To maintain its position as a leading nation in research, Canada needs to support its best and brightest researchers. This includes helping Canadian postsecondary institutions with the costs that come with managing their research enterprise, so they can maintain a world-class research environment.
The Research Support Fund (RSF) program and its Incremental Project Grants (IPG) stream and Research Security priority area help institutions cover a portion of the indirect costs of research, like lab maintenance and energy costs, so researchers can focus on the next big discovery.
Today, the Government of Canada outlined the details of funds announced in Budget 2024 to enhance research support. The funding provides $1.8 billion over five years, and $748.3 million ongoing, to support core research grants for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The funds represent a 30% top up to existing agency programs.
To offset some of the indirect costs of research that are incurred with core research grant increases, $353.6 million of the $1.8 billion announced in Budget 2024 will be allocated to the IPG stream of the RSF program over five years, starting in 2024-25, with $149.7 million annually ongoing thereafter. This additional funding will be available to institutions that receive $7 million or more in eligible research funding from the federal research funding agencies. The additional Budget 2024 IPG funding will be allocated over the first five years as follows: $15 million in 2024-25, $30.45 million in 2025-26, $56.97 million in 2026-27, $101.53 million in 2027-28, and $149.7 million in 2028-29 and ongoing.
While the additional Budget 2024 IPG funding is directed to research-intensive institutions, smaller institutions will continue to have a higher rate of their indirect costs covered through the base RSF program because of its progressive funding rate formula.
The additional Budget 2024 IPG funding will provide further support for the indirect costs of research, while supporting projects across four IPG priority areas: innovation and commercialization activities; facilities renewal, including deferred maintenance; information resources, including digital resources, open access and databases; and equity, diversity and faculty renewal (in the context of equity, diversity and inclusion).
Contact
For more information contact:
communications@chairs-chaires.gc.ca