Research project key steps

The following business units provide support during the developmental stage of the proposal.

Faculty research office
Faculty research office staff such as research advisors are the primary resource for a researcher. They provide information and advice regarding internally managed and external funding programs and expert assistance in the preparation of applications for all types of grants and awards. For more information, visit your faculty research office webpage or find your faculty research advisors. For detailed guidance on proposal preparation and understanding the differences between research grants and contracts, refer to the Research Contracts and Agreements.

Office of the Vice-President of Research and Innovation (OVPRI): Sets the strategic direction and oversees the administration of the University of Ottawa’s research enterprise, including funding, equipment and facilities, international collaborations, partnerships, and business development. The following departments are all part of the OVPRI central administration. For a detailed overview of OVPRI offices and their roles in research agreements and administration, consult the Research Contracts and Agreements.

• Research Management Services (RMS)
  RMS provides pre-award, submission and post-award assistance for grants, awards and agreements linked to the Tri-Agencies, the federal government, provincial and municipal governments, and Canadian academic institutions, foundations and associations. RMS also provides support for prestigious external agency chair and fellowship programs.
  • RMS grant support:
    RMS communicates external peer-reviewedfunding opportunities through the research funding opportunity database and the RMS newsletter (email RMS to subscribe to the newsletter). We also manage internal funding competitions such as the Research Development Program SEED and Bridge funding program.
    
    Additionally, RMS provides pre-award development advice for grant applications in key areas including the integration of equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) principles, and in knowledge mobilization (KMb). Additional support may be provided for large-scale grant applications that span multiple faculties.
    
    Note: RMS has adesignated grant officer for each faculty. To find out who your grants officer is, please email RMS or your faculty research advisor.
  • RMS research contract support:
    RMS provides advice and contract negotiation support for research contracts and agreements that relate to the Canadian federal, provincial, and municipal governments, Canadian universities, and Canadian associations and foundations. For contract support or more information, please consult the contracts management process (PDF, 134 KB) and submit all documentation (including the RE form) to RMS contracts inbox.
  • RMS chair and fellowship support:
    RMS is responsible for managing the uOttawa portfolio of Canada Research Chairs, Canada Excellence Research Chairs, and the University Research Chairs program, as well as other prestigious fellowships and scholarship such as the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships, the Vanier Canada Graduate scholarships and the CIHR Doctoral Award program.
• Strategic development initiatives (SDI)
  SDI’s key role is to coordinate and administer major research infrastructure projects funded by government programs such as the Canada foundation for innovation (CFI) and the Ontario research fund (ORF).
• Innovation support services (ISS)
  ISS provides assistance for grants and research agreements/contracts linked to private sector innovation. ISS also handles all material transfer agreements (MTA), data sharing agreements (DSA) and non-disclosure agreements (NDA).
• Office of International Research and Experiential Learning (IREX)
  IREX offers assistance with international grants, collaborations and research agreements/ contracts. IREX handles international government agreements, and dealings with international foundations and associations, universities, and foundations and associations.
• OVPRI Awards and Recognition
  The awards and recognition office of the OVPRI is responsible for the uOttawa nomination process for prestigious provincial, national and international awards. This office, together with faculty research offices, provides assistance with prizes and awards.

Most agencies require that an applicant be a Canadian resident or a permanent resident of Canada. The applicant must have a full-time or part-time academic or research appointment at a Canadian university or affiliated institution, which can include a tenured, tenure-track or life-time professor emeritus position. If the applicant has a part-time academic appointment, or has an adjunct status, the eligibility to apply for funding may be based on the funding opportunity’s specific eligibility clauses as they relate to the contract with the university or affiliated institute.

As an independent figure leading a grant application, the researcher must not be engaged in research under the direction of another individual (i.e., must be autonomous regarding their research activities) and must be authorized to supervise or co-supervise trainees. 

These are only general eligibility criteria. For details on eligibility to hold research funds at the University of Ottawa, refer to the Research Contracts and Agreements, and consult the selected agency guidelines for exact requirements.

