Core Facility Funding Framework TOR - RO

Term of reference — Faculty of Medicine

Research and Innovation - RO

Faculty of Medicine Internal Funding Opportunities - RO

Core Facility Funding Framework - Supplementary Infrastructure Operating Fund

Recognizing the essential role of core facilities in advancing research and innovation, the Faculty of Medicine has established the Core Facility Supplementary Infrastructure Operating Fund (IOF) to support their sustainability and operational excellence. The fund helps maintain and enhance shared research infrastructure so that it remains accessible, reliable, and capable of meeting the evolving needs of the research community.

1.Introduction

This initiative is designed to strengthen research capacity and operational excellence of core facilities within the Faculty of Medicine. The fund is in addition to base IOF allocation received by Core Facilities each year and aims to ensure that shared research infrastructure remains cutting-edge, accessible, and sustainable, thereby supporting health and biomedical research across our community.

The program provides support to:

Enhance operational efficiency and maintain high-quality services for researchers.
Address critical infrastructure needs that enable advanced methodologies and innovative research.
Implement improvements that increase accessibility, reliability, and compliance with best practices.
Develop strategies for long-term sustainability, including cost recovery models and user engagement plans.

Our goal is to empower core facilities to deliver exceptional support for research and innovation, ensuring they remain vital resources for advancing scientific discovery.

Applicants will apply via the Core Facility Submission Portal as follows
Have the following ready when submitting (as there is no “save” function on the submission portal):

Title of Proposal
Title of Core Facility
Be ready to disclose if / how Generative AI was used in document preparation

Documents & Instructions table
Documents	Instructions
Document Templates	Please download the template for your proposal.
Proposal	File Name: Core-Facility-Name_Supplementary_IOF Brief Proposal (maximum words: 700 [EN] / 840 [FR]), including: Project Description Anticipated Research Impact Evidence of demand/urgency Cost recovery and sustainability plan

Evaluation and Scoring
1. Each application will be assessed and evaluated by the Cores Oversight Committee based on the following criteria. Scores range from 0 to 5 for each item, where 5 = Outstanding and 0 = Not Addressed

Evaluation Criteria Table
Descriptors	Ranking Range	Outcome
Outstanding	4.5-5.0	May be funded – will be discussed by the Committee
Excellent	4.0-4.4	May be funded – will be discussed by the Committee
Very Good	3.5-3.9	May be funded – will be discussed by the Committee
Fair	3.0-3.4	Not fundable – may or may not be discussed by the Committee
Poor	0.0-2.9	Not fundable – may or may not be discussed by the Committee

Applications will be judged based on the following weighted criteria:

Weighted criteria
Criteria	Weight (%)
Impact on research excellence	20%
Evidence of demand and urgency	50%
Efficiency and sustainability (cost recovery plans)	20%
Collaboration (number of research groups benefiting)	10%

Awarded applications must be above the fundable threshold, i.e. the minimum score identified by the Cores Oversight Committee.
Should there be a tie (at one decimal place), this will be addressed by looking at the average rank among the reviewers. Should a tie persist, the following will be applied to break ties: Priority will be given to core facilities that received lower scaled IOFs during the current fiscal year.
Review Team: Cores Oversight Committee
1. Funds will be awarded on a competitive basis, by a peer review panel consisting of members of the Cores Oversight Committee and chaired by the Assistant Dean Research and Special Projects.
  1. Reviewer feedback will not be provided to the applicants. Applicants will be instructed to reach out to the Assistant Dean Research and Special Projects.
Decisions approved by the Faculty of Medicine are final. There is no appeal process.

Core Facility Funding Framework - Supplementary Infrastructure Operating Fund

1.Introduction

2. General Principles arrow_drop_down

3. Use of Funding arrow_drop_down

4. Applications arrow_drop_down

5. Review Process arrow_drop_down