UBC researchers can get a competitive edge in external grant competitions via constructive feedback from Internal Reviewers on the scholarly content of their applications.

SPARC can connect researchers across disciplines, departments, faculties, or UBC locations, in order to provide an objective, constructive, and expert review, mimicking formal multi-disciplinary review panels. Additional benefits include expanded professional networks, mentoring relationships, and future research collaborations.

Eligibility

All UBC faculty members are welcome to participate in SPARC Internal Review (IR) regardless of academic experience, research interest or location.

The following research applications are eligible for SPARC IR:

• For health research applications - CIHR Open Operating Grants and CIHR New Investigator Salary Awards; other grants (e.g., MSFHR Career Investigator) on a case-by-case basis
• For natural science and engineering applications - NSERC Discovery Grants and Strategic Project Grants
• For social science and humanities applications - SSHRC Insight Grants and SSHRC Insight Development Grants

SPARC Internal Reviewers are experienced UBC faculty researchers from any department, faculty or site who have expertise with grants, review committees, funding agencies and/or research relevant to the application under review. Reviewers typically hold, or have held, peer-reviewed external funding, and they serve, or have served, on peer-review committees for major granting agencies. As a result, they have first-hand experience with how grant applications are appraised during agency peer review committee meetings.

Faculty Requirements & Resources

• SPARC IR is mandatory for certain researchers in the Faculty of Medicine. For details, visit the Grant Administration & Development website.
• Contact local research support staff to find out about other available resources. Click here for a list of Faculty-level grant facilitators.

Internal Review Timelines