Canada Biomedical Research Fund—Stage 1 Full Application instructions

The Canada Biomedical Research Fund (CBRF) program is a tri-agency initiative of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat (TIPS), housed at SSHRC, and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) will deliver the CBRF and remaining resources in the Biosciences Research Infrastructure Fund (BRIF) through an integrated competition.

These instructions are to be used in conjunction with the information in the CBRF-BRIF funding opportunity, scientific selection criteria and ratings descriptions.  

Institutions are expected to follow all presentation instructions specified below to allow reviewers to provide a fair and balanced assessment of the application.  The program will verify that all materials submitted meet CBRF eligibility requirements and application guidelines. Submissions that do not meet requirements will be withdrawn from the competition.

At each stage, institutions may choose to submit an application in either official language, English or French. Any accompanying documents should also be submitted in the same language to assist with the merit review process. Page limits for supporting documents submitted in French reflect a 20% increased space allotment over English documents.

The CBRF Senior Official (SO) is responsible for submitting the application.

The deadline to submit the Stage 1 Full Application is 9:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time (EDT) on August 11, 2022. No deadline extensions will be permitted.

All applicants will be contacted when the results are available.

Questions concerning the application process can be sent to CBRF-FRBC@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca.

If you are experiencing technical problems (e.g., difficulty viewing or downloading electronic forms), contact: websupport@convergence.gc.ca.

On this page

• Using the Convergence Portal to prepare an application
• Application adjudication
• Required information
• Supporting documents
• Contact information

Using the Convergence Portal to prepare an application

Your institution must have submitted a notice of intent to apply (NOI) by the deadline to be eligible to create and submit a full application.

You must complete the application using the Convergence Portal. The Convergence Portal supports only the latest versions of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox. The portal may appear to function in other browsers but technical problems can occur, such as information being improperly captured in the system without the user being aware. Use of an unsupported browser is strongly discouraged.

Follow the instructions provided in the Convergence Portal to complete the application. When you are ready to submit, review your application to ensure it is complete. From the “Finalize” section in the Convergence Portal, follow the prompts to submit your application. After you accept the Terms and Conditions, the status of your submission will change to “Received by Agency”. No changes can be made after that point.

Roles and invitations

Multiple individuals may take part in preparing the application in the Convergence Portal. The CBRF Senior Official (SO) is the designated institutional representative (for example, the provost or the vice-president, Research, depending on the institution) who has the authority to sign off on the application. Only one CBRF SO can be named. The CBRF SO has both read and write privileges in the Convergence Portal.

The CBRF SO assigns the role of CBRF Delegate(s) to designated individuals from the hub lead institution who have a role in the CBRF application process. As many delegates as needed can be named. Delegates have both read and write privileges in the Convergence Portal.

The Major and Other partners named in the NOI will not be transferred to the Stage 1 Full Application. The CBRF SO will name the CBRF Major and Other partners in specific modules in the Convergence Portal (see below for a description of these modules and the definition of Major and Other partners).  The Major partners, once invited, will receive an email from the Convergence Portal granting them read-only access to the Convergence Portal.

The CBRF SO must verify the page lengths and formatting of any uploaded attachments submitted as part of the application.

Application adjudication

Hubs will be selected through a rigorous two-step review process. First, the Scientific and Technical Review Committee (STRC) will assess all Stage 1 CBRF applications to determine which are scientifically meritorious. Second, the Strategic Review Committee (SRC) will assess the alignment of scientifically meritorious hub proposals with Canada’s Biomanufacturing and Life Sciences Strategy (BLSS) and the strategic objectives of the CBRF-BRIF funding opportunity. The SRC provides its assessments/recommendations to the Deputy Heads Steering Committee for review, and then submits its recommendations to the Tri-agency Programs Steering Committee for its final decision on awards.

