Core facilities

Pierre Berini in his lab — Research and innovation

Core facilities

A core facility is a discrete unit within the University of Ottawa dedicated to the work of several research groups or department. Core facilities provide services, analysis, instrument and technology access, and expertise needed by many investigators to conduct research that would be generally too expensive, complex and/or specialized for investigators to provide and sustain themselves.

“Core facilities have proven to enable the University of Ottawa to attract, retain and train top researchers and to foster collaborations among the academic, private, public and non-profit sectors.”

Mohamad Nasser-Eddine

— Associate Vice-President, Research Support and Infrastructure

Overview

By fostering common management of similar or complementary research facilities, whether located together or distributed, core facilities offer significant benefits including:

Broad access to state-of-the art services, facilities and technology
Financial savings resulting from economies of scale and development and consolidation of in-house maintenance capabilities
Availability of skilled operators ensuring effective equipment use, enhanced data quality and safe operations
Increased equipment reliability
Reduced duplication of effort

Core facilities must be broadly available to all University of Ottawa researchers on a service basis with no requirement for scientific collaboration or co-authorship other than normal acknowledgement based on contributions, in accordance with accepted scientific practice.

Core facilities

>200

Research labs supported

>$3M

Invested in 2020

AE. Lalonde Accelerator Mass Spectometry

A national research facility at uOttawa

The André E. Lalonde Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory is one of 17 national research facilities supported through the Canada Foundation for Innovation's Major Science Initiatives Fund.

More about A.E. Lalonde AMS Laboratory

Facilities alphabetically

How to establish a new core facility

To establish a new core facility, interested faculties must provide a strong scholarly rationale and a detailed operational and budget plan to be reviewed by the Office of SDI and approved by the OVPR. Requests are usually considered via a call for proposals (typically held every other year) and must be endorsed and submitted by the faculty dean or vice-dean research. The request should include the following:

A description and rationale for the core facility and the range of services to be provided
Proof that the core facility is fully operational with an active user base and a credible plan to grow its user base
Proof of strong leadership and an appropriate governance and management structure
Detailed financial information demonstrating the seriousness of intent, quality of initial planning and appropriate cost sharing by users, including key information on equipment lists and user fees
Confirmation of strong support from the faculty

Your proposal must have two parts: An MS Word form for narrative information and an Excel spreadsheet for lists and financial information.

Your proposal should be sufficient for SDI and the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation, to determine whether to proceed to the next step of the process. Also, your proposal should be laid out in such a way that key information on equipment lists and user fees is readily transferable to a website when the facility is established.

Office of Strategic Development Initiatives

Tabaret Hall
550 Cumberland St
Room L315
Ottawa, ON, Canada
K1N 6N5

[email protected]

Overview

A national research facility at uOttawa

Facilities alphabetically

A - C

D - H

I - L

M - O

P - T

U - Z

How to establish a new core facility

Contact us

Office of Strategic Development Initiatives