Applied Research and Development (ARD) grants support research and development (R&D) projects led by college researchers in partnership with private, public or not-for-profit organizations while encouraging collaboration with universities and/or other colleges. This opportunity allows the development and strengthening of research links and collaborations between different institutions and/or partners that have a common goal of creating economic, social and/or environmental benefits while contributing to the research ecosystem continuum. An eligible Canadian college leads the project while the partner research goals drive and define the broad spectrum of capacities necessary from one or more institutions.

Projects funded by ARD grants will:

• provide partner organizations with access to the unique knowledge, expertise and capabilities available at Canadian colleges and universities
• train college students in essential technical skills required by organizations in the private, public or not-for-profit sectors
• provide benefits–economic, environmental, health or social–to the partner organization(s) and Canada
• allow a wide range of collaborations between different institutions and/or types of partners

Direct project costs are shared by the partner organization(s) and funding agency. Projects may range from one to three years. Universities or other colleges may participate in the project as co-applicants and receive a portion of the funding from the primary administering institution.

ARD projects can focus on any point in the research-to-innovation spectrum. All proposals must clearly provide evidence of strong partnerships, detailed planning and sound budget justification. Proposals must detail underlying assumptions, intended approaches, milestones and deliverables.

Joint funding opportunities to support larger projects and additional students.

Canadian colleges (including CEGEPs and polytechnics) eligible to administer grants from at least one of the three federal granting agencies can apply. Colleges apply on behalf of their researchers and the partner organization(s).

To apply, colleges must have at least one partner organization (in the private, public or not-for-profit sectors) whose cash contribution is recognized for cost sharing with the College and Community Innovation program.

For a list of Canadian colleges currently eligible to apply, see the list of eligible institutions for the agency you are applying to (NSERC, CIHR or SSHRC). To become an eligible institution, see the Institutional eligibility requirements and the frequently asked questions on institutional eligibility.

Applied Research and Development (ARD) grants support a wide range of research and development (R&D) projects undertaken by college researchers with partner organizations whose cash contributions are recognized for cost sharing with the College and Community Innovation program.

A project must seek to respond to an applied research challenge rather than a contract for services rendered. ARD grants cannot be used to support secret or contract research.

Projects that focus on the following are not supported:

• Applying existing technology or tools to the partner organization’s operations in a routine way
• Analyzing or using equipment at the college (except as part of a more innovative project)
• Collecting data without interpreting underlying mechanisms or clearly explaining the applied research challenge
• Certifying, endorsing, validating or performance-testing an existing product, process or material (unless accompanied by significant efforts to investigate the underlying scientific or engineering question, or to improve or better understand the product, process or material)
• Literature review and/or patent searches (except as a small part of a research project)
• Curriculum development (unless it is a component of a project that has a research component or addresses research challenges)
• Setting up and managing an institute or a formal or informal group of researchers
• Developing an industry standard (unless the partner is an industry association)
• Providing professional practice or consulting services
• Acquiring or maintaining scientific equipment

For information on how to integrate equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) considerations into your research proposal and for links to additional resources, see the Guide to addressing EDI in College and Community Innovation program grant applications.

NSERC is acting on the evidence that achieving a more equitable, diverse and inclusive Canadian research enterprise is essential to creating the excellent, innovative and impactful research necessary to advance knowledge and understanding, and to respond to local, national and global challenges. This principle informs the commitments described in the Tri-agency Statement on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and is aligned with the objectives of the Tri-agency EDI Action Plan.

In this funding opportunity, you are encouraged to increase the inclusion and advancement of underrepresented groups to enhance excellence in research and training. EDI considerations must be integrated into:

• the rationale of the composition of research team; and
• the training, mentorship and professional development opportunities for students and trainees

The aim of these initiatives is to remove systemic barriers to the recruitment and full participation of individuals from underrepresented groups, including women, Indigenous Peoples (First Nations, Inuit and Métis), persons with disabilities, members of visible minority/racialized groups and members of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities.

