Black and Indigenous Doctoral Salary Award

These awards are intended for black and Indigenous research scholars who wish to pursue a career as a perinatal and/or child health researcher. Through an individualized research development plan, learners in ENRICH will enhance their skills ranging from research methods, to managing multi-site teams, to personal wellness, and other relevant topics for researchers. For a complete overview of the curriculum, please visit the curriculum tab of our website.

These awards are intended for candidates who (1) wish to pursue a career as a perinatal and/or child health researcher, (2) are conducting research in perinatal and/or child health and wellbeing and (3) have already attained salary support at a local, provincial or national level but are still seeking advanced training. Successful candidates will gain complete access to the Enrichment Program. Through an individualized research development plan, learners in the Enrichment Program will enhance their skills ranging from research methods, to managing multi-site teams, to personal wellness, and other relevant topics for researchers. For a complete overview of the curriculum, please visit the curriculum tab of our website. For further information regarding the various training pathways please see the Training Path Summary Table.

This award is open for Black and Indigenous scholars only.

Location of Tenure: The award must be held at a Canadian Academic Institution, and/or child health research institute affiliated with a Canadian University and is open to candidates who are perusing a doctoral, post-doctoral or new investigator career on a full time basis.

Talk to your Regional Leader 1st: Sixteen Canadian Pediatric Academic Centres have a Regional Leader. Please contact the Regional Leader closest to your academic institution. They should be contacted well in advance of the application deadline (45-60 days) to ensure you meet all criteria, before submitting your application. A list of our Regional leaders can be found HERE.

Timing: Applicants must have at minimum 2 active years remaining in their doctoral studies from the ENRICH funding start date, which is April 1st of each year. Any interruption in a candidate’s training will be considered in determining eligibility and should be addressed within the CIHR Academic Common CV.

Citizenship: This program is open to Canadians and permanent residents of Canada.

Indigenous learners: Indigenous scholars applying to this award must provide an Indigenous Community Engagement Letter. This letter should come from an Indigenous community member who shows support of the research that is being done within the community and can confirm the Indigenous heritage of the candidate.

This award will provide $20,000 of salary support for 3 years maximum.

For Doctoral learners who defend their thesis before the 4-year term ends, the last day of the month that the revised thesis is accepted will act as the new end date for the award. It is the supervisor’s responsibility to inform ENRICH of this change. If funds are paid out beyond this time point, then it will need to be refunded to ENRICH by the Host Institution and/or supervisor.

Parental leave:

Learners for the doctoral award are eligible to receive paid parental leave up to a maximum of 6 months if (a) interrupting the ENRICH award within six months of childbirth or adoption, (b) the learner will be the primary caregiver for the child, AND (c) the learner is not eligible for and will not be receiving employment insurance or other parental benefits from any other sources. The leave must be requested at minimum 30 days in advance of leave start date. The maximum benefit payable by ENRICH is $12,500 for 6 months. This is equivalent to $2083.33 per month of the requested leave. Host institutions are not required to match parental leave funds. Any additional benefit-matching amounts are payable at the discretion of the learner’s host university/training center. For further information regarding your eligibility and requirements, please contact the ENRICH Program Manager and/or your Center Leader.

Individuals who hold faculty positions (fellows and new investigators) and are eligible to receive Employment Insurance (EI) benefits and/or parental leave benefits based on the salary received at the host center. Under these circumstances, ENRICH will not provide additional parental leave benefits on the ENRICH award amount.

The award paid from the ENRICH’s grant will be placed “on hold” for the duration of the leave, and will resume upon the return of the individual to the training environment. The term of the award will be extended by the length of the approved leave up to but not exceeding twelve months.

Medical or Family Caregiver Leave: Learners are eligible for medical or a family caregiver’s leave. The latter is to provide care or support to certain family members who have a serious medical condition. Awards will be placed “on hold” for the duration of the leave with supported documentation from the local institution. Awards will resume upon the return of the individual to the training environment.

Research Allowance: No research or travel allowance will be provided. However, the Award recipients and their supervisors will have their expenses paid to attend the ENRICH Annual National Symposia and relevant Regional Mini Symposia. A written commitment from the supervisor/mentor stating his/her agreement to attend National Symposia, for each year that the learner is in the program, is mandatory with the application.