Stage 1 CBRF applications will be adjudicated based on the following selection criteria:

• Capacity
• Existing critical mass
• Cooperation
• Receptor capacity
• Multidisciplinarity
• Equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and inclusion of early career researchers (ECRs)

Each application will be considered holistically and assessed accordingly. All applications will be held to the same standards of research excellence and must meet a minimum rating of “Good” for all six selection criteria to be scientifically meritorious.

To learn more about the adjudication process and how applications will be assessed, consult the funding opportunity description, the scientific selection criteria and ratings descriptions.

Required information

Convergence Portal sections

All relevant information from the notice of intent to apply (NOI) will be pre-populated into the full application and can be edited. This includes:

1. Application details (pre-populated)
2. Keywords (pre-populated)
3. Fields of research (pre-populated)
4. Socioeconomic objectives
5. Summary of proposal (pre-populated)
6. Invite partner institutions (invite Major partners)
7. Partner institutions (Major partners)
8. Partners (Other partners)
9. Core personnel (scientific team)
10. Proposed budget
11. Suggested reviewers (pre-populated)
12. Reviewer exclusions (pre-populated)

Supporting documents

The following supporting documents must be uploaded to the Convergence Portal as PDF files.

1. Hub’s priorities, vision and high-level program of research (12 pages in English, 14.4 pages in French)
2. Collaborative, multidisciplinary, multisectoral approach and partner contributions (12 pages in English, 14.4 pages in French)
3. Existing and planned capacity (12 pages in English, 14.4 pages in French)
4. Hub budget table
5. Hub budget justification (2 pages in English, 2.4 pages in French)
6. Letters of support from Major partners (2 pages per letter in English, 2.4 pages in French)
7. Letters of support from Other partners (2 pages per letter in English, 2.4 pages in French)
8. Biosketches of the scientific team members (2 pages per person in English, 2.4 pages in French)

1. Application details

Application title: Provide a short, descriptive title for the research hub, which may be used for publication purposes. You can use common abbreviations (e.g., DNA), but avoid uncommon or discipline-specific abbreviations, company and trade names.

Application language: Indicate which official language will be used for the Stage 1 CBRF full application.

2. Keywords

List between five and 15 keywords to describe the hub’s program of research.

3. Fields of research

Select the fields of research from the Canadian Research and Development Classification (CRDC) codes that best relate to the hub’s program of research. You must provide at least two primary fields of research from different groups (disciplines). You may add secondary fields of research for a total maximum of 20 fields relating to the program of research.

4. Socioeconomic objective

The Canadian Research and Development Classification (CRDC) was jointly developed by the federal research granting agencies, along with the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Statistics Canada. The Convergence Portal contains Socioeconomic Objective (SEO) - CRDC 2020 Version 1.0.

You must provide at least one primary socioeconomic objective. You may add up to five socioeconomic objectives.

5. Summary of proposal

Provide a summary written in plain language (maximum 2,500 characters) describing the over-arching objectives, priorities and research themes to be addressed by the program of research, for the duration of the hub. The summary can differ from the one provided with the NOI.

6. Invite partner institutions (invite Major partners)

Partner institutions refer to Major partners, organizations that put their capabilities and strengths at the service of the hub and provide a significant contribution. They are jointly responsible for delivery of the hub’s program of research, and actively participate in the hub’s governance. National and cross-sector (industry, private, public and other) partnerships are required to ensure the organizations involved are appropriately diverse.

Hubs should work only with trusted partners who reflect the highest standards of security and integrity in their activities, operations and equipment. Please see Research Security for further details.

As the BLSS puts forward a pan-Canadian approach to growing the domestic life sciences sector and ensuring Canada’s readiness for future pandemics or other health emergencies, partners in hubs and related projects must be within Canada. Multinational companies must be incorporated in Canada and carry out business in the country.

Major partners could also be invited to contribute to other aspects of the BLSS including associated governance and planning activities, as relevant.

