Research Support Fund
The Government of Canada’s Research Support Fund assists post-secondary institutions with the expenses associated with managing research funded by the three federal research granting agencies (Tri-Agency): the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
Research funding provided through the granting agencies is generally limited to direct project costs (e.g., research equipment, salaries for research assistants, etc.). Institutions that receive funding for research also incur costs to manage their research enterprise, often called indirect costs of research (e.g., salaries for staff who administer the grants, maintenance of facilities, etc.). The Research Support Fund allows expenditures in five categories:
- Research Facilities
- Research Resources
- Management and Administration
- Regulatory Requirements and Accreditation
- Intellectual Property
Red Deer Polytechnic, along with Bethany Care Society - CollegeSide as our affiliated institution, applies annually to receive a grant through the Research Support Fund program to help pay for a portion of the administrative costs related to federally-funded research. The amount of the grant is based on the average Tri-Agency funding received by Red Deer Polytechnic in the previous three years. In the past, Red Deer Polytechnic has received the following awards:
- 2022-2023 - $14,075 (100% allocated to Management and Administration)
- 2021-2022 - $15,061 (100% allocated to Management and Administration)
- 2020-2021 - $32,351 (100% allocated to Management and Administration)
- 2019-2020 - $37,179 (100% allocated to Management and Administration)
- 2018-2019 - $42,320 (100% allocated to Management and Administration)
Red Deer Polytechnic has used the Research Support Fund grants to help cover the costs of administering grants from the federal agencies, as well as to help cover the costs of managing research partnerships and training in grant writing.