Resident Research Travel Grants
April 9, 2024
Since its inception in 2005, the Resident Research Travel Grant program has facilitated over 1350 residents in presenting their research at both national and international conferences, totaling over $2 million in support. This underscores our steadfast commitment to fostering research and individual scholarship within the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM). PGME has been privileged to receive support through the Medical Trainee Fund managed by the Council of Associate Deans Education for this program. Unfortunately, due to CSM budget constraints, the funding available through this source has been considerably reduced.
Regrettably, the Resident Research Travel Grant program will be paused effective April 1, 2024. Except for applications pending from March 2024, no additional applications will be considered at this time. Expenses related to previously awarded grants that are not yet claimed, will be honoured and processed for reimbursement.
PGME values its commitment to supporting the presentation of research emerging from CSM and is currently exploring other funding sources and application formats that provide equitable access for residents. Further information on these efforts will be communicated as soon as possible.
Update April 17, 2024
Dear Program Directors and Residents,
I am following up on last week’s communications about the Resident Research Travel Grant.
On April 9 we shared that we had to make the difficult decision to pause this grant. Some of you may have seen a subsequent note from me providing the background to this decision. I’ll repeat that explanation again here because I think many people missed it. I will also include information below about how we plan to support resident research despite the changes we are facing.
Background:
In short, unlike most of the funding for residency education which comes to us from the Ministry of Health, the funding for the Resident Research Travel Grant comes from CSM. Unfortunately, like all CSM units, PGME is seeing the flow on effect of budget cuts that CSM has experienced in recent years. The money we hope to receive in support of this grant for this fiscal year is going to be markedly reduced. We learned of this late last month and came to understand that we had committed more than we hope to receive for the remainder of this academic year. We therefore had to make the decision to pause further applications until the financial picture could be properly assessed. This is not a reflection of how we view the importance of resident research and we have been looking at ways we can get this up and running again. It is important to note that funding for this grant was always limited and not every application was accepted. The details about how the grant applications were evaluated can be found on the PGME website.
Plan for Resident Research Travel April – June 2024.
The end of the fiscal year has allowed us to look closely at our budget. We have been able to secure funding to support 5 residents (at $2500 each) for travel occurring during the remainder of this academic year. We already have a number of applications for this period and those will be considered, along with any new applications. Given the finite number of residents we can support, only those residents giving oral presentations will be considered and applications will be adjudicated by a small research subcommittee using criteria that will be distributed in a separate communication. The criteria will largely follow the Canadian Society for Clinical Investigation criteria for grant applications. Application deadline is April 30, 2024.
Plans for the next academic year.
Our financial position for this grant remains uncertain. We are hoping to be able to be able to support 5 residents per quarter for the upcoming academic year. At present, our plan is to open for applications in June, September, and December for travel in each of those following quarters. We remain hopeful that we can increase these numbers in subsequent fiscal years.
Thank you for your patience as we have processed our new financial constraints and given consideration to how we can continue to support resident research.