Grants

The most common and accessible form of funding for HSS researchers are grant opportunities which are funded by a number of agencies, associations, or organizations (typcially called "sponsors"), as well as internally by various Memorial University units. Funding opportunities can be ad hoc or a single competition, or annual or multiple times per year, depending on the agency and funding program. For large agencies, such as SSHRC, the funding deadlines occur on a regular annual basis; planning to apply often occurs a year in advance. For competitive grant funding, Memorial's Researcher Portal is used to collect completed applications and documents as predetermined by a sponsor's competition requirements and regulations. It is not used for drafting purposes. See Submitting Proposals for more information. 

In all cases, external grants are governed by agreements. In some cases following awarding of an external grant, an agreement must be struck between Memorial and a sponsor to outline financial administration terms, eligible expenses, and other matters. In others, such as Tri-Agency, there are institution-level master agreements which govern awarded grant administration, and no subsequent agreement text is required. However, in such cases Research Initiatives and Services (RIS) requires an Agreement Event in the Memorial Researcher Portal as documentation of a researcher's acceptance of the terms and conditions of their award and adherence to the master agreement parameters, as required by the sponsor themselves. 

Contracts & Agreements

HSS researchers often work with partners in private industry, non-profit, or the public sector on projects which are tailored specifically to their expertise and the needs of the partner. In such cases, funding is often obtained and governed by research contracts or agreements which define the amount and scope of the work involved, expenses, and timelines. In these instances, a Memorial Researcher Portal file is used to both draft and approve the agreement text. See the How do I...? section for detailed information about the process of working with RIS in signing a contract or agreement.

Awards & Honours

Another opportunity for research funding can be professional awards or honours, which often come with funding. Such awards can be internal or external, and often have fewer restrictions, meaning awards do not only enhance a scholar's profile, they can act as matching or bridge funding for research. As with all research funding, these funds are governed by Memorial's research policies and regulations, as well as those of the sponsor. They may require an agreement prior to account opening. See the Award Opportunities section for more information and a link to Memorial's Awards database.

Fellowships

Memorial researchers interested in spending time at another institution to further their research or develop their scholarly profile can apply for fellowships funded by existing research projects, or from external agencies and organizations. Some fellowships provide means for researchers to visit the external organization for a short duration, while others allow researchers to live for a longer amount of time. Such funding usually focuses on maintenance and/or salary costs, but they can also include small research expense costs for travel, archival, or other kinds of field work. Fellowship funding is case-specific - in cases where the University administers the funding, an agreement may be required to be submitted in Memorial's Researcher Portal. In others, funding may be issued directly to a researcher, regardless of residency or institution. Or, in others, a fellowship may be administered by another institution where the researcher holds the fellowship and is expected to be resident for a period of time.

Advanced Draft Feedback (ADF) is an optional review and is designed to provide applicants with comments on early drafts of applications, which can aid in preparation of a final proposal for a grant competition. Applicants can submit any portion of a proposal by the "aim-for" date; see these dates within each grant entry in HSS's Research Funding Tracker, or contact a GFO.

Submitting for ADF is recommended for Tri-Agency applications, as well as larger, competitive grant proposals where there are numerous inter-related documents and sections, as well as involved budgets and teams. The GFO’s feedback may involve suggestions regarding:

• Research plan: situate the project within the context of past research and put the proposal in a better position to set up future proposals and long-term research career plans
• Spin: closely align the proposal with the program’s mandate, evaluation criteria and committee composition, and if applicable, Memorial’s strategic themes, policies, etc.
• Feasibility: increase the robustness and feasibility of the research plans (objectives, theory, methodology, student training, knowledge mobilization, participant roles, budget, overall scope and depth, data management, etc.)
• Budget: identify potential roadblocks or inconsistencies; ensure all expenses are appropriate, feasible and allowable
• Wordsmithing/style: increase clarity and logical flow of structural organization
• Leverage: show strategic leveraging of cash and in-kind commitments and offer guidance on obtaining proper documentation for contributions

Generally, the objectives of an ADF are to:

• Confirm eligibility requirements of PI, CI, COLLS, other members of the research team and partners.
• Consider how your research questions, methods, and objectives align with the competition’s objectives and evaluation criteria and scoring.
• Consider how your research questions, methods, and objectives are presented and structured within the application.
• Consider which committee the application should be submitted to, including the new Tri-Agency Interdisciplinary Peer Review (TAIPR) Committee, if applying to programs in which you can access this committee.
• Ensure draft length of documents or texts are approximate to the maximums determined by the competition.
• Ensure consistency across all sections of the application.
• Review your materials in light of any previous commentary you (or a funding agency) may have provided (Note that if you have received feedback from a previous committee, please forward with your ADF draft).
• Review each component of your research project to ensure it adheres to the sponsor's policies and best-practices regarding budgets, the training of highly qualified personnel, knowledge mobilization, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, open access, Indigenous research, and data management plans, etc., as applicable.
• Check for eligibility of any commitments or contributions and flag those that will require back-up documentation and advise on how to obtain these necessary documents. We may also suggest other contributions that may be available at Memorial that might demonstrate feasibility and/or Memorial’s support to the project.
• Assist in development of the budget and budget justification, in particular reviewing that the budget adheres to Memorial’s Schedule of Reimbursable expenses, hosting policy, rates of pay, terms governing student assistants, post-doctoral fellows, research assistants, etc.
• Ensure the application adheres to Memorial’s policies and best practices for topics such as: Memorial’s Research Impacting Indigenous Groups policy, Northern research, data management and security, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion – Anti-Racism, etc.
• Review your CV, research contributions, and relevant experience, providing suggestions so as to align these sections with the competition’s objectives and the research project.

