Trainees will submit a formal application, along with ranked hub location preference and their resume or CV, via the online form on the CASCADES website.

Administrative review for eligibility (qualify, relevance, quality)

Each application will be reviewed by two reviewers to ensure it meets the threshold for acceptance.

• Applications that do not meet this threshold (as agreed upon by the two reviewers) will not be invited to participate in the Summer Institute.
• Applications that do meet this threshold will be invited to participate in the Summer Institute, but they are not guaranteed a place at their preferred hub.

The applications will be grouped by the preferred hub of the applicant. If each hub has sufficient space to host all applications that meet the threshold of acceptance, then the scientific review process is not required. If the number of accepted applicants exceeds the capacity of one or more hubs, then those applications will undergo the scientific review process. 

Scientific review process

Where hub capacity is exceeded, we will undergo scientific review process for those applications. The applications will be scored by three reviewers on the Selection Committee using a modified version of the CIHR evaluation criteria.

Applications with a score in the range of fundable (3.5 or higher) will be discussed by the Committee and ranked based on their average score from the three reviewers. If the number of accepted applicants exceeds the number of spaces in a preferred hub, applicants with the lower ranking will be invited to attend another hub they identified on their application.

Evaluation Criteria

Applications will be evaluated and selected based on the following. Capacity to benefit is a key criterion of the evaluation framework. The reviewers are interested in understanding how applicants think this will be relevant to their academic or professional careers.

• Benefit to career: Extent to which the Summer Institute will benefit and equip the applicant for their future career.
• Reasons for applying: Strength and relevance of the applicant’s interest in applying, including the relevance of their learning experiences and ambitions as a trainee to the objectives of the Summer Institute.

The extent to which the applicant is involved and/or interested in health or health systems and/or climate and/or sustainability issues will be used to establish that participants have the background knowledge to fully benefit from the Summer Institute’s programming.