OU professor appointed to Canadian research grant review panel

Oakland University Distinguished Professor of Psychology Jennifer Vonk has been appointed to the Biological Systems and Functions Evaluation Group with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), where she will serve as a reviewer of research grant applications.

Vonk will serve on the evaluation group for NSERC’s 2027-2029 Discovery Grants competition, helping evaluate research proposals and identify projects deserving of funding.

“I see this as an important service because the review panel helps determine which science projects are deserving of funding, and thus, can shape the direction of research in our areas of expertise,” Vonk said.

As part of the review process, Vonk and other members of the panel will evaluate the quality of proposed research and help identify strengths and potential shortcomings in areas such as theory and methodology. Panel members also help communicate the value of proposals to reviewers who may not be specialists in a particular area.

“We can advocate for proposals to non-experts who may not appreciate the nature of the work,” Vonk said. “We can highlight important shortcomings in theory or methodology, which will help the applicants fine-tune their science for the next round of applications.”

Vonk’s appointment also will provide a real-world perspective that she can bring to her teaching at Oakland. She teaches graduate research methods courses in psychology, including instruction on grant writing.

Vonk said understanding how funding priorities and grant applications are evaluated can help students develop stronger proposals and better prepare for the realities of conducting research.

“I can draw on what I learn about funding priorities and the review process to better teach them how to approach the grant-writing process,” she said.

Vonk said grant writing is an especially valuable skill for graduate students as researchers increasingly need to identify funding opportunities to support their work.

She also views her service on the NSERC panel as an opportunity to demonstrate the importance of professional service to her students.

“I also think it is important to model the value of service to the field, as we must rely on future generations to be willing to do this kind of work,” Vonk said.

Vonk said her experience working across a variety of research topics and with a wide range of species has helped lead to opportunities to serve as a reviewer and editor.

That breadth of experience is particularly useful on a panel that evaluates research across multiple topics, she said.

“This makes it possible for me to assess applications on a diversity of topics, which is useful for a panel where we will be asked to judge the quality of science in areas outside our own immediate areas of expertise,” Vonk said.

Vonk’s research focuses on comparative cognition, a field that examines cognitive abilities across species. She said the relatively small size of the field also means researchers often know colleagues working on related topics.

“I assume I might have been suggested as a reviewer by some of the applicants,” she said.

Vonk’s appointment reflects the role faculty members play in advancing research through peer review. Many of her Oakland University colleagues serve as reviewers for the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and similar funding agencies. Through her service with NSERC, Vonk will contribute her expertise to the peer-review process while gaining additional insight she can share with the next generation of researchers at Oakland University.