The Canada First Research Excellence Fund Round 2 Competition is underway. The University of Toronto submitted a Letter of Intent on November 9 providing preliminary information on our proposed initiative, currently entitled Institute for Data-Driven Solutions (IDDS). We will learn in January whether we have been invited to the full proposal stage (due March 29, 2016), but are proceeding with full proposal development in the hope that this will be the case.

As with the first round of competition, through which U of T was awarded $114M for Medicine by Design, the structure of the full proposal is extremely compact and highly prescribed. The Division of the Vice-President, Research & Innovation has been working with a consultation group on the vision for IDDS and its core elements. To ensure that the perspectives of all interested parties are brought to bear in informing what IDDS should be, I am attending a number of regularly scheduled meetings across academic divisions to discuss the emerging proposal. I will also be making presentations at the December 10 P&D and the December 17 PDADC meetings, at which I look forward to your feedback.

In addition, three information sessions have been scheduled to enable broader consultation and discussion of the emerging CFREF proposal:

• St. George: Friday, January 15
  3:00pm – 4:30pm, Governing Council Chamber
• UTM: Monday, January 18
  3:00pm – 4:30pm, Campus Council Chambers
• UTSC: Friday, January 22
  10:00am – 11:30am, Humanities Wing, Room 305

These information sessions are for members of the U of T community only. Please bring these dates to the attention of colleagues who may be interested.

In the meantime, should you have questions regarding our developing CFREF2 competition, please contact:
Judith Chadwick
Assistant Vice-President, Research Services
j.chadwick@utoronto.ca