Interdisciplinary Research Group Funding Opportunity (IRGFO)

Applicant Level Criteria

• Hold a full-time tenure or a tenure track position at the University of Ottawa
• Demonstrate previous research project experience
• Demonstrate expertise contributing to the larger academic/research community
• Demonstrate a minimum of 5 years of research activities and experience as an independent researcher
• Demonstrate a strong track record in the research discipline of the application
• Hold external funding; preference will be given to applicants with Tri-Council funding
• Not have received funds through the IRGFO stream 1 in the past

Team Level Criteria

Involve a minimum of 3 researchers in distinct disciplines

• The principal investigator applying to the IRGFO stream 1
• One researcher from a different uOttawa faculty
• One researcher from a different external institution

Deadline

There is one competition per year for the RTC:

• February  15^th

RMS must receive your application by 4 pm on the deadline date. If the deadline falls on a weekend or statutory holiday, RMS will extend the deadline to 4 pm on the next working day. 

You must be submitted your application electronically (in a single PDF file) to:

RTC  – Research Team Creation

Research Management Services 
info-sgr-rms@uottawa.ca

IMPORTANT NOTE: The applicant’s faculty must review and approve the application.  Applicants must submit an RE form with the appropriate signatures. RMS will not accept application past the deadlines nor without the faculty approval.  RMS will reject incomplete applications.  

Application Requirements, 15 pages 

A summary of the proposed research project, including:

• The scope and scale of the project
• The impact of the research
• The linkages to one of the uOttawa Strategic Areas of Development of Research
• The funding organization that will be targeted for future funding, including the type, funding opportunity and date of the targeted competition

 The expertise required for the project including:

• A budget and budget justification for the activities
• Research expertise required to complete the project
• Common CV or equivalent of the principal investigator (PI)
• A short bio for each potential team members (co-researchers), describing how their expertise could contribute to the project
• The strategy to recruit team members

The letter of recommendation from the Dean, Vice-Dean or Associate Dean, Research of the Faculty must confirm the faculties’:

• support in an amount at least equal to the amount being requested of the stream 1
• support the researcher in creating the team and the development of a large-scale project
• RE Form

IMPORTANT NOTE: A multi-disciplinary Selection Committee will review the applications. Therefore, the proposal should be written for non-experts. Any additional pages will be automatically removed.

Budget justification, eligible and non-eligible expenses 

The maximum award for the RTC funding is $10,000.00 ($5,000.00 RTC & $5,000.00 from the faculty) over one year. The budget section should describe the entire budget, including the RTC and the Faculty contributions.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Applicants must submit two RE forms:

• In the first RE form, the “Amount Requested” field should define the amount that is being requested from the RTC only.
• In the second RE form, the “Amount Requested” field should define the amount that is being requested from the faculty only.

Budget Justification must:

• Explain how the costs were established for each item in the budget
• Describe and justify how the funds will be used to recruit the members of the interdisciplinary team
• Contribute to the direct costs to recruit members for the interdisciplinary team and to develop research project
• Show economical use of the funds

Two selection committees will be established for the RTC:

• In the Social Sciences and Humanities
• In Sciences, Engineering and Health Sciences

IMPORTANT NOTE:  The Vice-President, Research or their delegate will chair the review committees. Applicants can suggest which committee should review their proposal.  For each competition, RMS will draw committee members from a pool of potential members.

Evaluation Criteria 

The review committee will use the following criteria to assess your application:

• Potential interdisciplinary research team:
  • Strategy to recruit interdisciplinary research team members
  • Value added of member/expertise required
  • Success rate of creating the team
• Scientific merit of the proposed research project to be developed including, without limitation:
  • Originality and innovation
  • Clarity and scope of objectives
  • Linkage with the uOttawa strategic research priorities
  • Importance of the expected outcome of the research
  • Quality of the presentation, clear, concise, legible and complete
• Record of research achievement, including:
  • Quality and significance of past contributions
  • Level of research activity relative to the stage of the applicant's career
• Need for funds, including, without limitation, the following factors:
  • Justification of the budget relative to the strategy to recruit team members
  • Need for RTC funds and justification of the request relative to other currently-held and/or available funding. Other currently-held funds must be clearly indicated in the applicant's C.V.
  • Plan to apply for external, peer-reviewed funding
  • Plan for accessing large-scale peer-reviewed external funding; specifically target granting councils, industry, foundations, government etc.)
    • Explain how the application aligns with the evaluation criteria and guidelines of the external funding organizations 

Researchers should develop their application in a format that respects the presentation standards generally accepted by the granting councils. 

General Presentation

• Text must be single-spaced, with no more than six lines per inch and in black color
• The accepted font is Times New Roman regular 12 pts, or any comparable font – nothing smaller
• Condensed font and applications completed strictly in italics are not acceptable

Research Proposal

• Use portrait format, with a single column, unless specified otherwise
• Set margins at 3/4 of an inch (1.9 cm) all around (minimum)
• Number pages sequentially

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• All text, including references, must conform to these standards
•  Incomplete applications and/or applications that do not meet the presentation standards may be rejected or be at a disadvantage in comparison with those that are complete and respect the presentation standards
• Color images submitted in the application will not be duplicated in colour for the peer reviewers

 Suggestions on how to present an application

• Be concise
• Avoid acronyms and abbreviations or explain them fully
• Write the proposal for a multidisciplinary scientific audience not expert in your discipline
• Include a clear description of your research objectives, why the research you are proposing is important, how it relates to prior work/state of the art and what the impact of the findings will be on the discipline
• Explain and support the methodological approach
• Describe any prior work that you may have performed to demonstrate your ability to deliver on the project
• Outline the risks and pitfalls, if any, and explain how they will be addressed
• Outline the resources available for this project and specify how they will help you develop your research
• Provide a realistic timeframe
• Explain your plans for disseminating the results
• Explain how the proposed research supports or enhances a future application

Awardees must, on request of the Office of the Vice-President Research (or delegate), submit a final report to RMS (1 page) describing progress in light of original project objectives and your plans to pursue the research.

• The funds will be released once all certification requirements are met (ethics of research with human subjects and/or stem cells, animal care, radiation safety, etc.)
• Any unused funds at the end of the project must be returned to the RTC program.  Researchers can request an extension to use the funds.  The extension will be in time only, not funds. To request a one year extension, researchers have to write to RMS and justify how the extension will help them advance their project.  For more information please contact Research Management Services at info-sgr-rms@uottawa.ca.