SACME Research Grants

Call for Proposals - Submit your letters of intent by midnight (CST) on Friday, January 15, 2021 via the submission portal.

This grant is made in the name of Phil R. Manning, MD, Paul Ingalls Hoagland Hastings Professor of Continuing Medical Education and Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California. Dr. Manning was the founding president of the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education, formerly the Society of Medical College Directors of Continuing Medical Education. He was a governor, regent, and vice president of the American College of Physicians and served on several educational committees of the American College of Cardiology. Dr. Manning was co-editor of Medicine: Preserving the Passion in the 21st Century and authored many peer-reviewed publications.

Call for Proposals: Priority Interests
Phil R. Manning Research Award: The Scholarship Committee of the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education (SACME) requests proposals for original, scientific research related to physician and/or health professionals’ continuing professional development (CPD).

We define CPD in the following way:

“CPD encompasses multiple educational and developmental activities which healthcare professionals undertake to maintain and enhance their knowledge, skills, performance and relationships in the provision of health care. The ultimate goal of CPD is to enhance the quality and safety of patient care and to enhance health outcomes. " 

Further, we encourage authors to consider concepts proposed by Kitto* including how CPD may be positioned as an integrated science and viewed conceptually in different ways.

While we encourage these views, we remain open to the ideas of the scientific and academic CPD communities. Proposals will not be restricted to a particular methodological approach or topic area within Continuing Medical Education (CME)/ Continuing Professional Development (CPD)/ Interprofessional Education (IPE) / Faculty Development (FD)/ Patient Safety (PS)/ Knowledge Translation (KT)/ or Quality Improvement (QI). However, the project must be supported with sufficient theoretical framework(s), methodologically rigorous, and aligned. The finished work must be appropriate for publication in a health professions education journal (e.g. Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions, Academic Medicine) or equivalent peer reviewed journal, as well as for presentation at a future SACME Annual Meeting (Phil R. Manning Research Award Plenary) or CPD World Congress.

*Kitto, Simon PhD Opening up the CPD Imagination, Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions: Summer 2019 - Volume 39 - Issue 3 - p 159-160
doi: 10.1097/CEH.0000000000000265

Available Funding
The Manning Grant has up to $50,000 (USD) over two years available to support scientific research. Authors are encouraged to align budget requests with project needs, leveraging existing resources where and if available.  

Award Process 

Interested individuals are invited to submit an LOI which will be reviewed by members of the Research Committee and peers. The Research Committee chair will notify selected individuals and invite the selected candidates to submit a full-proposals. The Research Committee Chair will notify the award recipient of her/his selection. The Chair will also notify individuals whose submissions were unsuccessful and provide feedback from reviewers.

Eligibility

Please consider the following eligibility criteria:

1. Awards can only be granted to SACME members.
2. At least one member of the team must hold or have held a clinical role.
3. At least one member of the team must hold of have held a role in CME/CPD/IPE/FD/PS/KT/QI.
4. At least one member of the team must be considered a “new investigator” defined as:
   1. Students/trainees of any kind in process of acquiring professional degrees (e.g., Health Professionals, MDs, Masters, PhDs)Students/trainees of any kind in process of acquiring professional degrees (e.g., Health Professionals, MDs, Masters, PhDs)
   2. Those who have completed their professional degrees within the last 5 years (e.g., Health Professionals, MDs, Masters, PhDs)
5. At least one member of the team must hold sufficient credentials and/or experience and/or expertise related to lead or supervise the proposed project.

These criteria should be outlined as part of the submission.

Review Criteria
Presence of theoretical foundation, clarity of research question, soundness of methodological design, fit of research design and methods to the research question, and potential of the project to contribute further to the field will all be important determinants of the merits of the project.

Letter of Intent Submission Details
The Letter of Intent must be no longer than two pages, single spaced, 12 pt. font. It should include a concise review of the literature, a clear statement of the research question, methodology, anticipated methods of analysis, proposed timeline, and potential impact of the work on the field. A brief indication of the qualifications and role of (each) investigator(s) and short bio-sketch are required as part of the LOI. Bio-sketches are not included as part of the two-page LOI page count. Budgets and curriculum vitae are not required for LOI submission.

Review Criteria
The LOIs will be reviewed by members of the Scholarship Committee (or their designates) for the following features:

Timelines

LOI Submission Process
Applications are to be submitted by midnight (CST) on Friday, January 15, 2021 via the submission portal.

Full Proposal Stage
Following review, selected teams will be invited in mid-March 2021 to submit a full proposal by May 1, 2021. The proposals will be reviewed by members of the Scholarship Committee and/or their designates. The Scholarship Committee chair will notify principal investigators of the results of their submission, along with feedback on the proposal by mid-June 2021. The Chair will announce the award decision publicly in June 2021.

Full Proposal Guidelines
For those LOIs selected by the Scholarship Committee, the following guidelines will apply for full proposal submissions due May 1, 2021. The final proposal, in PDF format, should be no longer than 10 pages, single spaced, 12 pt. font, and clearly include:

Note: CVs, letters of support and references are not included in the 10-page limit.

Full Proposal Review Criteria
The full proposals will be reviewed by members of the Scholarship Committee (or their designates) for the following features:

• Depth, breadth and interpretation of relevant literature.
• Relevance and clarity of research question / problem or objective.
• Use and alignment of theoretical foundations.
• Methodological alignment and rigour.
• Implications for the advancement of the field.
• Appropriateness of budget.
• Team composition and roles.
• Feasibility.

Full Proposal Submission Process
Full proposals will be due May 1, 2021. Instructions on the submission process will be emailed to all invited applicants.

Questions
Please direct any questions about the application or the grant to either Dr. Walter Tavares, Chair, SACME Scholarship Committee at walter.tavares@utoronto.ca or Morag Paton at morag.paton@utoronto.ca.

SACME Research Idea Grant
Closed for 2020 

The Scholarship Committee of the Society for Academic Continuing Medical Education (SACME) is pleased to announce a new grant opportunity. Up to two grants of $3,750 is awarded for research projects related to fostering behaviour change through Inter-professional and team-based education. Opportunities for research funding are one of the benefits of SACME membership and the principal investigator must be a member in good standing to be eligible for the grant. Additional details

Click here for all SACME awards and past recipients.