Common Funding Opportunities

Internal

Memorial University offers a variety of internal funding opportunities:

  • Seed/Bridge/Multidisciplinary program: The Vice President Research (VPR) runs a biannual competition (May/Nov) for up to $10,000 for research projects which support:
    • new research ideas (Seed);
    • bridge a gap in tri-council funding (Bridge); or
    • new multidisciplinary collaborations (Multidisciplinary)
  • The office of Public Engagement offers several funding opportunities for researchers to engage the community. 
  • The Janeway Foundation runs an annual competition (July) for research related to pediatric health in Newfoundland and Labrador. 
  • The Ocean Frontier Institute (OFI) offers annual seed program competitions for $10,000.
  • The Harris Centre offers several funding opportunities for researchers to engage in applied research in all areas related to public policy and regional development.
  • Publication Subvention Fund (biannual competitions in Mar/Nov) and The Open Access Author Fund (Apr or May) provide financial assistance to scholarly publishing from within the university community.
  • SSHRC Explore provides funds for short-term research projects in disciplines supported by SSHRC, while SSHRC Exchange grants provides assistance to attend or present at conferences and meetings in disciplines supported by SSHRC (biannual competitions are ran for these grants in Feb/Sep).

Memorial University funding to hire students for short-term work:

  • Memorial Undergraduate Career Experience Program (MUCEP): To hire undergraduate students.
  • Int'l Student Work Experience Program (ISWEP): To hire international students.
  • Grad Student Work Experience Program (GradSWEP): To hire graduate students.
  • NSERC Undergraduate Summer Research Award (USRA) & Faculty of Science (FoS) Undergraduate Research Award (SURA): MUN receives ~20 NSERC USRAs each year and the FoS supports an additional ~20 SURAs for a 16-week internship program which requires ~$2,900 in additional funds from the supervisor.
  • University Student Summer Internship Program (USSIP): 10 competitive internships available; requires supervisors contribute $1,811 (13 weeks) or $3,340 (16 weeks) towards the student’s total stipend.

External

  • Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)
    • Discovery Grants (DG)
    • Research Tools and Instruments (RTI)
    • Ship Time grants
    • Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE)
    • Alliance (partnership grant)
    • Discovery Horizons (interdisciplinary grant- cannot hold DG at same time)
    • PromoScience (outreach)
  • New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF)
    • Exploration (high risk/high reward interdisciplinary)
    • Transformation (large scale multidisciplinary – Canadian led)
    • International
    • Special calls
  • Mitacs
    • Accelerate (partnered student/postdoc internships)
    • Globalink Research awards (internships held abroad)

Government Departments

  • Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA)
    • Atlantic Innovation Fund (AIF)
  • Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO)
    • Ecosystems and Ocean Science Contribution Framework
    • Atlantic Fisheries Fund
  • Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and Agriculture (provincial)
  • Edu Canada
    • Emerging Leaders in the Americas Program (ELAP)
  • Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)
  • Industry, Energy, and Technology Newfoundland (IET)
    • Research and development funds (maximum 50%matching funds)
  • National Research Council Canada (NRC)
  • National Resources Canada (NRCan)

Please see Memorial University’s Research Funding Database for other opportunities and institutional deadlines, and check out the Science Scoop for the Faculty of Science deadlines. All applications should be submitted via Memorial’s Research Portal (ROMEO).