Study themes, descriptions and illustrative quotes
| Theme | Description | Illustrative quote |
| Lack of training and limited opportunities to learn | 16 participants indicated they had informal or no training which made scoring grants difficult. | “It [training] has been pretty much experience based.” |
| Challenges in differentiating and rating applications of similar strength | 17 participants had trouble differentiating (and rating) applications that were of similar strength. | “([there is a] challenge to reliably distinguish a swathe of excellent grants” |
| An emphasis on reputations and relationships in the review process | 12 participants indicated that when it is unclear how to rate grants, reviewers rely on the reputation of the applicant and/or personal relationships to fill in the blanks. | “You hope that it’s (grant review) based on merit, not who you are, but I have seen a degree of fascination with established career researchers who, in my opinion have not written the best grant proposal, get the benefit of the doubt—let’s just call it that.” “…networking and having the opportunity to learn and to be in a place in a space physically together, where you can get to know people [assists in grant review].” |
| Role of the Chair | 18 participants indicated that the role of the Chair is essential to ensure the integrity of the grant peer review process. | “it really sort of helps if you have a really good chair.” |