2022 Special Call — Research for Postpandemic Recovery: Notice of Intent to Apply Guide


Note: Applicants and research administrators are encouraged to attend one of the webinars to learn how to complete the notice of intent to apply and about the overall Rapid Response application process. Webinars are recorded and made available to your research grants office after the session.

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This guide is intended to be used in conjunction with the information provided in the 2022 Special Call: Research for Postpandemic Recovery Competition Overview.

Your notice of intent to apply (NOI) must be received by the agency by 8:00 p.m. (eastern) on the deadline date. Your institution may have earlier internal deadlines. Check with your research administrator regarding internal deadlines for your institution. The research administrator at your institution is responsible for submitting your NOI.

All team members, including the nominated principal investigator (NPI) and any co-principal investigators (co-PIs) or co-applicants, should inform the research administrator at their institution (if applicable) of their involvement in the application.

Prior to completing a notice of intent to apply

  • Read the 2022 Special Call Research for Postpandemic Recovery Competition Overview to ensure your project fits this funding opportunity.
  • See the eligibility section to ensure you are eligible to apply as an NPI, co-PI or co-applicant. Participants who do not meet the eligibility criteria, including participating on more than one application, will be removed from the application. If an NPI is considered to be ineligible, the application will be withdrawn from the competition.
  • If you are the NPI, consult your research administrator at your institution’s research grants office (RGO) regarding internal deadlines. The research administrator at your institution is responsible for submitting your NOI by 8:00 p.m. (eastern) on the deadline date. Late NOIs will not be accepted. An NOI cannot be changed after the research administrator has submitted it.

Completing the notice of intent to apply

You must complete the NOI using the Convergence Portal. The portal is supported only on the latest versions of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox. If you do not have a profile on the Convergence Portal, you will be prompted to create one the first time you access it. If you have a Research Portal account, you can use the same username and password to log into the Convergence Portal. If you are not sure whether or not you have already created a Convergence Portal account, please contact NFRF staff.

Follow the instructions provided in the Convergence Portal to complete the NOI. The information needed to complete the NOI is outlined below.

The NPI must complete all sections of the NOI in the Convergence Portal (no attachments are accepted at this stage) and submit it via their institution’s research administrator.

The co-PI and co-applicants, if applicable, must each complete their own profile before the NPI submits the NOI to their research administrator. Team members will be able to see all sections of the NOI, but will not have edit access.

Required information

The following information is required to complete an NOI:

Completed profiles for research team members

Applications to this call must be submitted by a team of at least two participants: the NPI and any combination of co-PIs and co-applicants. Additional team members (co-PI, co-applicants and/or collaborators) can be added at this stage or at the full application stage. Each team member must include the following in their profile:

  1. Eligibility profile

    Information about their participation in any other Special Call application, their consent for the application to be shared with other organizations for supplemental funding, as well as affiliations, early career researcher status and the eligibility of their institution.

  2. Equity, diversity and inclusion

    In setting up their profile, each participant must complete the equity, diversity and inclusion questionnaire once.

  3. Fields of research

    The fields of research here relate to the participant’s area of expertise and do not need to be directly related to the project. They should select a minimum of two fields of research (maximum of five), of which at least one must be a primary area of research.

  4. Keywords

    They should list between two and 10 keywords that best describe their main areas of research.

Notice of intent content

  1. Application title

    Provide a short, descriptive title that can be used for publication purposes. You can use common abbreviations (e.g., DNA), but avoid uncommon or discipline-specific abbreviations, as well as company and trade names.

  2. Language of the application

    Indicate which official language will be used for the NOI and full application. This information helps reviewer recruitment efforts. Note that you may change this between the stages.

  3. Indigenous research

    Indicate whether the project involves Indigenous research.

  4. Keywords

    List between five and 10 keywords to describe the proposed research.

  5. Up to five fields of research

    Select the fields of research from the Canadian Research and Development Classification (CRDC) codes that relate to the proposed research. You must include at least two disciplines as primary fields of research (as defined by a group-level classification based on the CRDC codes).

  6. UN Research Roadmap for the COVID-19 Recovery pillar and priority

    Indicate to which pillar(s) and priority/priorities the research relates. At least one primary priority must be selected.

  7. Summary of the proposal (maximum 2,500 characters)

    Include the objectives of the proposed project and a summary of the approach. Indicate which priority/priorities of the UN Research Roadmap the proposal addresses and how the anticipated changes and impacts will contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

    If your application is successful, this summary may be used for promotional purposes outside the research community to inform the government, media and members of the public who request information about research funded by the NFRF program.

  8. Collaborators

    List the collaborators on the project. Collaborators do not need to create an account in the Portal.

  9. Suggested reviewers (minimum of 10) and reviewer exclusions (if applicable)

    Suggest reviewers to be contacted to review the proposal at the full application stage. Teams are encouraged to suggest a diverse cross-section of potential reviewers (Canadian and international, established and early career researchers, members of underrepresented groups, from academic and non-academic institutions) with appropriate expertise to review and comment on the proposal. These individuals must not be in a conflict of interest with any member of the team as defined by the Conflict of Interest and Confidentiality Policy of the Federal Research Funding Organizations. At least five must be from outside Canada.

    The team can also suggest individuals who should not be considered to review the proposal.

    Note: Only the lists of collaborators, suggested reviewers and reviewer exclusions can be updated at the full application stage.

Submitting the notice of intent to apply

Review your NOI to ensure that it is complete.

From the Finalize Application section in the Convergence Portal, follow the prompts to submit the NOI.

After you accept the terms and conditions, the status of your submission will change to Received by Administrator. If you want to make any changes at this point, you may request that your research administrator return the application to you.

Once your research administrator has approved and submitted your application, the application status will change to Received by Agency. No changes can be made at that point, and the NOI will not be returned to you.

Submitting the notice of intent to apply as the research administrator

When you receive an NOI submitted by an NPI at your institution, you will be asked to approve the application and submit it. Before being able to submit the application, the research administrator, on behalf of the institution, will be required to confirm that:

  • the NPI meets the definition of early career researcher, if applicable (see the FAQs for more details);
  • the co-PI meets the definition of early career researcher, if applicable (see the FAQs for more details);
  • the participants meet the eligibility requirements; and
  • the proposed research project meets the eligibility requirements.

Note: If the NPI’s primary affiliation is not on SSHRC’s list of eligible institutions, the institution may be required to sign the Agreement on the Administration of Agency Grants and Awards by Research Institutions with SSHRC, for this program only, prior to receiving agency funds. Agency staff will contact the institutions of successful applicants after the notices of decision have been released to initiate this process, as appropriate.

By submitting the application, the research administrator, on behalf of the institution, will also be certifying that the NPI:

  • is affiliated with the institution or organization;
  • has the necessary time and resources to carry out the activity; and
  • will email NFRF-FNFR@chairs-chaires.gc.ca of any changes during the tenure of the grant, including changes in the composition of the partnership, such as the addition of new co-PIs, co-applicants, collaborators, etc.

Contact information

If you have questions:

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