Deadline to apply:

A Full application will be due November 1st of each year at 5pm EST. Late or incomplete applications will not be considered. If the application competition date falls on a weekend or statutory holiday, applications will be due on the first business day following (i.e. If November 1st falls on a Saturday, applications will be due on Monday, November 3rd 5pm EST).

When you are ready to submit your application click on the “APPLY NOW” button on our website to complete the online form. You will be asked to upload each of the required documents below.

A complete full application that is due November 1st consists of:

French applications: Applications may be submitted in French. Please note, you are requested to advise the ENRICH National Office of your intent to submit in French a minimum 4 weeks prior to the application deadline. If you are successful in the written portion, all interviews are conducted in English. Interviews can be accommodated in French at the candidate’s request.

Issues/Questions? Email linda.pires@sickkids.ca ENRICH Program Manager

Important Dates:

Event	*November Competition*

Deadline to apply	November 1^st
Conflict of Interest sent out, responses collected, and reviews assigned.	Mid-November
Reviewers submit their written reviews and scores to Platform Manager	1 week before the virtual meeting
Selection telecom to review applicants	Mid-January
Personal scorecard sent to Platform Manager	Immediately following the selection virtual meeting
Final edits to written review forms emailed to Platform Manager	1-week post virtual meeting
Applicants receive written peer reviews	2 weeks post virtual meeting
Interviews for potential candidates	5 weeks post virtual meeting
Notice of funding to interviewed candidates	6 weeks post virtual meeting (early February)
Funding start date	April 1^st

Reviewer Assignment and Conflict of Interest:

Upon application deadline, the Platform Manager collates applications and ensures that each applicant meets all eligibility requirements.

An email is sent to all Selection Committee members with a list of applicants and their demographics, for conflicts of interest and declaration of expertise.

The Platform Manager sends the Selection Committee Chair, Co-Chair and Director the list of applicants with demographics, project title, abstract, and conflicts of interest. Individuals with a conflict of interest for certain applicants, and from the same centre will not be assigned to the applicant in question.

The Selection Committee Chair and Co-Chair assign the following reviewers to each candidate:
- Scientific review: 3 reviewers consisting of selection committee members, ENRICH mentors, or external reviewers if needed
- Patient Engagement review: 1 patient partner
- EDI review: 1 EDI Champion

Emails are sent to the reviewers to accept or decline and declare any conflict of interest. A new reviewer will be assigned if a reviewer declines or has a conflict. Reviewers who accept a review will also be required to join the Selection virtual meeting. The Platform Manager sends each reviewer the applications they will be reviewing with an evaluation form.

Reviews and Scoring:

Reviewers are given approximately 4-6 weeks to complete their reviews and return the evaluation form with scores one week before the Selection Committee virtual meeting.
Scoring:

Scientific Review: Reviewers will score the candidates based on (1) research proposal (clarity, feasibility, rationale) (2) research training environment (research team, resources, interdisciplinary nature) and (3) applicant qualifications (research experience, publications, productivity, honours, awards and sponsor assessments). The distribution of weight for each award will be as follows:

Research Proposal: 25%
Training Environment: 50%
Applicant Qualification: 25%

Patient Partner Review: Reviewers will be asked to read through the lay summary and patient engagement section. The candidates will receive a pass, revision, or major revision rating based on the relevance and impact to perinatal and child health and well-being, communication in plain language, and the patient engagement plan.

EDI Review: An EDI champion will review the lay summary and EDI section of the application. The candidates will receive a pass, revision, or major revision rating based on the CIHR Best Practices in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion in Research guide.

Preparation for panel review (Selection Virtual Meeting):

The Platform Manager sends out a personal scorecard to each Selection Committee member one week before the meeting.

The Platform Manager shares the reviewer scores and their averages with the Selection Committee Chair, Co-Chair and Director. If scores for a candidate are highly variable, the Selection Committee Chair, Co-Chair and Director may request to see the reviews.

Based on (a) the compatibility of the scores among reviewers for each candidate and (b) conflicts of interest among Selection committee members, the Selection Committee Chair and Co-Chair will determine the order of discussion for each candidate. Reviewers with a conflict of interest will be asked to leave the meeting when reviewing the applicant in question and prompted to return when the discussion is complete. Should the Director have a conflict, the Director will leave the call and the Selection Chair will act as the Director and Selection Co-Chair as the Chair. Should the Selection Chair have a conflict, they will leave the call and the Selection Co-Chair will act as the Selection Chair.

