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About
The Research GPS (Grant Proposal Support) program offers a personalized approach to help hone grant development skills and turn research ideas into written proposals ready for submission. Professors are paired with a GPS Specialist for one-on-one support, receive feedback from Peer Reviewers, and will also work with their Faculty Research Office for technical and budget support. The program is designed for new grant applications and resubmissions.
Funding Programs Supported
Research GPS offers two sessions:
Summer session
Launches in May, for Fall grant deadlines:
- CIHR Project Grant
- NSERC Discovery Grant
- SSHRC Insight Grant
- SSHRC Partnership Development Grant
Fall session
Begins in September, for Winter/Spring grant deadlines:
- CIHR Project Grant
- NSERC Alliance Grant (< $750k)
- SSHRC Insight Development Grant
Participation Guidelines
Eligibility
Research GPS is open to all tenure-track and tenured, full-time faculty members of any stream. Please note that faculty members with contractually limited appointments and True Visitors are not eligible.
Researchers can only hold one spot in the Research GPS program, meaning you cannot receive support for more than one grant.
Priority Criteria
Priority will be given to:
- Early career researchers, meaning those who are within five years of the date of their first tenure-track or independent research-related appointment (according to definitions provided by the Tri-Agencies [PDF])
- Researchers transitioning to mid-career, meaning those who have received tenure no more than three years ago
- Researchers who have not held a Tri-Council grant in five or more years as a Principal Investigator
- Researchers submitting to one of the Tri-Councils for the first time
Funding
Researchers who fit at least one of the priority criteria will be offered up to 20 hours of GPS Specialist time, fully funded by Research Commons. Find more information on GPS Specialists here.
We will also offer a limited number of positions to researchers who do not fit the priority criteria (i.e., established researchers) as part of a self-funded option. For these researchers, Specialist time is not funded by Research Commons. While Research Commons will process contracts and pay invoices as usual, the researcher will journal funds to Research Commons (with assistance from our Operations Manager) at the end of the Research GPS session. The Research GPS program is designed to provide up to 20 direct consultation hours with a GPS Specialist plus 2 hours of administrative time. The usual rate for GPS Specialists is $125/hour, for a total of $2,750. Please note that HST is refunded by Finance and does not need to be paid by individual departments or faculty members.
Participation Limits
Research GPS for the Summer 2024 session will be capped at:
- 45 fully-funded participants
- 10 self-funded participants
Research GPS for the Fall 2024 session will be capped at:
- 12 fully-funded participants
- 5 self-funded participants
Adjudication
Eligibility is limited to the funding programs supported by Research GPS.
Applicants for the fully-funded option will be assessed based on the priority criteria. The registration form will include an option to indicate whether you fit the priority criteria or not.
All applicants will be accepted into the fully-funded option and the self-funded option on a first come, first served basis. Registering for Research GPS does not guarantee acceptance into the program. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