Considering EDI in the research process promotes research excellence by making it more relevant to society as a whole, ethically sound, rigorous, reproducible, and useful. Where relevant, you should integrate EDI into the research process, such as into the research design, research questions, methodology, analyses and interpretation, how the research will be disseminated, or how the knowledge will be mobilized.

The nature and extent of meaningful engagement in a project should be determined jointly by the relevant individuals or communities and the research team, and appropriate to community characteristics and the nature of the research.

Engagement must start at the very beginning of project planning, in developing the research question itself and continue throughout the remainder of the research process.

Applicants whose research involves and engages with Indigenous Peoples, communities or individuals must:

• consult and consider concepts, principles and protocols in the CCI guide for research involving Indigenous Peoples and communities and other similar guidance
• answer “Yes” to the application question “Does the proposed research involve Indigenous Peoples or communities?”

Where possible, CCI program staff will ensure that reviewers on these applications have experience or expertise in research involving Indigenous Peoples or communities.

Examples of best practices and forms of meaningful engagement that might be appropriate for various types of research are available in the CCI guide for research involving Indigenous Peoples and communities.

We also encourage contacting the Indigenous community that will be involved in the proposed research, as well as your institution for additional resources, policies and guidance.

Applied Research and Development (ARD) grants support research and development (R&D) projects led by college researchers in partnership with organizations in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors and can include other academic institutions as co-applicants.

To apply for an ARD grant, a college must include at least one partner organization whose cash contribution is recognized for cost sharing with the College and Community Innovation program, and the partner organization must contribute cash. Collectively, partner organizations are expected to:

• participate actively in the research activities (rather than contract for services rendered) and mobilize or translate knowledge to ensure that the results have beneficial economic, social, health or environmental impacts for Canada
• have the capability and resources to use the project’s research results to achieve its desired outcomes
• provide contributions (cash and/or in-kind) to support activities directly related to the research. Total cash contributions from partner organizations recognized for cost sharing must be at least 25% of the grant amount. Partner organization cash contributions must be used for direct costs of research

In order to be recognized for cost sharing, partner organizations must meet NSERC's College and Community Innovation program partnership guidelines.

Colleges can use Applied Research and Development (ARD) grants to fund direct costs of research as well as some indirect costs up to a total of $150,000 per year for up to 3 years, not including the contribution from partner organization(s) whose cash contributions are recognized for cost sharing with the College and Community Innovation (CCI) program.

The ARD grants estimator tool calculates the maximum grant amount that may be requested from NSERC based on the partner contribution amount or the minimum contribution amount needed for a specified grant size.

To support larger projects and additional students, colleges may request joint funding with another funding organization as part of their ARD application. Colleges may request funding from one opportunity per application. Current joint funding opportunities are detailed below.

For details on the use of grant funds, see the Tri-agency Guide on Financial Administration.

Specific rules and exceptions to Part 2 (Use of grant funds) of the guide apply to ARD grants, including the following:

• Overhead and administration costs equivalent to 20% of the annual grant amount are included automatically; such costs include expenditures eligible under the Research Support Fund (e.g., grant writing, financial reporting, etc.).
• ARD grants can cover the salary of replacement faculty members hired to backfill a college faculty member's involvement in an applied research project, as well as expenditures for recruitment-related activities.
• Salaries and non-discretionary benefits for non-faculty researchers, part-time faculty, technical and professional staff carrying out applied research, research administrators, business development and technology and/or knowledge transfer personnel are covered.
• Salaries and stipends for university students are ineligible as student salary expenditures; university students involved in projects must be remunerated as technical or professional college staff or as consultants. Only salaries and stipends for college students are eligible as student salary expenditures.
• Salaries are covered for project management activities leading to the optimal use of project resources to meet the research objectives in a timely and budget-efficient manner.
• Equipment costs are eligible, provided that the equipment is essential to achieving the objectives of the research project and incremental to the equipment already available at the college or at the partner organization’s location.
• Grant funds may not flow back to a partner organization.