 

In order to hold research funds at Memorial, you must maintain an academic appointment for the entire duration of the grant/agreement you have been awarded, from start to end date, and without a gap between appointments. Appointments must be contiguous - i.e. there can be no gap between them, even for a day. If you are remaining at Memorial, you should seek reappointment in some form - be it a continuation of your current appointment or another eligible appointment, far in advance of your current appointment's end date. Discuss with your supervisor and/or department regarding maintaining, or gaining a new, research affiliation with Memorial. 

Yes. Research Initiatives and Services (RIS) has created a Research Project Management website with instructional videos, downloadable PDF guides, and other resources to aid Memorial researchers in project management from start to close-out of a grant. Especially useful is the Project Budget Monitoring Excel document and guide. 

Note: this site is not maintained. 

No. Amendments must be made by the Principal Investigator in coordination with their institution. This includes extensions to availability of funds sent to other institutions (including Memorial) for co-applicants, such as in Transfer Sub-Agreements.

Note: extensions of a grant timeline does not guarantee continued access to sub-granted or transferred funds; this must be negotiated between institutions. Transfers to other researchers or agreements themselves must also be updated once the main grant is amended, if applicable.

According to Memorial, yes, you may apply for, and hold, research grant/agreement funds at Memorial with this affiliation. However, each sponsor and program has its own eligibility criteria; confirm with your GFO that the grant you wish to apply for will allow you to apply for and hold funds. 

According to Memorial, yes, but you must hold an official research affiliation with Memorial before you can hold research grant/agreement funds. We recommend you seek a research-affiliation appointment from the Office of the Provost and Vice-President (Academic) as an Adjunct, Honorary Research Professor, or Professor Emeritus. Applying for these appointments is coordinated through your Department.

If you are planning on retiring and currently hold research funds, you must ensure that there is no gap, not even for a day, in your affiliation after your retirement date. Therefore, you should apply for an appointment such as Adjunct or Honorary Research Professor far in advance of your retirement date; this will ensure there is no gap between your current appointment and your post-retirement appointment. You will then be able to maintain access to your research funds. Contact your Department Head to create a plan upon retirement for your research funds. 

Potentially. Your amendment may have 'knock on' effects, which can include:

• Re-issuing or updating transfers to co-applicants
• Extensions or amendments to existing agreements or sub-agreements
• Changes to payments such as stipends to students
• Updates or extensions to ethics or other clearances

Each of these may have specific processes and may include additional Events in Memorial's Researcher Portal. The GFO handling your file and/or the RIS Contracts or Grants Officer working on your amendment will be able to advise you if there are follow-up actions needed once your amendment has been approved.

You may need to request a formal amendment to your Memorial Researcher Portal (RP) file if you need to change any of the following:

• Budget (for non-Tri-Agency grants)
• Timeline, milestone dates, or end date
• MOUs (new or changes to existing) or other existing agreements with external organizations or researchers
• The formal research team or anyone's status or affiliation
• the new involvement of Indigenous groups mid-project
• etc.

Each of these may be handled differently and may include additional Events in the Researcher Portal. 

Amendments to grants and agreements typically require departmental and Faculty approvals before Research Initiatives and Services (RIS) can approve and act on them and update your RP file. Each sponsor's program is unique; some may require formal amendments for any of the above; others may only need an amendment for one type and not another. It's best to contact a GFO who can help you navigate the specific changes you wish to make and advise on the requirements. You can also check out the How do I...? section for the general process to submit an amendment to RIS.

Generally, a deferral is a pause in the prearranged annual transfers or disbursements from a sponsor to Memorial when funding remains to be transferred and the normal funding end date has not yet occurred. See the How do I...? section for more information on how to request a deferral.

An extension, usually, refers to changing the end date of a funded project, allowing the researcher continued access to remaining funds at Memorial. There are no-cost extension and additional funds extensions. Approval of the extension must be sought from the funding agency prior by either the primary applicant or by RIS, depending on the sponsor. See the How do I...? section for more information on how to request an extension.

 

It depends entirely on the sponsor. Some may allow for time frame extensions, while others may not permit them at all.

Tri-Agency

For most Tri-Agency programs, there is an automatic one-year extension provided to all research grants. You may request further extensions, but you can only request a maximum of a one-year extension at a time; however, there are no limits (that we know of) as to how many one-year extensions you can request. The Tri-Agencies require that Research Initiatives and Services (RIS) submit all extension requests.

Tri-Agency extension requests must follow the process outlined in the How Do I...? section.

Non-Tri-Agency

If the sponsor has approved an extension and it is over one year in length, RIS requires approvals from your department and the HSS Dean's Office before they will update your grant file. Extensions which come with budget changes, or personnel changes, often also require full review and institutional approval.

For extensions less than one-year in length, RIS can approve the extension (in most cases) without unit approvals.

Some sponsors request that RIS submit the extension request; others prefer the application request it. See the How do I....? page for more information on the process.