Equalising Research Grants for Open Research Impact in Health: The ERGO-Impact Project

This project is funded via the Research on Research Joint Initiative, which is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and Michael Smith Health Research BC. The ERGO-Impact project is a pan-Canadian project with research activities based in British Columbia. 

About the team: The ERGO-Impact project is led by Dr Clare Ardern, Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at The University of British Columbia, who specializes in musculoskeletal health research and evidence synthesis. Dr Ardern works with an experienced team of Canadian and international experts in research policy, open science, and machine learning. 

The research issue: Getting research funding is critical for scientific progress, but biases in grant review can disadvantage early-career researchers. To address this, CIHR introduced an “equalization” policy in 2016 to ensure fairer funding for early-career researchers. We don’t yet know if this policy has improved equity or influenced the types of research being done. 

The research approach: Our team is studying how equalization has shaped Canadian health research. We analyze thousands of funded projects to see if the range of research topics has broadened and whether open science practices—like sharing data and publishing open access—have increased. We will also survey and interview researchers to understand how research funding policies affect their work. 

Impact for BC: This research will help funders and policymakers design fairer systems that support all researchers to do high quality research. By delivering equity and improving transparency in how research is done (open science practices), we aim to strengthen the quality and impact of health research in BC and across Canada.