Consult the Instructions for completing an ARD grant application for guidance on additional requirements for these opportunities. You can only apply to one joint funding opportunity per ARD grant application.

Applications must be submitted through the Convergence Portal. For more details, see the Instructions for completing an ARD grant application. Partners are invited to consult the College and Community Innovation program: Partner organization instructions for completing the partner module in the Convergence Portal for more information.

When NSERC receives an Applied Research and Development (ARD) grant application, it first undertakes an administrative assessment to ensure it is complete and complies with all eligibility requirements. Once the administrative assessment is completed and the application is deemed eligible, NSERC proceeds with the merit assessment of the application, using a variety of tools and taking into account the average annual amount of funding requested. Upon assessment, the most meritorious applications are selected for funding.

NSERC reserves the right to select the most appropriate review process, regardless of the amount of funding requested.

If you are interested in reviewing grant applications for the College and Community Innovation program as a peer review committee member or an external reviewer, you can fill out the Expression of interest form. After reviewing the submitted forms, NSERC staff will contact the selected individuals with further information.

Application review timeline

For applications with an average yearly amount requested of $40,000 or less, the expected assessment time is 5 to 9 weeks.

Applications with an average yearly amount requested of $40,001 to $150,000 will be assessed in 24 to 28 weeks.

NSERC aims to achieve these service standards for 80% of applications, recognizing that some proposals may require additional review time.

NSERC staff or external reviewers assess the evaluation criteria using the merit indicators. We suggest you prepare your research proposal using this template. The proposal must address all of the criteria and sub-criteria in the following order to be considered for funding.

Research plan

• Clarity of the research objectives and expected results, appropriateness of the research plan and methodology including integration of equity, diversity and inclusion in the research process where relevant, and clarity and suitability of the budget
• Innovativeness of the proposed research and its potential to lead to advancements or new knowledge

Partnerships and impact

• Partner organizations’ roles in defining the project, the value of their involvement in the project and any other in-kind contributions, and their capacity to translate, mobilize and/or apply the research results within a reasonable timeframe
• Significance of the outcomes and the economic, environmental, health and/or social benefits for partner organization(s) and Canada

Team

• Appropriateness of the experience and expertise of the principal investigator and the research team (postsecondary institutions and partner organizations) for carrying out the planned research activities, managing the project and providing training
• Identification of at least one concrete practice to ensure that equity, diversity and inclusion is intentionally and proactively considered in recruiting, selecting, and/or integrating personnel into the research team

Training

• Training plan and enriched experiences for college students and other trainees to develop relevant research and professional skills
• Identification of at least one concrete practice that will promote the participation of a diverse group of students and other trainees, including those from underrepresented groups, as well as promote an equitable, inclusive and accessible training environment

If your application is approved for funding, you will receive an award letter, and you must adhere to the Terms and conditions of award.

If a university or another college is collaborating on an ARD project (co-applicant), it receives funds through the college that submitted the application (primary administering institution). Once the grant funds have been transmitted to the applying college, that institution will transfer funds to the other eligible participating institutions (secondary administering institutions) in accordance with the application’s approved budget and budget justification. See the Transfer of funds section of the Tri-agency Guide on Financial Administration for additional guidance.

Your award letter will indicate the start date of your project. NSERC will transfer your grant funds to your college within 30 days of that start date. Note that applications funded through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) or the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) can experience delays in the transfer of funds due to the mechanism for transferring funds between agencies.

Colleges are required to acknowledge the support of granting agencies (CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC, as applicable) in all communications (verbally and in writing) about the research and research results. Furthermore, under Canada’s Official Languages Act, agencies must take measures to promote the use of both English and French in Canadian society. Hence, we ask that you acknowledge your agency’s funding in both English and French, verbally and in writing, whenever possible. For sample text and additional information, visit the Acknowledgement and logos (NSERC), Acknowledging CIHR support and promoting your research or Acknowledging SSHRC support web pages.

