Essential Information and Web Form Instructions for important information about the application process. Department Heads should read the instructions on the Department Head Form. Detailed instructions with screen shots, for applicants and Department Heads, are also available in the MSFHR ApplyNet Tutorial.

Essential Information
Before You Start

Read the Guidelines

Review the Sample Forms

Contact Referees and Collaborators

Communicate with Your Department Head and Dean

Create an MSFHR ApplyNet Account

Complete and Submit the Common CV – Full Version *Revised*

Submission Process

Submission Process

Host Institution Deadlines

Eligibility Notification

Applicant Updates

Web Form Instructions
Letter of Intent (LOI)

Award Category and Theme

Suggested External Readers

Career Interruptions

Checklist for the LOI Stage

Submission

Full Application

Validate your File Number

Research Award Category and Theme

Proposed Award Start Date

Identification

Financial Administration

Response to Previous Reviews

Summaries

Research Proposal/Program of Research

Career Investigator Application Checklist

Submission Process

Department Head Form

Inquiries and Further Information

Essential Information

Before You Start
Read the Guidelines
Read the guidelines to ensure you are eligible for an MSFHR Career Investigator Award.

Review the Sample Forms
Sample forms provide a preview of the information that the evaluation committee will see when reviewing the application.

Sample Career Letter of Intent (PDF)
Sample Career Full Application (PDF)
Sample Department Head Form (PDF)

Contact Referees and Collaborators
Review the requirements for Reference Letters and Letters from Collaborators. Contact potential referees and collaborators well in advance of the November 30, 2007 full application deadline.

Communicate with Your Department Head and Dean
Discuss your intent to apply to the Career Investigator Program with your Department Head and Dean. Review the deadline dates and submission process with them.

Create an MSFHR ApplyNet Account
All applicants and Department Heads must have an MSFHR ApplyNet account. If you are a new user you need to create your account. To set up your account log on to MSFHR ApplyNet. Accounts for previous users of MSFHR ApplyNet are still active; contact the MSFHR Help Desk if you encounter any problems.

Complete and Submit the Common CV – Full Version *Revised*
The applicant must complete a Common CV – MSFHR Full Version. Create and submit your Common CV on the Common CV website.

Due to recent changes made to the MSFHR version of the Common CV, only CVs submitted after August 30, 2007 will be accepted.

Career Investigator Applicants do not have a page limit for the CCV attachment and should list all publications, not just those for the last five years.
The MSFHR CCV attachment only asks for information about publications and patents. The Full Application web form contains the following fields: Most Significant Contributions, Activities and Contributions, and Career Interruptions.

Submission Process
Submission Process
No changes can be made after submission.

Letter of Intent (LOI) submission process:

Complete and submit the Common CV (CCV) – MSFHR Full Version. Only CVs submitted after August 30, 2007 will be accepted.
Complete and submit Letter of Intent – the LOI and CCV must be submitted by October 30, 2007, 4:30 pm Pacific Time.

Full Application submission process:

Review the Full Application with the Department Head.
Inform the Department Head that he/she can complete the Department Head Form.
Submit Full Application; changes cannot be made after submission.
Inform the Department Head that he/she can submit the application package to the Host Institution. This submission includes: Full Application, Applicant CCV and Department Head Form.
The Host Institution approves and submits the Full Application to MSFHR by November 30, 2007, 4:30 pm Pacific Time.

CAREER APPLICANT SUBMISSION PROCESS

Host Institution Deadlines
Internal approval deadlines and signature policies vary by institution. Check with your Host Institution's Office of Research Services for deadline and signature policies.

Links to host institution web pages containing information about host institution deadlines and signature policies will be provided in this section as the web pages are posted.

Eligibility Notification
Upon submission of the LOI, it will be reviewed by the Career Program Manager. Applicants will be notified of their eligibility to proceed to Full Application within five (5) business days.

Applicant Updates
Submit Applicant Updates by March 31, 2008.
MSFHR will accept the following updates that have occurred since the current competition deadline date. The updates must include confirmation notices.

Publications that have been accepted
Prestigious awards
Grants
Patents

Web Form Instructions
Letter of Intent
The following information explains the individual sections and screens in the Letter of Intent web form.

Award Category and Theme
The purpose of this section is to determine which award category and theme you are applying to. Award categories are determined according to years of independent research experience in academic, industry and government settings. The reference date is the current competition deadline. For category and theme definitions, review the Guidelines.

Identification
Enter the BC Academic Affiliation and Research Location. The location where the research proposal/program of research will take place must be a BC academic organization or affiliated institution.

Department Head
Identify your Department Head. By the Full Application stage, the Department Head must have an MSFHR ApplyNet System Account and log-in email. You must use your Department Head's MSFHR ApplyNet System Account email for validation purpose during the Full Application stage.

Project Title
Specify the title of your research proposal/program of research.

Research Summary
Describe key elements of the research proposal/program of research that will justify your choice of research theme and guide the selection of the evaluation committee members. It should be written for a multi-disciplinary group of scientific reviewers.

