Our Review Process

How We Fund Grants

Once your application is complete and submitted, it moves to the evaluation phase and begins the review process. Evaluation begins with an eligibility review by CIRM staff. For some programs, this may coincide with a selection step. If an application moves forward, it will then undergo an external review, in which it is evaluated by subject matter experts from the field.

For information on how to start the application process or for reviewers wanting to know more about the process, visit the Information for Applicants page.

Evaluation: The Grant Review Process

Eligibility review ensures your application meets all the program requirements listed in the Program Announcement or Request for Applications. Applications that are found eligible can move to the next stage. Applicants who are found ineligible receive a description of why their application did not meet the requirements and, in some cases, may have the opportunity to remedy the issue and move forward.

External review is conducted by one or more of CIRM’s board-appointed expert review panels. The Grants Working Group conducts scientific evaluation for all of CIRM’s scientific research programs. CIRM also has a Facilities Working Group for evaluation of infrastructure proposals and an Accessibility and Affordability Working Group that evaluates proposals within specific access and affordability programs. Applications are evaluated and scored according to scientific merit and/or technical merit. Reviewers use the key questions or review criteria and scoring system described in the Program Announcement or Request for Applications to guide their evaluation.

Learn more about the Grants Working Group:

A selection process for volume control may be necessary to narrow the pool of applications in cases where the total number of submitted applications exceeds the volume that can be reasonably fully discussed by the Grants Working Group (GWG) panel. External reviewers first select and rank applications to determine which applications advance to a full discussion by the review panel. If the program uses a volume control process for GWG selection, this process is described in the Program Announcement or Request for Applications.

Learn more about the selection process:

The Patient Perspective Score provides patient advocate and nurse members of the Grants Working Group (GWG) a mechanism to formally voice their viewpoint of applications under review. The score has a specific set of review criteria that focuses on patient-centered elements of the application; it is used in preclinical and clinical stage funding opportunities.
Your score and review summary can be expected approximately two to three months after external review is complete. The review summary is for both applicants and CIRM’s governing board, which makes final funding decisions. A de-identified version of the review summary (with score) is posted publicly on CIRM’s website unless the application is withdrawn by the applicant.
Applicants who don’t receive an award may re-apply. The ability to re-apply depends on whether a future review is planned and on requirements of the active Program Announcement or Request for Applications.

Award Approval and Next Steps

Award Approval is determined by a vote of CIRM’s governing board.

For most programs, funding approvals are made by the Application Review Subcommittee (ARS) of the Independent Citizens’ Oversight Committee (ICOC), CIRM’s governing board. In addition to scores and review summaries from external review, the ARS or ICOC may consider programmatic factors such as the availability of funds, overall grant portfolio, Program Announcement and Request for Applications priorities, or strategic considerations in their decision to fund or not fund applications. The aim is to fund applications that are both scientifically meritorious and bring programmatic value to the CIRM portfolio.

Award approvals are made in a public meeting. Members of the public, including applicants for CIRM funding, may send open letters to the board, attend the meeting, and/or make public comments on matters related to the meeting agenda.

Once an application has moved through all stages and is approved for funding, CIRM’s Grants Management Team contacts the awardee with important information about the award and requirements for next steps.

For information on CIRM’s policies and practices for awardees, visit the Managing Your Grant page. 

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