Major partners may include:

• Academic institutions, including universities, colleges, polytechnics and institutes
• Research organizations (including research hospitals and federal government research facilities)
• Private sector organizations
• Public sector organizations
• Philanthropic/not-for-profit organizations

Those invited will receive an automated email from Convergence Portal with further instructions to create a profile if the invited organization does not have one and a request to accept the Terms and Conditions of the application process, just as the lead institution does. The status of your invitations will be displayed in the module. The names of organizations that have successfully signed-up will be displayed in the Major partners module (see below). They will have read-only access to the application in the Convergence Portal.  

7. Partner institutions (Major partners)

The names of Major partners invited in the preceding module will appear in the “Partner Institutions” module. This information is required by TIPS to ensure potential reviewers are not in conflict of interest with either the lead institution or any participating partners.  

8. Partners (Other partners)

Partners refer to Other partners, which are other organizations that complement the hub’s expertise, training capability, infrastructure, etc.

Other partners may include:

• Academic institutions, including universities, colleges, polytechnics and institutes
• Research organizations (including research hospitals and federal government research facilities)
• Private sector organizations (industry partners must be incorporated in Canada and carry out business in the country)
• Public sector organizations
• Philanthropic/not-for-profit organizations

In this module, list the Other partners. Other partners in hubs and related projects must be within Canada. Multinational companies must be incorporated in Canada and carry out business in the country. For each Other partner, you must indicate in which country it is located and the category of the institution.

9. Core personnel (scientific team)

The Core personnel module refers to the scientific team, a group of up to 10 individuals named by the hub who will be responsible for ensuring the alignment of applied translational research, training development, and infrastructure projects at Stage 2 of the hub’s program of research. There are no requirements or restrictions on the distribution of these positions among hub partners.

Should an individual who is from neither the lead institution nor partner institutions be included due to a unique and necessary skillset or other factors that can’t be found within the partnering institutions, a clear rationale should be provided. This individual’s institution should be made aware of the researcher’s proposed commitment.

10. Proposed budget

CBRF Stage 1 grants are awarded for a period of four years to cover expenses associated with planning, convening and coordinating research projects associated with the hub. Funds will be disbursed over the duration of the grant based on a payment schedule established by the program.
In this module enter the total direct and indirect costs of the hub, broken down by year.

See the information in Supporting documents d. and e. for more guidance on preparing the budget.

11. Suggested reviewers

Update the list of five to 10 suggested reviewers submitted at the NOI stage who may be contacted to review your application at any stage. Applicants are encouraged to suggest a diverse list of potential reviewers with appropriate expertise to review and comment on the proposal. Suggested reviewers should be a mix of Canadian and international experts from academic and research institutions, not-for-profit and philanthropic organizations, private sector enterprises and the public sector, and should include individuals from the four designated groups (women and gender minorities, persons with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples and members of racialized minorities). In addition to the required expertise to review and comment on the proposal, these individuals should not be in a conflict of interest with any member of the research hub, as defined by the Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Policy of the Federal Research Funding Organizations.

You must identify reviewers who:

• are not affiliated with the lead institution or any partner institutions/organizations;
• are not in a conflict of interest with scientific team members (core personnel) from the lead institution or any partner institutions/organizations;
• can provide an independent scientific and technical assessment of the application;
• are capable of reviewing the application in the language in which it is written;
• are primarily affiliated with international institutions/organizations (minimum of 2); and
• are primarily affiliated with the private sector (minimum 1).

12. Reviewer exclusions

You may provide up to five names of individuals whom you think cannot provide an objective review of your application. TIPS reserves the right to make the final selection of reviewers. The Reviewer exclusions section for each stage of the application process is accessible under the Privacy Act.

Supporting documents

The following supporting documents (a. through h.) must be uploaded to the Convergence Portal as PDF files. The program will undertake an internal review of all materials to verify that submissions meet the program's eligibility requirements and application guidelines. Applications that do not meet requirements may be withdrawn from the competition.

