Funding FAQ

No. The Research Grants Facilitators will work with you to develop a competitive application, read your draft proposal and provide feedback to improve your application, and support all aspects of developing a strong application.

Your grants facilitators welcome draft proposals at any stage of development - feel free to contact the facilitators to submit a partial or complete draft for review.

Once a draft is received, a facilitator informs the applicant as to when the review will be ready. Comments, suggestions and questions are conveyed using track changes in Word (let the facilitator know if a Word document is not an option). When a review is ready, a facilitator e-mails it to the applicant or, in some cases, discusses it in a telephone conversation or meeting. In addition, the facilitators can provide confidential samples of successful applications upon request.

Feel free to contact your facilitators at any time with questions, comments and drafts.

Note: Given the number of Science faculty members, concurrent deadlines, and a process of writing that often involves multiple drafts and numerous reviews, it is best to contact the facilitators well in advance of deadlines. While planning your work on proposals, take into consideration that a minimum of two to three drafts (and sometimes additional iterations) are typically needed.

Contact your grants facilitator for assistance in developing competitive research grant applications, selecting the best grant programs to apply for, and building interdisciplinary, interdepartmental, and inter-university research teams.
Contact the Office of Research Services (ORS) for assistance in obtaining and administering financial support for research; for example, with questions about application processes, eligibility and the SFU Signature Sheet.

The SFU Office of Research Services maintains a list of SFU grants and includes eligibility information, deadlines, forms and instructions.

SFU generally administers research grants and contracts only on behalf of faculty members. See ORS for details on eligibility, and consult SFU Policy R 10.01, External Research Grants and Contracts. Also contact the Faculty of Science Research Grants Facilitator for help with finding funding for your research.

The SFU Office of Research Services maintains a list of SFU grants and includes eligibility information, deadlines, forms and instructions.

The Office of Research Services offers a searchable research funding and awards opportunities database. Subscribe to receive periodic updates on opportunities that match your needs.

The SFU Office of Research Services maintains a list of SFU grants and includes eligibility information, deadlines, forms and instructions.

The SFU Office of Research Services maintains a list of SFU grants and includes eligibility information, deadlines, forms and instructions.

SFU generally administers research grants and contracts only on behalf of faculty members. See ORS for details on eligibility, and consult SFU Policy R 10.01, External Research Grants and Contracts. Also contact the Faculty of Science Research Grants Facilitator for help with finding funding for your research.

SFU generally administers research grants and contracts only on behalf of faculty members. See ORS for details on eligibility, and consult SFU Policy R 10.01, External Research Grants and Contracts. Also contact the Faculty of Science Research Grants Facilitator for help with finding funding for your research.

SFU does not charge researchers overhead on grants awarded by Canada’s National Granting Councils. Instead, SFU receives an annual grant from the Canadian government's Research Support Fund to assist with costs associated with research. The support received is based on the average level of funding received over the previous three years from Canada’s National Granting Councils and Networks of Centres of Excellence.

For research funded by other sources, including research or contract agreements, SFU seeks to recover indirect costs; details are available from SFU’s Office of Research Services (ORS). Questions about indirect costs are answered by Aniko Takacs-Cox (Director, ORS).

See also Research Contracts and SFU’s Research Policy R10.01.

100% of research grants awarded by Canada’s National Granting Councils goes to researchers. Research grants and contracts supported by other sources may be subject to recovery of indirect costs (overhead); see SFU’s ORS.

Some funding agencies provide salary replacement funds to protect research time and "buy out" teaching responsibilities; according to SFU Policy the minimum cost of one regular course buy-out is 12% of annual salary, a faculty member normally may not buy out more than one course in any academic year, and buy-outs require the approval of the Department Chair and Faculty Dean.

The SFU Travel Policy lists standard University rates for travel and subsistence costs, and for hotels, meals and other travel-related costs.

See the FacSci Budget Guidelines page for a summary of this information.

SFU internal deadlines are set by ORS and allow time for review and revision of grant applications before submission.
Meeting the internal deadline gives ORS staff time to check the application for compliance with the funding agency's requirements, for errors or omissions to be caught, and for applicants to correct them.  
There is no need to request an extension to the internal deadline since not meeting it will only result in your application not receiving a final review.
Information about SFU internal deadlines is listed on the ORS website; you may also check the SFU funding database for details on specific opportunities and subscribe to receive email alerts on topics of interest to you.

SFU does not charge researchers overhead on grants awarded by Canada’s National Granting Councils. Instead, SFU receives an annual grant from the Canadian government's Research Support Fund to assist with costs associated with research. The support received is based on the average level of funding received over the previous three years from Canada’s National Granting Councils and Networks of Centres of Excellence.

For research funded by other sources, including research or contract agreements, SFU seeks to recover indirect costs; details are available from SFU’s Office of Research Services (ORS). Questions about indirect costs are answered by Aniko Takacs-Cox  (Director, ORS).

Major grant programs typically require e-submission. NSERC Discovery Grants, CIHR Operating Grants, and SSHRC Insight Grants are all submitted via the internet, for example. Consult individual program requirements, or a FacSci Research Grants Facilitator or/and the SFU Office of Research Services (ORS) if you are uncertain about how to proceed.

WHO SIGNS MY GRANTS?

Research grant applications typically require a combination of applicant and institutional signatures, most often from: the applicant; their Department Chair; the FacSci Associate Dean Research & Grad Studies; and the SFU Office of Research Services (ORS).

SFU typically requires these same signatures on the SFU signature sheet but since granting agencies have specific requirements for different competitions, other signatures are at times required: consult ORS if you are uncertain about who should sign.

• Completed grant application signature page, including signatures of applicant(s) and Departmental Chair
  
• A draft of the full application  
  
• Scan and email this paperwork to the Dean of Science office 1-2 days prior to the SFU internal deadline
  
• When signed, the signature sheet and paperwork is emailed to ORS (applicant & Department cced)

• Application information, intellectual property, funding decisions
• Canadian Common CV
  
• Research Portal

• Canadian Common CV
  
• Policy on Complete Applications

• Canadian Common CV
• Help with online forms
  
• Partnership & Partnership Development Grants
• Research Portal

• Effective February 2015, the federal government introduced an employer compliance system for employers hiring foreign nationals under the federal International Mobility Programs. For an overview of the system and process, See here for details.
• Employers are now required to submit the job offer and other relevant information for the recruitment of a foreign national to Citizenship and Immigration Canada and may need to pay an employer fee of $230. Some programs are exempt but will need to submit proof of fee exemption.

• The Tri-Agency Open Access Policy on Publications requires all peer-reviewed journal publications funded by one of the three federal granting agencies to be freely available online within 12 months. 
  
• The policy requires NSERC and SSHRC funded researchers to comply with the policy for all grants awarded May 1, 2015 and onward.
• The policy will not change current compliance requirements for CIHR funded researchers since a similar policy with the same requirements has been in effect since 2008.
• Tri-Agency open access FAQs
  
• The SFU Library provides support to faculty who may have questions about the mandate or who wish to deposit their publications in SFU's research repository or a subject-based repository.
• See April 2015 article in University Affairs for a discussion of the impact of this policy on Canadian researchers.