CIHR (Canada) Postdoctoral Fellowship questions

[helmsdeep]

Hi Forum!

 

Long-time lurker, first time posting. I finally finished doctoral program and am looking for postdoctoral positions. I've been looking into the CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship (Feb 2013 application cycle) and I am wondering if anyone familiar with the application process can answer a couple of questions that I have.

 

1) How competitive is the CIHR Postdoctoral Fellowship? More specifically, do research areas not on the list of "priority" areas have little to no chance of being funded?

 

2) I am applying to conduct postdoctoral research at the same institution (also foreign, at a US institution) and with the same supervisors that I conducted my PhD research. I think I have a solid justification for why I am proposing to do research at the same institution. However, how frowned upon is this with CIHR? Will this drastically reduce my chances of winning the award even if my other areas are solid?

 

I'm currently getting my application materials ready, but I'm afraid that my chances are low (due to non-priority area research proposal and same/foreign institution) and I don't want to burden my supervisors with a lot of paperwork ultimately leading to a negative outcome.

 

Thanks for your advice!