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Grants & Applications

The Grants and Applications unit in the Office of Research Services provides support to researchers in applying for external research funding. The unit circulates information on select funding sources and holds information sessions, reviews grant applications, notifies researchers and Faculties of grant results, and maintains high quality research data. ORS also supports internal review committees including the following:  Mariano Elia Fund, SSHRC Explore, SSHRC Exchange – KMb, and SSHRC Exchange – Conference Grants, York Incentive and York Indigenous Incentive Grants, Specific Research Grants, and internal selection for JP Bickell Foundation, France-Canada Research Fund, and others as required. The group prepares agreements to transfer tri-council funds to researcher’s colleagues at other universities and organizations and assists new faculty hires with transferring existing tri-council grants to York from their previous institutions.

Finding a Funding Opportunity

The application process for research funding begins with a funding opportunity.  The ORS assists researchers in locating funding opportunities by:

  • Select external funding opportunities and internal opportunities administered by ORS are posted on the Research section of the YULink site.
  • Distributing timely reminders of upcoming funding opportunities on the research listserv and posting them on the website. Send an email to subscribe to the research listserv.
  • Holding information sessions on funding programs and opportunities.

Faculty Research Officers can assist researchers seeking funding opportunities, these contacts can be found on the various Faculty pages.

Developing an Application for Research Funding

While proposal development is the responsibility of the individual researcher or team of researchers as the case may be, researchers should work with their Faculty Research Officers. The ORS can also assist by:

  • Providing advice regarding the required guidelines and instructions
  • Reviewing applications for compliance with agency’s instructions, university policies, eligibility and selection criteria, and recommending adjustments
  • Providing advice on proposal budget development
  • Providing technical assistance with electronic forms
  • Providing Letters of Support when required by the funder
  • Providing access to successful applications from previous competitions

In order for the ORS to have sufficient time to provide a full administrative review of the proposal, the application and other documentation must be submitted to the ORS at least 10 working days prior to the funder's deadline.  

Submitting an Application to the Funder

All proposals by York researchers for external funding of research projects must be processed through the ORS before being submitted to a funding sponsor association or granting agency. This applies to all external research applications regardless of the role of the York researcher (principal investigator, co-applicant, collaborator, etc.). Please note the Signature Policy Memo which outlines the deadlines for submission to ORS in order to obtain a signature based on the type of application.

The York researcher must also obtain approval of the application from his/her Department Chair (if applicable) and the Faculty Dean by completing an ORS Checklist (pdf) or ORS Checklist (DocuSign) and obtaining the required signatures. The Chair’s and Dean’s approval are required to assure that the researcher has the necessary time and that adequate facilities and resources are or will be made available to the researcher to undertake the research project, if successful.

The institutional signature (ORS Assistant Vice-President, Research Strategy & Impact or delegate) on funding applications certifies that:

  • The York researcher is affiliated with the institution
  • The York researcher has the necessary time and facilities to carry out the research
  • The York researcher is willing to administer any grant received according to the policies of the agency and the university
  • The institution will arrange to release funds to the successful candidate once all necessary certification requirements and conditions have been met

A complete copy of the application, together with a completed and fully signed ORS Checklist, is submitted to the ORS by e-mail to researchapps@yorku.ca for review and for signature by the Assistant Vice-President, Research Strategy & Impact (or delegate).   Any agreed upon York University cash or in-kind commitments must be confirmed in writing (on the ORS Checklist or by e-mail) by the source (i.e. Vice-President, Dean/Principal, Department Chair, Research Centre or Institute Director, etc).

Please note that some competitions have limits on the number of applications that an institution can submit and in those cases, an internal adjudication process is required. Please contact ORS if you are interested in applying to a funding call that has limits on how many applications can be submitted.

Results of Research Applications

Results of all submissions are usually sent to the ORS by the granting agency or association. ORS then communicates the results to the applicants.

For tri-council awards, the funder notifies Research Accounting directly of the award details. For most other funders, ORS informs Research Accounting of the award and a cost centre is set up by Research Accounting who requires authorization from the ORS. Should a notice regarding the decision of a grant application go directly to the researcher, a copy must be sent to the ORS as soon as possible to ensure timely access to the funds.

Tri-Council Transfers

ORS can assist with the transfer of tri-council funds, both for York researchers who are the PIs on a tri-council grant and who want to transfer funds to their co-applicants at other institutions  and for York researchers who are co-applicants on tri-council grants held by their colleagues at other institutions who will be receiving transfers of funds.

For newly hired faculty at York who hold tri-council grants at their previous institution, ORS can assist with transferring those grants to York. Please see the requirements for SSHRC, NSERC, and CIHR grants on YULink.

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