Every application is different, every funder has different requirements and every type of funding (grant, contract, prize nomination, etc.) has a specific audience. Writing successful proposals for such a variety of programs is a challenging art.

Prior to developing a research proposal for external funding, Principal Investigators (PIs) need to understand whether they are preparing an application for a grant or a contract.

Developing a research project with a solid scholarly foundation is crucial, but the presentation of your proposal is also critically important. Here are some tips to guide you in the preparation of a successful proposal. 

1. Start early! Do not underestimate the time and effort required to draft a compelling research proposal.
2. Get all the help you can!
   • Request help from your faculty research advisor. Advisors are knowledgeable about most funding programs and can help you in the presentation of your proposal.
   • Attend information sessions and roundtables put on by agencies or by the University that aim to help you understand the funding opportunity and provide tips for success. Also, check out the RMS or faculty newsletter for funding related news and other info that can help!
   • Seek out specific expertise required, such as in equity, diversity and inclusion, knowledge mobilization, data management or commercialization.
3. Get to know the application requirements and evaluation criteria
   • Thoroughly read, understand and follow program guidelines and application instructions. Confer with your faculty research advisor when you have questions.
   • Review and understand the evaluation criteria.
   • Review prior peer review/evaluation committees for that program (if available) and, specific to Tri-Agency programs, carefully consider the committee you wish to submit to.
4. Drafting proposals
   • Share drafts of your proposal with your research advisor early.
   • Engage in internal grant review programs (if available) or submit drafts of your proposal to colleagues for scientific review and advice early.
   • Write the proposal for the audience.  Will the review committee be composed of experts in your field or is it an informed, multidisciplinary committee?
   • Get to know and work on all aspects of the application early (not just the research proposal) and, as applicable, start getting the required CVs or letters of support early.
   • Carefully assess costs of the project and prepare a realistic budget with clear justification, with appropriate indirect costs, research assistant salaries (login required) and contingency plans.
   • Strictly follow the funding agency’s requirements on headings, page length, font, etc.
5. Understand the University of Ottawa procedures and requirements regarding proposal submission below under "Submit Proposal".

Once a proposal is completed and ready to be submitted, the following steps are taken: 

1. The researcher submits a copy of the full proposal and supporting documentation, including budget, to the faculty research office.
2. The researcher completes an RE form. They can do so through their individual eAwards log-in (the uOttawa Grant and Awards Research Portal). The researcher downloads and signs the RE Form signature pages (two-page summary) and sends it to their faculty research office. The latter gathers the remaining signatures and sends it to the Research contracts and agreements team for review and signature. 
3. Research contracts and agreements will sign the proposal’s signature page (wet-ink, electronic or e-submission) on behalf of the University for submission to the agency. With e-submission (most Tri-Agency programs), the University (through RMS) submits the completed grant through the agency portal (e.g., ResearchNet, Convergence, etc.) on behalf of the researcher. In all other cases, the OVPRI office signs the proposal and the researcher, with the support of the faculty research office, submits the proposal.  

• RMS: All monetary grants, contracts, and agreements.
• SDI: Major research infrastructure projects funded by government programs such as the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Ontario Research Fund (ORF).

The Foundation Data Model (FDM) is a multi-dimensional data structure that serves as the backbone for financial transaction processing and reporting in Workday.

The FDM allows users to attach common attributes, known as “worktags”, to transactions to allows for robust financial reporting.

In research, different Worktags are used depending on the source of the fund being deposited.

A separate account number (FDM) is opened for each research project. Financial Resources is the department that activates the account number and advances the money in the account in Workday. You will find your account number in the Notice of Decision email (NOD) sent by RMS.

Once an account is activated by Financial Resources, researchers have access to their financial information through the Workday portal (VPN and uOttawa login required). Researchers can also contact their faculty/department administrators to get assistance with financial administration of their grant.