Suggested External Readers
You may suggest the names of up to four (4) readers external to British Columbia who are experts with the demonstrated research track record in your area of research and can provide objective, constructive and candid comments. As an applicant, you must never solicit or contact external readers.

Do not contact external readers who are in a conflict of interest situation if they:

are from the same immediate department, research group, centre, institute, company or other type of institutional subdivision as any applicant named in a project
have collaborated, published or been a co-applicant within the last five (5) years, with any applicant name in a project
have been a student or supervisor of the applicant within the last ten (10) years
are or have been a close personal friend or relative of the applicant
have had long standing or serious scientific or personal differences with the applicant
for some other reason believe they cannot in good faith provide an objective review of the application

MSFHR reserves the right to make the final decision on the selection of the external readers.

Career Interruptions
Explain the nature of the particular interruption/delay, which may have an impact on your choice of award categories as determined by the years of independent research experience at the time of the application. For each interruption, provide the start and end date.

Checklist for the LOI Stage:

Letter of Intent web form

Applicant Common CV - MSFHR Full Version

Applicant Common CV Attachment

Submission
Refer to the Submission Process for details regarding submitting your Letter of Intent package. No changes can be made after submission.

LOI submission process:

Complete and submit the Common CV (CCV) - MSFHR Full Version. Only CVs submitted after August 30, 2007 will be accepted.
Complete and submit LOI - the LOI and CCV must be submitted by October 30, 2007, 4:30 pm Pacific Time.

Full Application
Upon approval of the LOI, you can complete the Full Application.

At the Full Application stage your CCV can be updated. If the CCV is updated, you must re-submit the updated CV through the CCV website before submitting the Full Application.

The following information details the individual sections and screens of the Full Application web form.

Validate your File Number
To confirm that you have been approved to proceed to the Full Application stage, enter and validate your LOI file number. Some information from your LOI will pre-populate your Full Application.

Research Award Category and Theme
Your award category has been approved by MSFHR and it cannot be changed. If you wish to make a change to the research theme you may do so, however, MSFHR reserves the right to make the final allocation of your research theme.

Proposed Award Start Date
The award must be taken up within 12 months of the date of offer upon the fulfillment of all Conditions of Award.

Identification
Academic Affiliation & Research Location

The institution where you hold an academic appointment is the institution which will review and approve your application. Please choose your host organization using the "Organization" field in the Financial Administration screen.
The location where the research project/program will take place must be a BC academic institution or affiliated institution.
It is mandatory to indicate if you are a Health Professional.

Department Head
Enter the MSFHR ApplyNet System Account email address of your Department Head and click the "validate" button. This will enable the Department Head to:

see your application while it is in progress (in read-only format)
access and complete the Department Head Form in their MSFHR ApplyNet Portfolio

Resubmission

Applicant's status	Answer
New applicant	No
Funded Scholar applying to Senior Scholar category for the first time	No
MSFHR applicant who is reapplying to the same award category a second time	Yes

Financial Administration
The BC institution selected is responsible for the financial administration of the award in accordance with the Conditions of Award.

Response to Previous Reviews
The response should address issues identified in the last review and provide solutions/corrective actions even if the current research proposal/program of research is different from the previous submission.

Please note that reviewers do not have access to the reviews from past competitions.

Summaries
Lay Summary
This should be written in clear, non-technical language suitable for a lay audience.

Scientific Summary
This should be written for a multi-disciplinary group of scientific reviewers.

Career Expectations
This is for Scholar applicants only:

describe how the research proposal will realize your goal as an independent researcher
describe your career plan at the completion of the MSFHR Scholar Award
highlight other relevant information, contributions that you have made or plan to make

Career Interruptions
The information in this section is pre-populated from your LOI.

Research Proposal/Program of Research
Research Proposal (Scholars)
Scholar applicants are required to provide a single research proposal, which may be an existing (funded), pending (submitted) or a new proposal. A maximum of ten (10) pages is permitted. Page limits do not include charts, tables, references, figures and photographs. Include in the description of your research project the following:

research questions
literature on research questions
specific hypothesis
objectives and expected outcomes
methodologies and timeline

The proposal should be easy to read and well crafted with no typographical errors, sentence fragments, misspellings, jargon or poor grammar.

Program of Research (Senior Scholars)
Senior Scholar applicants are required to provide a description of a program of research that will span the period of the MSFHR Senior Scholar award (five years). A maximum of five (5) pages is permitted. Page limits do not include charts, tables, references, figures and photographs. Include in the description of your program of research the following:

objectives
conceptual framework, design, methods and analyses
contribution to the advancement of knowledge
opportunities for national and international collaborations
availability of research infrastructure and support from host institution
opportunities for trainee supervision and mentorship

The program of research should be easy to read and well crafted with no typographical errors, sentence fragments, misspellings, jargon or poor grammar.

Note: all attachments must be in PDF format.

For details on what reviewers look for in a research proposal/program of research, see application Evaluation Criteria.

Appendix 1
List of Publications
List up to three publications authored by you that are relevant to the research proposal/program of research submitted to the current competition. Note: the PubMed ID is mandatory.