• Page limits for both official languages must be respected.
• Any acronyms and abbreviations must be explained.
• Pages must be 8 1/2” x 11" (216 mm x 279 mm).
• All text must be in black, set to a minimum 11-point Arial font; condensed fonts will not be accepted.
• Text must be single-spaced, with no more than six lines of type per inch.
• All page margins must be set at a minimum of 3/4” (1.87 cm).
• No personal identifying information should be included in the headers and/or footers (e.g., name, PIN, institution, etc.).
• Either single- or double-column presentation of text, graphs and illustrations is acceptable.

Convert the documents

All attachments must be converted to Portable Document Format (PDF) before they can be attached to the application. The conversion process varies depending on the operating system and word processing software you are using. If you have questions about converting your documents to PDF, contact your institution’s technical support staff.

If you do not have a PDF conversion program, you may download a free version of PrimoPDF. Macintosh users have a PDF conversion option in the Macintosh system "print" function.

a. Hub’s priorities, vision and program of research

The document must be a maximum of 12 pages in English or 14.4 pages in French.

Present a high-level program of research that identifies the hub’s over-arching objectives, priorities and research themes and addresses critical gaps in the Canadian biomanufacturing and life sciences ecosystem.

• Describe how expected outcomes align with Canada’s BLSS and the strategic objectives of CBRF-BRIF funding opportunity.
• Demonstrate how the hub will lead and mobilize a diverse and inclusive research community, bringing together partners across multiple sectors, to deliver large-scale high-risk projects as part of its program of research and research training, to contribute significantly to pandemic preparedness and a competitive biomanufacturing and life sciences sector.

b. Collaborative, multidisciplinary, multisectoral approach and partner contributions

The document must be a maximum of 12 pages in English or 14.4 pages in French.

Present the hub’s multidisciplinary, multisectoral approach, how different disciplines are included and explain the added value they impart to the program of research. It is understood that not every objective or theme within the program of research will cut across the mandates of the three agencies.

• Describe how the capabilities and strengths brought by existing and potential partners will complement those of the hub lead institution.
• Demonstrate the hub’s ability to support research projects under the mandates of the three agencies.
• Describe the scope, composition, excellence and diversity of the scientific team and suitability for ensuring coherence of projects submitted at Stage 2 in the delivery of the hub’s program of research. It is expected that steps have been taken to apply equity, diversity, and inclusion principles and best practices to the selection process(es) for scientific team members.

Present the hub governance and management structure, including the composition of the governance committee and its role relative to the roles of other management committees or positions responsible for the delivery of the hub’s program of research, including the scientific team. There is no prescribed limit to the number of positions or form of the governance structure.

• Demonstrate how EDI principles were applied to the composition of the governance committee and related management committees.
• Describe the project selection process for endorsement of applications at Stage 2 of the CBRF competition. List any potential barriers identified in accessing the project selection and endorsement process, and the best practices and/or active measures implemented to remove these barriers.
• Demonstrate how EDI principles and support to ECRs are embedded in the selection of personnel, as well as the distribution of training and mentorship opportunities associated with CBRF.
• Describe the anti-racism best practices and/or active measures implemented by the lead institution in the context of committees/teams, selection processes, training and mentoring.

c. Existing and planned capacity

The document must be a maximum of 12 pages in English or 14.4 pages in French.

Present an overview of the hub opportunities to leverage existing and planned training capacity, infrastructure and investments and its ability to support vaccine, therapeutics and diagnostic developers, as well as develop commercially viable vaccines and therapeutics.

Describe the facilities, infrastructure and other financial and/or in-kind contributions available to support the hub’s program of research.

Describe training programs that support or lead to skills appropriate to the life sciences and biomanufacturing sector, including industry-relevant training, for all levels of highly qualified personnel.