Selection meeting and consensus scoring:

At the Selection Committee meeting, each candidate will be reviewed in the order determined by the Selection Committee Chair and Co-Chair.

Streamlined applications: For applicants who attained low scores, the Selection Committee Chair and Co-Chair may request to streamline the application. If approved by all reviewers, this application will not be discussed. Candidates can be streamlined if

Scientific Review:
1. Two reviewer scores are under 4.0
2. The average of all 3 reviewer scores is under 4.0.

Should there be a copious number of applications, the boundary for streamlining applications may change to ensure that only 15 applications maximum are reviewed in full by reviewers. The scores reported to streamlined candidates will be the average score for each review category and will be identified as “Streamlined: score”. Candidates whose applications are not streamlined are identified with only a score in the feedback report.

Discussed applications:
- Scientific review: Reviewers 1, 2, and 3, will each state their scores and then respectively outline their reviews of the proposed application.
- Patient Partner review: The patient partner will state their rating, providing reasoning.
- EDI Review: The EDI Champion will state their rating, providing reasoning.

A discussion then follows with the rest of the selection committee who may have additional questions, concerns or insights.

The 3 scientific reviewers agree on a consensus score based on the application discussion, taking into consideration both the patient partner and EDI Champion feedback. If the reviewers cannot reach a consensus, the Selection Co-Chairs will negotiate a consensus score. All scientific review members of the selection committee are then asked to (a) record the consensus score on their scorecards; (b) score the candidate plus or minus (+/-) 0.5 of the consensus score.

Items 11 to 14 are repeated for each candidate until all candidates have been reviewed. Selection Committee members with conflicts are asked to leave before and return after (via text message) the conflicting application.

Immediately following the virtual meeting, each reviewer emails the Platform Manager their completed personal scorecards. Any revisions to reviews must be submitted within 24 hours of the Selection Committee virtual meeting.

A tally and average of the personal scores is created by the Platform Manager. The Selection Committee Chair, Co-Chair, and Director are sent the final average only of the tally for each candidate. Candidates who have scored 4.0 or above are considered for an interview approximately 4 weeks later. Should many candidates have attained a score of 4.0 or higher, at least two candidates will be interviewed for each award. These candidates will be the two candidates with the highest score for each award.

Candidates who have not been selected for an interview will be sent copies of each reviewer’s forms, along with official notes from the Selection Committee detailing any constructive feedback that came up during the discussion. These notes will be drafted by the Platform Manager, then reviewed by the Selection Committee Chair, Co-Chair and Director. The Regional Leader who supported the applicant will be cc’d on the feedback.

Interview preparation:

Candidates who will be interviewed may will be sent official constructive feedback in the form of a letter. This will include feedback from the scientific reviews, patient partner, and EDI Champion. Candidates will be requested to submit a brief 2-page response before their interview.

Interview day and ranking:

The Interviews will be conducted by a representation of the Selection Committee panel consisting of the Selection Chair, Co-Chair, Director, 2 other Selection Committee members, a patient partner, and the Platform Manager (ex-officio). Any member of the interview panel with conflicts will be asked to leave during the interview. Should the Director have a conflict, the Director will leave the room, and the Selection Chair will act as the Director and Co-Chair as the Chair. Should the Selection Chair have a conflict, they will leave the room and the Co-Chair will act as the Chair.

Candidates will be scored on a 5-point scale based on their vision for a scientific career, ability to clearly articulate the research project to the non-expert and discuss the project in the broader context of research in the field, address any reviewer comments raised in the written feedback, mentorship plan, discuss interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary integration potential for their project, and explain their patient engagement and EDI plan for the research. Panel members will also ask follow-up questions as they may arise during the discussion.

Based on post-interview discussions and average panel scores, a rank order will be determined for fundable candidates.

Executive Committee Approval:

The rank order will be presented, and funding cut-off will be discussed and approved at the Executive Committee. This decision will be based on funding availability and recommendations from the Director and Selection Committee Chair and Co-Chair.

Notice of Award:

Following the Executive vote, notification letters will be sent to the interviewed candidates. These letters will be drafted by the Platform Manager, then vetted by the Selection Committee Chair, Co-Chair, and Director.

Grievances:

All grievances with the selection process can be brought to the Executive Committee via the Chair or Co-Chair of the committee.
A follow-up telephone call with the Selection Committee Chair can be requested if a candidate has specific questions regarding feedback provided by the selection committee and the outcome of the competition.