Consent Forms & Questionnaires
All documents must be combined into a single file. Convert the file to PDF before attaching to MSFHR ApplyNet.

Letters of Collaboration
The letter of support should describe:

the role and time involvement of the collaborator(s)
relevance and significance of the support being provided
pertinent expertise of the collaborator

All letters must be combined into a single file, converted into a PDF, and attached to your MSFHR ApplyNet account.

Contributions
This section used to be part of the attachment to the Common CV and has now been included in the Full Application. You can cut and paste directly into the data fields from another document.

Most Significant Contributions
Enter a maximum of five (5) contributions that best highlight your most significant contributions to research. A contribution can be a publication, conference, patent, intellectual property rights, contracts, etc.

Define the impact and relevance of each contribution
Include the name of the organization, activity type, position held and the start and end date for each contribution
Identify the target audience

Activities and Contributions

Do not include supervisory experience, as it is included in the Common CV - MSFHR full version
Include both academic and non-academic achievements and their impacts
Specify the period of time involved for each activity

Establishment Grant
Check the Guidelines for your eligibility to apply for an MSFHR Establishment Grant. The Career Program Manager will inform you at the Letter of Intent stage of your eligibility to apply for the Establishment Grant. The Establishment Grant is linked to your Career Award and cannot be applied for separately.

Budget
Refer to Eligible Expenses for the list of eligible expenses in regard to the Establishment Grant. All expenditures must be consistent with the policies and procedures of MSFHR.

Reference Letters
All applicants are required to submit three letters of reference:

Scholar applicants – one of the reference letters must be from your PhD or Post Doctoral Fellowship supervisor.
Senior Scholar applicants – one letter must be from each of the following:

an individual outside the applicant's current department and outside the department where the award will be held
an individual with whom the applicant has never collaborated but is familiar with the applicant's research expertise
an individual outside Canada who can endorse the applicant's potential to achieve international stature

Reference letters, in general, should:

address the applicant's personal characteristics (intellectual curiosity, leadership qualities, demonstrated interests and resourcefulness, commitment to research career, etc.).
provide specific details about the recognized or potential research experience and academic strengths (quality of education, scientific training, research experience, mentoring experience, collaborations, potential to carry out independent research, etc.).

Each letter must be received in a sealed envelope and signed across the seal by the referee and sent directly to MSFHR office, attention:

Rashmita Salvi
Career Program Manager
Suite 200, 1285 West Broadway
Vancouver, BC
V6H 3X8

Submit all reference letters directly to MSFHR on or before the Full Application deadline, November 30, 2007, 4:30 pm Pacific Time.

Letter from the Dean
A hard copy of the Dean's letter must be received at the MSFHR Office by Full Application deadline date, November 30, 2007, 4:30 p.m. Pacific Time.

Scholar and Senior Scholar applicants: the Dean's letter should offer the following appraisal:

potential for innovative independent research
major research accomplishments
ability to contribute collaboratively to multi-disciplinary or ongoing departmental research
leadership qualities exhibited locally, nationally and internationally
involvement, potential or demonstrated, in training of researchers
use of funds that will be freed up due to a MSFHR Career award

Senior Scholar applicants only: a statement is required confirming commitment of an additional five years of salary support, comparable to a MSFHR Senior Scholar award, after the completion of the Senior Scholar award.

Career Investigator Application Checklist

Check	Action Required
	Check the internal deadlines of your host institution
	Communicate with your Department Head to set up MSFHR ApplyNet System Account Email if it is his/her first time using the system
	Validate your Department Head's MSFHR ApplyNet System Account Email in your full application web form to give access to the Department Head form
	Submit the most up-to-date CV - MSFHR full version on the Common CV website
	Amalgamate and convert to PDF all attachments for the Common CV Publication List Patents and Copyright, if applicable
	Career Investigator Full Application attachments includes Research proposal/program of research Consent forms and questionnaires, if applicable Letters of collaboration, if applicable Major equipment quotations, if applicable
	Identify, contact and follow-up with the three individuals who will provide reference letters directly to MSFHR
	Ensure the Dean's letter has been mailed to MSFHR
	The host institution is responsible for approving the full application package by November 30, 2007 4:30 pm Pacific Time

Incomplete applications will not be reviewed.

Submission Process
Refer to the Submission Process for details regarding submitting your Full Application package.

Department Head Form
When the applicant launches the Full Application and validates the Department Head's MSFHR ApplyNet System Account email, the Department Head can:

View a read-only version of the application form
Access the Department Head form on their MSFHR ApplyNet Portfolio

The Department Head provides the following information:

Position of the applicant within his/her department, including available resources (academic status, source of salary, space, infrastructure support, start-up funds, etc.)
Non-research activities of the applicant (teaching, clinical service, administrative work, etc.)
Applicant's contribution to the department and the host institution (collaborations, research interactions, etc.)

After submission of the Full Application by the applicant, complete and submit the Department Head form. No changes can be made to the Department Head form after submission.

Inquiries and Further Information
For inquiries regarding the Career Investigator Program contact:

Rashmita Salvi
Program Manager, Career Investigator Program
Phone: 604.714.2779
E-mail the Career Investigator Program