The opportunity to be considered for a HRC assessing committee is now being offered to interested researchers who can nominate themselves by updating a new category in their HRC Gateway profile.
The HRC encourages researchers, especially those that receive HRC support, to take part in peer review processes. Each year assessing committee membership is decided by committee chairs and the HRC Secretariat. The decision process takes into account the expertise required to match the applications under assessment, but also the need to ensure that conflicts of interest are minimised and managed.
Assessing committees are convened for the full range of grant types offered by the HRC, including the annual funding round, partnership programme, and Māori and Pacific health awards. For example, the work undertaken by the science assessing committees that are convened for the annual funding round is described in the HRC peer review manual.
Although the commitment can be significant, committee members gain from the experience in networking, exposure to recent research trends, and a better understanding of HRC grant writing requirements.