2022 Special Call – Research for Postpandemic Recovery: Frequently Asked Questions

Projects are required to be interdisciplinary however they are not required to cross the mandates of more than one federal research funding agency.

Although it's impossible to predict all the outcomes, you should be able to outline some of the basic results that should occur if you attain your objectives.

Projects must address at least one of the 25 priorities or many subpriorities in the UN Roadmap. Addressing more than one priority is not considered an asset.

Yes, as long as you still fit within the eligibility criteria and the institution supports your application and submits it to the agency.

A researcher whose salary is paid through CFREF cannot receive or use NFRF funds to support their research. So, while they are eligible to apply, if a CFREF-funded researcher becomes a grant holder or co-grant holder (NPI, co-PI or co-applicant) of an NFRF grant, they must be paid from another source as of the start date of the NFRF grant. It is not possible to defer the start date of the NFRF grant to maintain CFREF salary support (or for any other reason).

Individuals may participate in only one application to this competition, as a NPI, co-PI or co-applicant. Individuals who are team members for more than one application in any of these roles as of the deadline will be removed from all applications on which they appear and will not be permitted to join any application or grant in this competition. This restriction does not apply to collaborators. An individual may be a collaborator on multiple applications, or part of the research team (NPI, co-PI or co-applicant) on one application and a collaborator on others.

Individuals indirectly employed by a federal, provincial or municipal government (e.g., employees in police services, education, health care) are eligible to be co-applicants. Their eligible expenses are limited to those that are related to the execution of the project that are not within the mandate of the individual’s organization of employment.

An early career researcher (ECR) is a researcher within five years of the start date of their first research-related appointment, minus the length of any eligible delays in research (e.g., illness, maternity, parental, pandemic-related), as of the first of the month in which the competition is launched. More details are available in the competition overview under the early career researcher section.

An ECR must also be considered an independent researcher.

All eligible leaves (including parental, medical, bereavement and family care) that occurred after your first academic appointment will be considered, as long as they adhered to the requirements of your institution. The amount of time deducted for eligible leaves will be doubled, prolonging the period for which you remain eligible as an ECR.

For example, if the date used for calculating ECR eligibility is January 1, 2019 (please consult the competition overview for the actual ECR eligibility date for your competition), your first academic appointment was on September 1, 2012, and in 2014 you began a parental leave for a period of one year, your calculation for ECR eligibility would be as follows:

Since the maximum allowable duration to have ECR status since your first academic appointment is five years (or 60 months), you would, in the above example, be eligible to apply to this funding opportunity as an ECR.

Note that professional leaves (administrative, training and sabbatical) are not credited.

Research interruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic (e.g., closures) are recognized as, and may be counted as, an eligible delay (credited at twice the amount of time) beginning March 1, 2020.

The funding agencies defer to institutional policy on what is considered a part-time appointment. Please contact the institution where the appointment is or was held to confirm whether it was part- or full-time.

An academic appointment is one in which an individual holds a position at a postsecondary institution (either in Canada or internationally) that allows them to be an independent researcher. It does not include positions where the individual is under the supervision of another person. This definition includes part-time positions, contract positions, adjuncts and sessional instructors.

While it may be the policy of certain institutions to consider a postdoctoral fellowship an academic appointment, for the purpose of this competition it is not considered to be one.

The research administrator of the NPI’s primary affiliation institution will confirm the ECR status of the NPI (if applicable) and co-PI (if applicable). At any point in time, NFRF staff may request additional information to verify an applicant’s ECR status.

You must have at least one other participant (co-PI or co-applicant) whose status is “eligible” for you to be able to submit your NOI. You may include additional co-PIs and/or co-applicants during the full application stage. If they do not accept their invitation and/or complete their registration properly before the full application submission deadline, they will not be part of your project.

