Major Thematic Grant

Purpose
The purpose of the Major Thematic Grant is to support interdisciplinary, collaborative teams formed specifically for the competition. The projects are broadly based, though there is no expectation concerning the number of disciplines or faculties to be represented. Projects should have an overall coherence and should offer more than a straightforward extension of existing work or an umbrella for separate projects. It is expected that UBC will become a centre for research on the topic.

History
The Major Thematic Grant program was introduced in 1994. Seven awards have been made under this program. The latest award was made in 2008.

Eligibility
Applicants must be UBC Vancouver faculty. UBC Okanagan faculty can apply as part of a UBC main campus team. Applicants for a Major Thematic Grant must first hold an Exploratory Workshop.

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Budget and Duration
In addition to a flexible award total amount of $300,000 to $500,000, there is also flexible grant duration of a minimum of three years and a maximum of five years. The award is administered in the Principal Investigator’s home unit.
Expectations
Of overriding concern in all Institute activities is excellence in research characterized by being fundamental, interdisciplinary, innovative and unique. The project should begin within six months of approval. A progress report for review is required at the end of each year.
Application Procedure
An application for a Major Thematic Grant begins with first holding a successful Exploratory Workshop within the previous two years and then submitting a Letter of Intent.

Letter of Intent Form
 : Download Word doc : 168Kb
Curriculum Vitae
 : Standard UBC Curriculum Vitae Word template

Letter of Intent and the CV of the Principal Investigator must be provided in a signed paper copy (1 copy) as well as electronically in either Word or PDF format (preferred). The electronic version can be sent as e-mail attachments or on a disk along with the original application sent by mail or dropped off in person.

The next step in the application procedure is the adjudication of the Letter of Intent, and, if successful, the Principal Investigator is invited to a meeting of the Adjudication Committee. At that meeting
    •    the Principal Investigator presents the research proposal and responds to written feedback from the committee,
    •    the committee chair outlines what the issues are for committee members, and
    •    the chair on behalf of committee members offers written feedback on the application and provides the committee’s decision whether to invite a full submission for external review.
At the next stage, a full invited application for interdisciplinary, international review extends the information provided in the Letter of Intent and includes preliminary findings resulting of a Peter Wall Institute Exploratory Workshop, detailed description, format, and budget of the research proposal, as well as details about all UBC investigators and external participants (including full CVs) and proposals for external referees. Full applications and CVs must be provided in a signed paper copy (1 copy) as well as electronically in either Word or PDF format (preferred). The deadline for submission of the full application is approximately six months from receiving the invitation to apply.

Download an Application Form

Application Form (Rich Text Format)

Application Form (PDF Format)
Curriculum Vitae
 : Standard UBC Curriculum Vitae Word template

The final decision will be made by the committee taking into account the quality and fit of the full submission and the recommendations of the external reviewers. We anticipate final decisions to be available roughly 8 to 9 months following the submission of a Letter of Intent.

Deadline
The deadline for Letters of Intent is March 1. Applications will be accepted until 4:30pm at the Institute office. Prospective applicants are strongly encouraged to contact the Director of the Institute.

Ethical Review & Permits

For Major Thematic Grants, approval certificate for research is required at the full application submission stage when one of the following is involved:

    1.    Human Subjects,
    2.    Animal Care,
    3.    Bio-Hazardous Materials, and
    4.    Radioisotopes.

(i) through (iii) are handled via the Office of Research Services. Applications for Human Subjects (which is an umbrella label which has a number of different subcategories -- behavioral, clinical, BC Cancer Agency, etc) and Animal Care can be made via the online RISe system; applications for Bio-Hazardous Materials at present still require a paper form. Review is required for all research at UBC or involving UBC researchers regardless of location of the research.

(iv) is handled via the Department Health, Safety, & Environment to ensure compliance with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). There is a paper form available to request the use of radioactive materials. Permits are only required, however, if the amount of radiation is above a set limit (set by the CNSC) for a specific type of radiation. A permit is required for research in areas falling under UBC jurisdiction only. If the research is done elsewhere, UBC has no responsibility and no permit will be issued by HSE. (For example, the BC Cancer Agency, while there are UBC researchers there, has its own license.) There are cases, however, where HSE will issue permits for research at a remote location if the location is not covered by any particular facility. Permits are only issued to faculty-status employees of UBC who have successfully completed the UBC Radiation Safety Course (required to use any amount of radiation at UBC, regardless of what researchers are doing). While there is no ethics review component with HSE, HSE does request to be informed if researchers will be working with animals to ensure that what will be used will be properly
disposed of.