My Finance Dashboard : This report provides real-time consolidated snapshots of the different budgets you manage. It was specifically created to help researchers view their grants, programs, projects and endowment funds all in one place.

My budget : This report provides detailed real-time information of the different budgets under your umbrella. It was created to help budget managers efficiently analyze and manage their budgets in Workday.

The uOttawa Researcher guide on research expenditures provides essential guidelines, rules and regulations of financial management in research for all funded research.

Inter-institutional transfers occur when a uOttawa principal investigator (PI) sends funds to researchers at other institutions or when a PI from another institution sends funds to a University of Ottawa researcher. A transfer of funds agreement must be renewed every year to confirm that the research project is progressing as anticipated. For more information about how to transfer funds, contact your faculty's designated grant officer at RMS.

For transfers in

For a collaborating researcher from the University of Ottawa to receive funds from a Principal Investigator from another university, the researcher must provide the following documents to your Faculty’s designated grant officer at RMS:

• A completed RE form (login required), containing all required signatures from the department and/or faculty.
• A copy of the application made by the PI from the other university, including the budget.
• A copy of the notification of decision from the funding agency.

Once each of these documents has been provided, the RMS agent reviews the requirements and processes the agreement.

For transfers out

If the grant is administered at the University of Ottawa and there is a request for a transfer of funds to researchers at other universities participating in the research project, the procedure is:

1. The PI from the University of Ottawa must contact RMS and provide a written request for a transfer of funds.
2. RMS contacts the collaborating university.
3. A transfer agreement is signed between the two academic institutions.
4. RMS requests that Financial Resources initiate a fund transfer to the collaborating university.

Internal (between two researchers at the University of Ottawa)

If a PI wants to transfer funds to a collaborating researcher at the University of Ottawa working in a different department or faculty, RMS must be contacted. The researcher must present a request for the transfer of funds. RMS will make a request to Financial Resources for the transfer of funds to the appropriate account.

Contact your faculty for more information on hiring procedures. You can also find related forms, systems and information used to hire human resources on a research project in the Researcher’s Toolbox on Virtuo (uOttawa login required).

IMPORTANT NOTE: You must make sure you have sufficient funds to cover the salary and benefits of an employee before hiring. The HR Resource Tools page on Virtuo (uOttawa log-in required) provides researchers and research managers with tools supporting hiring decisions.

The Procurement service manages the purchase of all goods and services valued at more than CA$5,000 per transaction (excluding sales taxes). Anything less than CA$5,000 (excluding sales taxes) is managed by the faculty or department. Day to day administration, such as the purchase of materials and supplies, payment of invoices, staffing and payroll, are also the responsibility of the faculty or department. 

You can also find related forms, systems and information used to purchase materials on a research project in the Researcher’s Toolbox on Virtuo (uOttawa login required).

When a researcher can demonstrate that additional expenditures are essential to the continuation of the project, advances against future instalments may be granted.

To obtain an advance the researcher must obtain approval:

• From the department chair
• From the dean of the faculty
• From RMS, using the Request for Loan Against Next Instalment form (PDF, 133 KB). All requests for authorization of additional expenses must be fully justified and accompanied by a plan of action to return the account to a positive balance as soon as possible. The grant holder (PI) is the sole person who are authorized to make this request.

Extensions on research contracts and grants must be approved with the sponsor through their respective office (RMS, ISS, IREX). Contact your faculty research office for more information.

Changes between 5% and 10% of the total of each expense account within the account number do not normally require outside approval. Changes exceeding 10% of the budgetary expense account within the FOAP could require approval from RMS, depending on the sponsor’s requirements. For research contracts, changes to the budget must be negotiated with the sponsor through the respective contract office (RMS, ISS, IREX).

Various research policies and regulations play a role in the conduct of research. The University of Ottawa policies are guiding principles or broad statements on courses of action to be consistently followed under specific conditions. Exceptions require the prior consent of an approving authority, very often the Administrative Committee.