New funding rounds for major federal programs

New funding rounds were announced earlier this week for two major federal research programs: the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) and the Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC).

Please note, there is an institutional cap on the number of applications that can be submitted for each competition, with Notices of Intent to the federal government due in spring 2022. We have therefore worked with the Associate Deans of Research on both campuses to finalize internal selection processes for both competitions.

Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF)
CFREF aims to boost the strengths of Canadian postsecondary institutions so that they can achieve global success in research areas that create long-term social and economic advantages for Canada. Each institution is limited to one application. The total funding envelope is $1.4 billion. There is no maximum funding request per application and funded projects receive seven years of funding.

Potential lead investigators or delegates are required to attend a UBC webinar on the program on December 2 or 3, 2021. As part of the UBC selection process, an Internal Notice of Intent must be submitted by December 22, 2021. For more information, including competition priority areas, please visit the Canada First Research Excellence Fund website.

Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC)
CERC aims to support world-renowned researchers and their teams to establish ambitious research programs at Canadian universities. This new round of funding has significant changes from previous competitions, including a one-phase application process and two available award values of $0.5 million and $1 million per year for eight years.

UBC has a cap on the total value of applications it can submit of $7 million per year. The UBC selection process has a limit of one Internal Notice of Intent per Faculty on each campus, with the exception of the Faculties of Medicine, Science, Applied Science and Arts at UBC Vancouver, who are invited to submit up to three Internal Notices of Intent. As part of the UBC selection process, these must be submitted by Faculties by January 17, 2022. For more information, please visit Canada Excellence Research Chairs website.

Thank you to all those who helped finalize these processes.

Gail C. Murphy
Vice-President, Research and Innovation