Provide evidence of the collective hub track record as it relates to:

• past research activities (quality, quantity and value), and in the resulting outputs and outcomes, in disciplines related to the life sciences and biomanufacturing sector;
• technology transfer environment and the industry engagement effort, including information about past record in technology transfer, commercialization and other knowledge translation initiatives;
• targeted applied research and talent investments that resulted in the development of emerging vaccine, therapeutic and/or diagnostic technologies, with a focus on knowledge mobilization, translation and commercialization;
• past and current co-creation among hub partners, from across sectors, that increased uptake of vaccine and therapeutic-related research results.

d. Hub budget table

Use the budget table template provided in the Supporting Documents section. You must upload your completed table as a separate document. Enter all planned expenditures of CBRF funding for each category (direct costs and indirect costs) for each year that the hub will operate.

Refer to the Tri-Agency Guide on Financial Administration for details on eligible costs under each expense category.

The indirect costs of research are integrated into the CBRF program, which allows institutions to use up to 25% of the total grant to support eligible indirect costs of research.

e. Hub budget justification

A budget justification (maximum of 2 pages in English or 2.4 pages in French) must be included.

The budget justification should include:

• the timing of specific planned expenditures, e.g., if certain costs are expected to be incurred at the beginning of the grant only;
• confirmation of any internal resources to be committed that are incremental to the hub budget; and
• any plans to transfer a portion of the grant to partner organizations and/or other Canadian institutions eligible to the CBRF program, including a clear outline of the timelines and amounts of such transfers.

f. Letters of support from Major partners

Each Major partner will submit a letter of support (maximum of 2 pages in English or 2.4 pages in French) to the hub lead institution to be combined with all Major partner letters into a single PDF file. The CBRF SO or delegate must upload the combined PDF to the Convergence Portal.

Major partners can be any type of institution or organization (academic, public, private, industry and not-for-profit) that puts capabilities and strengths at the service of the hub, provides a significant contribution and participates actively in the hub’s governance. Major partners are jointly responsible for delivery of the hub’s program of research.

g. Letters of support from Other partners

Other partners will each submit a letter of support (maximum of 2 pages in English or 2.4 pages in French) to the hub lead institution to be combined with all Other partner letters into a single PDF file. The SO or delegate must upload the combined PDF to the Convergence Portal.

Other partners can be any type of institutional or organization (academic, public, private, industry and not-for-profit) that complements the hub’s expertise, training capability, infrastructure, or other resources. Other partners could offer in-kind or cash contributions to support the hub’s program of research.

Letters of support from partners should at, a minimum, provide an overview of:

• who the partner is;
• why they are interested in participating and what they expect to gain through the partnership; and
• what they are contributing to the partnership.

h. Scientific team biosketches

A biosketch (maximum of 2 pages in English or 2.4 pages in French) must be uploaded for each individual listed as a member of the scientific team in the Core personnel module mentioned above (maximum 10 individuals). This information will assist reviewers in assessing the existing research hub strengths and its leadership in relation to the objectives of the high-level program of research.

A biosketch template (40 KB) is provided. Include information, as relevant to the proposal, for each of the headings in the template.

• Name of scientific team member
• Anticipated role in delivery of the program of research
• Keywords
• Education/Training: Include only current and/or completed degree programs
• Employment/Affiliations: List current, primary position/appointment, place of employment (if at an academic institution, indicate if tenured or tenure-track, full-time or part-time), and other academic and professional work experience, including administrative appointments
• Research Funding: List sources of support currently held or applied for in the past four years. (This heading may not apply to administrators and can be removed.)
• Most Significant Contributions (up to five): List most significant contributions to research and/or translation of research into product /service development. For each, briefly describe the significance in terms of influence on the target community and use by other researchers or end users. For collaborative contributions, briefly describe role. (For administrators, this heading can be modified to “Most Significant Achievements" for listing experience/accomplishments in leading large research initiatives.)

Each scientific team member will submit a biosketch to the hub lead institution to be combined with all biosketches into a single PDF file. The CBRF SO or delegate must upload the combined PDF to the Convergence Portal.

Contact information

If you have questions:

• about the application process, contact CBRF-FRBC@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca
• about the Convergence Portal, contact websupport@convergence.gc.ca