Discussion of The Impact of CIHR Reforms on the Funding of Nutritional Sciences in Canada

There has been widespread reporting on the recent Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project scheme results and challenges. Much credit goes to Dr. Jim Woodgett, whose efforts have led to a “protest” by Canadian researchers, which has resulted in a partial reversal of the peer review reforms introduced by CIHR. The resultant CIHR “Peer Review Working Group” has been urgently working to fix the peer review process and renew our faith in publicly funded health research in Canada. Many tragic accounts were reported in social media and stories in the public press complaining about the review process. There has also been anecdotal speculation about the dire impact the reforms had within specific disciplines. To assess the impact on the field of nutrition, the Canadian Nutrition Society (CNS) sought to gather specific insight by conducting two-member surveys of the results and experiences of applicants and reviewers from the recent Project and Foundation scheme competitions. The surveys confirmed what many speculated and also revealed some additional startling insights. Due to the sheer number of applicants, the Project Scheme competition received most of the attention, but similar concerns were noted in the Foundation Scheme. A summary of key findings is listed below: