Steps in the process:
Step 1 – Research Funding Opportunity (best fit for your research plans!)
Once the researcher, or research team, has outlined their research plans (topic, short-, medium-, long-term objectives, activities, timeframe, total required budget), they search for the right funding opportunity.
CORIS publishes a weekly newsletter of active funding opportunities, and your Faculty Research Facilitator can provide advice.
Step 2 – Proposal Development
Once the team has identified a funding opportunity, a professional research administrator (Research Facilitator) is available to provide a substantive review of your proposal.
Contact your Faculty Research Facilitator for more information.
Step 3 – Institutional Endorsement and Submission
Approval from your Department Chair\Director and Associate Dean of Research is required before submitting an application externally. Submit a Research Approval Form via CUResearch at least 3 days in advance of the deadline. The submission becomes the starting point for a file containing all project documents which researchers can consult by logging into CUResearch.
Step 4 – Submission to the External Agency and Peer-review Process
Submit your proposal to the external funder. The proposal will be peer reviewed by the agency in accordance with their established processes. A notice of decision will be sent to the researcher. If no Carleton contact is copied on it, please forward it to coris@carleton.ca.
To learn more about the peer-review process, please consulting the videos below.
Demystifying the review process for NSERC Discovery Grants
NIH Peer Review Revealed
Post-award process:
Step 5: Notice of Decision and Ethics
The researcher is responsible for contacting the Ethics Office:
- Human Research: ethics@carleton.ca.
- Animal Research: AccBio@carleton.ca.
- Research Involving Biohazards: AccBio@carleton.ca.
Step 6 – Financial Account Creation
The Notice of Decision is included in your CUResearch file, and a financial account is opened by Research Financial Services once all the required Research Compliance certificates have been issued, if any.
Step 7 – Award Management
Financial Administrators in Research Financial Services notify researcher of the fund number once opened and can answer any questions related to managing your funds, including what expenses are eligible.
Transfers of funds (sub-awards) from CIHR, SSHRC, and NSERC grants to other eligible and non-eligible institutions can be requested via CUResearch.
Step 8 – Financial Reporting and Monitoring
Research Financial Services prepares financial reports in accordance with the agency guidelines and schedules. Research Financial Services sends the report to the researcher, who must review and sign the report prior to submission to the agency.
Qualitative reports are the researcher’s responsibility, as is the annual collection of attestations from partners for cash and in-kind contributions towards your grant.
Step 9 – Award Closure
Project is complete. All required reports have been submitted and all funding has been received from the sponsor. Account balance is at $0. Unspent funds are returned to the sponsor, if required, or moved to the researcher’s general research fund.
If a no-cost extension is required, contact the Tri-Agency Administrator. For some NSERC and SSHRC grants that closed with unspent funds in the account, the researcher may be eligible to request access to the residual balance.