NSERC Alliance Grant (2022)

ByMaurice January 20, 2022September 1, 2022

Description:

Alliance grants encourage university researchers to collaborate with partner organizations, which can be from the private, public or not-for-profit sectors.

These grants support research projects led by strong, complementary, collaborative teams that will generate new knowledge and accelerate the application of research results to create benefits for Canada.

They provide matching funds or in-kind resources of up to $1 million annually to work on an innovative project that creates benefits for Canada.

Comments on Funding:

Funding ranges from $20,000 to $1 million per year.

NSERC funding for Option 1 ranges from 50% to 66.7% of the project costs (Value: $20,000 to $1 million per year), the remainder amount must be the Partner organization’s contribution, as following:

50% for large organizations as a sole partner organization from any sector (private, public or not-for-profit);
50% for large organizations in partnership exclusively with other large organizations within the same sector;
66.7% for large organizations in partnership with other large organizations from a different sector;
66.7% for large organizations in partnership with SMEs from any sector;
66.7% for SMEs as a sole partner organization from any sector;
66.7% for SMEs in partnership with other organizations of any size and from any sector.

NSERC funding for Option 2 ranges from 90% to 100% of the project costs (Value: over $30,000 to $300,000 per year), as following:

90% for any private-sector partner organization;
100% for exclusively not-for-profit and public partner organizations.

The remainder amount must be the Partner organization’s contribution

When It Ends:

Ongoing

Deadline:

Rolling deadline

Eligibility:

Applicants must be:

Canadian university researchers on their own or as a team with co-applicants who are also eligible academic researchers,
collaborating with at least one partner organization (private-sector, public-sector or not-for-profit organizations) whose cash contributions will be recognized for cost-sharing. Applicants may also collaborate with other partner organizations who play an important role in their research project whether or not their cash contributions are recognized for cost sharing.

Alliance grants support projects of varying scale and complexity, from short-term smaller projects involving one researcher to long-term projects involving researchers across several universities, and from one-on-one collaborations with one partner organization directly involved in the research to projects involving many partner organizations across multiple sectors.

Applications Steps:

Applications must be submitted through NSERC’s online system.

The application includes three components:

a proposal: complete an application for a grant (form 101);

applicant’s must complete a personal data form with CCV attachment (form 100A), and ask any co-applicants to complete one as well;

the representative at each partner organization must complete the Partner organization section; other funders and post-secondary institutions do not complete this section.

Documentation Needed:

Applicants must:

fill out the proposal template and the supporting documents,
write a summary of the proposed research, intended to explain the proposal in language that the public can understand (the summary must fit in the field provided in Application for a grant – form 101);
complete the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships’ risk assessment form for all Alliance grant applications involving one or more partner organizations from the private sector (as of July 12, 2021).
submit their completed application through NSERC’s online system.

Other Things to Note:

There are 2 options of cost-sharing:

Option 1 with no limits for applications per year, grant size ranging from $20,000 to $1 million per year and project duration ranging 1 to 5 years.
Option 2 with limited number of applications within a 12-month period, grant size ranging from $30,000 to $300,000 per year and project duration ranging 1 to 5 years.