Research Grants Office

New FCAR Equipment Grant Program Ð This new program replaces the current FCAR Equipment Grant Program as equipment grant applications will no longer be part of the FCAR operating grant applications. Eligible applicants are university researchers who are currently being funded under the FCAR programs (new researchers, research teams and centres). Also eligible are researchers who have no FCAR grants, but have submitted or intend to submit an application under any of the FCAR programs. However, the equipment grant is conditional upon receiving an operating grant.

The objective of the program is to support the purchase of new research equipment required to carry out the research activities funded by FCAR. This money could also be used as leverage to attract funding from other sponsors. The equipment grant applications are divided into two categories:

Volet A - Equip. $10,000 - $50,000 for individual or group of researchers (team or centre).

Volet B - Equip. $50,000 for group of researchers (team or centre).

In order to use as leverage for the upcoming Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) competitions, a first competition (Volet B) will be held this spring, the deadline being April 15, 1999.

NSERC 1999-2000 Grants Competition Results Ð Starting March 22, NSERC will communicate the competition results differently by sending the lists of research and equipment grants, and separate lists for subatomic physics (SAP) to the Research Grants Office for distribution to the chairs of departments, who in turn will notify their researchers of the decision. In early April, applicants will receive individual letters from NSERC via the Research Grants Office informing them of the outcome of their application(s). In mid-April, the results will be available on NSERC's Web site.

Please note that the increased sums allocated to NSERC in the 1999-2000 federal budget have not yet been allocated to any of the programs. A special meeting of Council is scheduled for March 25 to decide how the extra money will be used. The decisions made in the 1999-2000 competition for research grants are therefore based on the allocation set for the program following last year's budget increase and reallocation decisions.

SSHRC Grants Competition Results Ð Upon receipt of a list of the research and strategic grants competition results from SSHRC, the Research Grants Office will prepare a letter to the applicants informing them of the outcome of their applications. In late April, applicants will receive directly from SSHRC their notice of award as well as the committee and assessors' comments.

Reminder for Account Approval by RGO Ð As most of the major grants competition results will soon be coming in and our office will be very busy approving new and renewal grant accounts, we would like to take this opportunity to remind all grantees to provide us with the missing information on time so that their accounts can be opened or activated as promptly as possible (i.e., ethics, animal or biohazard certificates, RGO Checklists, etc.). More information on Opening of Research Grants Account is available on our website at ww2.mcgill.ca/fgsr/rgo/policies.htm#Account.

Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) Ð There will be two NCE competitions this year. The first will be an open competition ($10M) very much like the last one; the second will be targeted and will require Cabinet approval. The open competition will be launched almost immediately and it is hoped that the targeted competition will be announced before the end of 1999. For the open competition, the program guidelines will be posted on the NCE website by March 31, 1999 (www.nce.gc.ca). The deadline for receipt of Letters of Intent is June 1, 1999, and the deadline for full applications will be September 15, 1999. Researchers who plan on submitting a Letter of Intent should first contact Ian Butler, Associate Vice-Principal (Research) at local 3993.

FCAR Action Concerte sur les NTIC en Éducation Ð This program is designed to promote research on the development and application of new information and communication technologies (NICT) in education with particular emphasis on teaching at the primary and secondary levels. For more information, please go to What's New on the RGO website.

Average grant: $50,000/year. Eligibility: Research teams only - Deadline : April 1, 1999

More detailed information on these announcements and programs is available at RGO's website at ww2.mcgill.ca/fgsr/rgo