The individual will need to decide which project they want to be involved with before the deadline. Should you need to remove them, go to the Participants section of your application and click Remove beside their name. If the individual appears on more than one application as of a deadline (either NOI or full application), they will be removed from both and unable to participate in any application for this competition. You must have at least one other eligible participant (co-PI or co-applicant) to be able to submit an NOI. If removal of the individual from the application results in the application not having the minimum number of team members, the application will be disqualified from the competition.

The invitation will expire and the team member will not appear as a participant. For the NOI, the person can be re-invited once the Convergence Portal opens for the full application. Following the full application deadline, it will not be possible to add team members until the competition is over (please refer to the Awards section of these FAQs). You must have at least one other eligible participant (co-PI or co-applicant) to be able to submit an NOI.

If the participant is from Turtle Island, they may self-identify as Indigenous (e.g., First Nations, Métis, Inuit or North American Indian). If the participant is from outside Turtle Island (e.g., New Zealand), they may self-identify as a member of a racialized minority in the Canadian context. While we acknowledge Indigenous Peoples outside of North America, data collected through the Convergence Portal helps in evaluating participation among Indigenous Peoples within Turtle Island.

This requirement reflects the socio-economic framework and goals of the UN Research Roadmap for the COVID-19 Recovery, and a focus on community engagement and partnership to ensure tangible outcomes. The role can be fulfilled from a range of disciplines, as long as the person has relevant expertise.

The multidisciplinary/multisectoral review panel will evaluate whether applications meet this requirement as part of evaluating the interdisciplinarity criterion. Applicants should demonstrate in their application that they have, among their principal investigators, someone with the expertise to fulfil this role.

In the Convergence Portal, include all of your current affiliations and identify your primary affiliation. Include the affiliation associated with your NOI, even if you have not yet started the appointment. Enter both your current and upcoming affiliations, indicating your current affiliation as your primary one. In the eligibility profile, when asked to choose the affiliation associated with your application, select your upcoming one.

Evidence demonstrates that documents written in French require approximately 20% more space than similar documents in English. Therefore, a provision has been made to increase the page limit for French applications, to ensure an equitable amount of space for applications written in either official language.

CVs are not part of applications for NFRF grants. The Biographical Information section of the research proposal is used to highlight the research team’s relevant expertise and experience.

Funding decisions will be communicated to applicants through notifications of decision, accessible through the Convergence Portal.

There is no mechanism to include a letter of support in the application. You can include a description of the support in the budget justification section.

Self-identifying information (including, but not limited to, gender, Indigenous identity, disability, racial background) may be included if it is relevant to the research project and ONLY with the person’s consent.

No, there are no quotas or limits to the number of applications from one institution, but research administrators are expected to only submit applications that comply with eligibility requirements and fit the program.

The list of NOIs that a research administrator can view is based on the affiliation the NPI selected in their eligibility profile. Before contacting the Helpdesk, please confirm with the NPI that they selected your institution as their administering organization in their eligibility profile.

If the status of the application is:

• “in progress,” there is no need to return it as the NPI has not yet submitted it to the research administrator;
• “received by administrator,” you can return the application by clicking “Return to applicant;”
• “received by agency,” it can no longer be returned to the applicant, as it has already been submitted to the funding agency.

There is no prescribed method for doing so; however, options include:

• contacting the co-PI for the necessary information; or
• asking the co-PI’s research administrator to confirm the individual’s ECR status.

The same terms and conditions are used in the Research Portal. There is no formal mechanism for notifying institutions if any of their employees are co-PIs or co-applicants in an application. An NPI’s research administrator is responsible for informing the institutions. Each institution can develop their own processes to address this clause. No copies of the written approval will be requested from the agencies for submission.

The NFRF program uses the Tri-Agency Guide on Financial Administration as the general guidelines for eligibility of expenses and use of funds related to the direct costs of research. Exceptions to the guidelines for these grants are noted in the competition overview. Co-applicants are eligible to receive compensation in certain cases.

Yes, NFRF follows CIHR’s Considerations when paying patient partners in research.