There is no embargo on announcements about awarded open competition grants. Once the grant is active, applicants and colleges are welcome to mention their award on their websites and other communication channels, as well as make a public announcement about their grant.

Before making an official public announcement for both annual and open competition College and Community Innovation grants, including ARD grants, please consult with NSERC’s, CIHR’s or SSHRC’s communications team.

Please refer to the College and Community Innovation program policy on intellectual property, research agreements, patents and copyright webpage.

The applying college must send NSERC a final report at the end of the project. Your final report must describe the impacts of the research and development.

NSERC will also ask the partner organization(s), students and trainees to submit a report on the project's success. If a partner organization is a large consortium of private-sector organizations, the consortium administrator may provide this report on behalf of the group.

Final reports will be completed and submitted on the Convergence Portal. Examples of report templates are available on the Applied Research and Development (ARD) Resources page.

Institutions or partner organizations that do not provide the requested reports on projects may no longer be eligible to apply for or participate in new proposals.

You are not required to strictly adhere to the budget presented in the proposal as long as the grant funds are used for research, training and other eligible activities for which they were intended. However, you must ensure that the budget items (e.g., equipment, overhead, etc.) comply with the Tri-agency Guide on Financial Administration, Part 2: Use of grant funds (with exceptions noted on the ARD grants Funding page).

The primary administering institution must complete a Grant Amendment Form and submit it to grantsadministration@nserc-crsng.gc.ca (with CC to colleges@nserc-crsng.gc.ca) to inform NSERC of administrative changes, such as:

• Deferral of grant instalment
• Extension period for the authority to use grant funds
• Continuing eligibility
• Changes to individuals on the grant team (including the applicant)
• Termination of a grant

Note: Grant recipients may add new partners to existing grants as long as their goals align with the existing objectives mentioned in the original grant proposal. Changes to partner organizations must be communicated directly to the CCI team (colleges@nserc-crsng.gc.ca).

For additional information on administrative changes, consult Part 6: Administrative changes of the Tri-agency Guide on Financial Administration.

A one-year time extension to use the grant funds beyond the project end date is automatically provided for all ARD grants. Contact colleges@nserc-crsng.gc.ca for additional information on grant extensions.

• College and Community Innovation program: Partner organization instructions for completing the partner module in the Convergence Portal
• College and Community Innovation program partnership guidelines
• Partner organization supplemental information questionnaire
• Terms and conditions of applying for partner organizations

• ARD grant estimator
• ARD budget template
• Instructions for completing an ARD grant application
• Roles and eligibility requirements to apply for or hold College and Community Innovation program grant funds
• Suggested proposal template

• CCI guide for research involving Indigenous Peoples and communities
• Guide to addressing equity, diversity and inclusion in College and Community Innovation program grant applications
• NSERC guide on integrating equity, diversity and inclusion considerations in research
• Tri-agency EDI Action Plan for 2018–2025
• Tri-agency Statement on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)
• Tri-agency Guide on Financial Administration

• Terms and conditions of applying for applicants
• Terms and conditions of applying for co-applicants
• Terms and conditions of applying for contributors
• Terms and conditions of applying for participants

• NSERC funding decisions
• Terms and conditions of award

• Final report template for ARTP, ARD and CCSIF grants (for all ARTP grants and for ARD and CCSIF grants awarded in 2022 or later)
• Partner report template for ARTP, ARD, CCSIF and Mobilize grants (for all ARTP grants and for ARD, CCSIF and Mobilize grants awarded in 2022 or later)
• Trainee report template for ARTP, ARD, CCSIF and Mobilize grants (for all ARTP grants and for ARD, CCSIF and Mobilize grants awarded in 2022 or later)

• List of eligible Canadian colleges

Email: colleges@nserc-crsng.gc.ca
Toll free: 1-855-275-2861

For help with online services
Email: websupport@convergence.gc.ca