Grants and Awards

Studentship Award October 2008 Competition Results

AHFMR received 116 studentship, 64 fellowship, and 8 clinical fellowship applications for the October 2008 trainee award competition. These awards provide support for trainees in the following categories: full-time biomedical and health studentships, mental health research studentships, full-time biomedical and health fellowships, clinical fellowships, and clinical health fellowships.

Expert committees review the AHFMR trainee applications and recommend awards only after the candidates have passed rigorous standards of excellence. AHFMR revised the review process (outlined below) for the October 2008 competition. The applications are still assessed based on the candidate's track record, the training environment, and the project proposal.

For the past 8 years, the Foundation has used the ProGrid™ system as a tool to assist our Trainee Advisory Committees in evaluating and rating the applications, and to provide standardized feedback to all applicants. However, the committees and research community have expressed the desire for face-to-face meetings to discuss the applications. To address this request, the Foundation revised the review to a two-stage process for the October 2008 competition.

The ProGrid™ system was used to provide an initial rank order of all applicants in the competitions. The top 50% of applications were then selected for discussion at the Trainee Advisory Committee meetings held in December 2008. Fifty percent was selected as the cut-off for two reasons. First, the Foundation traditionally funds an average of 20 to 30% of the applications in a competition. Cutting off at about 50% meant that all applications within the fundable range would be included for discussion. Second, the cut-off limits the number of applications to a feasible number for a one-day meeting.

The committee reviewed each application on a scale of 0 to 5, while considering the Foundation philosophy by placing value on the candidate, the training environment, and the proposed research. The internal reviewers were asked to announce their independent, initial rating, and to provide a summary and review of the application. Following an open discussion, a consensus rating was determined and individual ratings were subsequently provided by each committee member (within + or - 0.5 range around the consensus). The committee ratings at the meetings determined the rank order of applicants for funding.

Formal result letters will be sent to all applicants the week of January 5th. The offer of award letters will include the terms and conditions of the award and the applicants' modified Pro-Grid results along with any comments made by the review committee. The list of successful applicants is provided below for information only. The formal letters will serve as the Foundation's official decision should there be any discrepancy with the material on the web site.

For the October 2008 competition, there were 29 successful applicants (25%) for the Studentship competition. There were 17 successful applicants (27%) for the Fellowship awards and 4 successful applicants (50%) for the Clinical Fellowship awards. The names of the successful candidates for the Studentship and Fellowship awards are listed below.

Dr. Jacques Magnan, Interim President and CEO of AHFMR, and the Foundation's Board of Trustees sincerely congratulate the successful applicants and acknowledge and thank all applicants for their substantial efforts. AHFMR also wishes to acknowledge the tremendous assistance provided by its committee members in the evaluation of the trainee applications and their important contribution to the Foundation's mission.

Studentships

AHFMR/AMHB Studentships in Mental Health Research

Fellowships

Clinical Fellowships