Indirect costs can equal up to 25% of the direct costs of the proposed research. For more information, please refer to the indirect costs section of the Tri-Agency Guide on Financial Administration, and the Research Support Fund’s list of eligible and ineligible expenditures.

A breakdown of the indirect costs is not required, but these costs must be included as an amount in the budget table. The NPI’s research administrator will need to confirm that the indirect costs are appropriate before they forward the application.

The amount of indirect costs requested is allocated to the NPI’s primary affiliation (the administering organization) to offset the indirect costs of proposed research. It is not possible to increase the amount of direct costs requested by reducing the amount of indirect costs.

Indirect costs are incurred where the research is done. Accordingly, indirect costs are expected to be shared among applicants in the same proportion that the direct costs would be shared (if applicable). The administering organization (the NPI’s primary affiliation) will administer the process.

Only the NPI, the co-PI and co-applicants have authority to expend the funds supporting the direct costs of research. The host institution has authority to expend the funds for the indirect costs. It is expected that the host institution may distribute a portion of these costs to the institutions of the co-PIs and/or co-applicants.

The Statement of Account Form (Form 300) (PDF, 500 KB) is to be used to report the annual financial expenditures for NFRF grants. Two accounts must be created at the host institution for each grant: one to track expenditures related to the direct costs of research, and another to track expenditures related to the indirect costs of research. The indirect funds received for a NFRF grant must not be transferred to the Research Support Fund account at the institution.

Only one Statement of Account Form (Form 300) (PDF, 500 KB) per grant is required to report expenditures. The expenditures of indirect funds, therefore, must be included. This is to be captured on line 11 (Other Expenditures) as a single value. A breakdown of expenditures is not required for indirect costs. It is expected that the expenditure of indirect funds will be proportional to the expenditure of direct research funds, as reflected in the application.

For example, if an NPI was awarded $100,000 for direct costs and $25,000 for indirect costs in Year 1 and they only spent $50,000 for direct costs, the amount charged for indirect costs would be: ($25,000 ÷ $100,000) × $50,000 = $12,500.

Email NFRF-FNFR@chairs-chaires.gc.ca, copying the individuals you wish to add and providing an explanation for their inclusion in the project and their affiliation status. Potential applicants will also need to complete an eligibility profile (which staff will send to them) and a user profile in the Convergence Portal. The request will be reviewed and a decision made regarding the inclusion of additional participants.

Email NFRF-FNFR@chairs-chaires.gc.ca, copying the individuals you wish to add and providing an explanation for their inclusion in the project, along with the following information: their first name, family name, position or role, department (optional), organization and country of organization. The request will be reviewed and a decision made regarding the inclusion of additional participants.

In cases where the NPI’s new primary affiliation is with a Canadian institution currently holding full institutional eligibility with one of the agencies (see the list of eligible institutions for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council or Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council), the NPI would retain their grant and it would follow them to the new institution.

In cases where the NPI’s new primary affiliation is not with a Canadian institution holding full institutional eligibility with one of the agencies, it is expected that the NPI will continue to be involved in the project as a co-PI or co-applicant, insofar as this is possible, to continue to provide the expertise needed to complete the project (note: international co-applicants are eligible to access and use grant funds).

If there is:

• a co-PI who meets the eligibility requirements to be the NPI, the grant can be transferred to the co-PI (the co-PI becomes the NPI and the original NPI becomes a co-PI or co-applicant, if eligible);
• no co-PI, but a co-applicant meets the eligibility requirements to be the NPI, the grant can be transferred to the co-applicant (the co-applicant becomes the NPI and the original NPI becomes a co-PIor co-applicant, if eligible);
• no eligible co-PI or co-applicant on the application, the grant cannot be transferred and will be terminated.

In all cases, the co-PI and/or co-applicant must have been named such in the original application; they cannot have been added after the grant was awarded. The team must also demonstrate that the required expertise is still available, address the question of project leadership, and explain how the planned work will be completed.

We value our community’s feedback and it helps us shape future competitions. Please direct your feedback to NFRF-FNFR@chairs-chaires.gc.ca.