Our grant review process

Understanding our grant review process

SIR Foundation is committed to transparency and accountability in the competitive awarding of grant funding.

Application submission

Submitted applications are screened for eligibility prior to being assigned for review
Since SIR Foundation offers a variety of grants for researchers of different levels (students, residents, faculty), we have varying eligibility criteria. One criterion that remains the same is all applicants must be SIR members.

Initial application review and assignment

Grant Review Study Section Chair meets with SIR Foundation staff to assign reviewers
SIR Foundation staff screens reviewers for potential conflicts of interest (COIs) and identifies reviewer area of expertise through a cv review (interventional oncology, renal, women’s health, etc.) to provide the Grant Study Review Section Chair with the needed information to assign reviewers with the appropriate expertise.
Application is assigned to reviewers for initial review
The reviewers assess applications and score them on the following criteria:
- Significance
- Investigator qualifications
- Innovation
- Approach
- Environment
- Budget
Based on these criteria, the reviewers are then asked to provide an overall score on the application.
Scores and comments provided by each reviewer are blinded from one another. This prevents influence or bias during the review process.

Final application review and decision

Grant Review Study Section meet to review applications for final review
- For Dr. Ernest J. Ring Academic Development Grant and Funding Source Development Grant (FSDG), all applications are discussed.
- For other grants, if the reviewers were not unanimous in their scoring, the applications are discussed.
Before each grant is reviewed, all reviewers with COIs are asked to identify themselves and be excused from the room when the conflicted application is up for review. They cannot provide a score and are not told of the voting outcome.
After the reviewers with COIs are removed, each reviewer presents their comments and scores. The group then discusses the application.
Once the group discusses the application, each member gets to score blindly and the mean score is used as the application’s final score.

Note: All committee members are given access to all applications prior to the meeting. This allows an in-depth discussion and all concerns to be brought up.

Awarding Process

Award

After the study section makes its recommendations, SIR Foundation staff members review the final scores and put together a funding package in accordance with the specific grant’s guidelines.
The package is then sent to the SIR Foundation Board for approval.
The board votes while blinded from the applicant names. The approval must be unanimous. Any board member with a conflict of interest is not permitted to vote on the package.
Awardees are notified within 7 days and an announcement is posted on SIR Foundation’s website once the award contract is signed.

Please note that SIR Foundation does offer other review stages (proposal development and pre-review), prior to the final application submission. These stages provide opportunities for applicants to obtain and respond to reviewer feedback prior to submitting the final applications.

Our grant review process

Our grant review process

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