Student in a lab

Research Support Fund

At the University of Ottawa, the Research Support Fund is used to support activities such as the maintenance of research facilities, the purchase of library holdings, the promotion and sustenance of technology transfer services, assistance in preparing and managing grant proposals, and technical support to meet regulatory requirements.

Indirect Costs and the University of Ottawa

In 2003, the Government of Canada established the Indirect Costs Program (ICP) as a permanent program.  This program provides Canadian universities and colleges with an annual grant to help pay for a portion of their hidden or “indirect” costs of research administrative expenditures that support research but are not chargeable to specific research projects.  In 2015, the program was renamed the Research Support Fund (RSF).  Please visit the Research Support Fund website for additional information on the program.

The amount of the University of Ottawa’s grant is based on the amount of funding received by researchers from the three federal granting agencies - CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC - in the three most recent years for which data is available.

In 2024-25 the University received $14,222,286 from RSF. The grant is allocated to cover a proportion of all indirect costs within the university.  A portion is retained centrally, and it is further distributed to affiliated hospitals/research institutions (see below).  The University uses these funds in five areas (see the table under the 2024-25 section below), as defined by the program.

These investments helped to:

  • Attract and retain researchers and provide them with the resources and infrastructure they need to succeed;
  • Support the development of the future generation of researchers; and
  • Attract additional funding to support the University’s research environment.

University of Ottawa Affiliated Hospitals/Research Institutions

  • Bruyère Health Research Institute
  • Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario Research Institute
  • Institut du Savoir Montfort
  • Ottawa Heart Institute Research Corporation
  • Ottawa Hospital Research Institute
  • University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research

See the comprehensive list of other affiliated organizations.

Table: 2024-2025 Projected Expenditure Categories Distribution

 
Expenditure CategoriesProjected BudgetProjected Distribution
Research facilities$4,032,07028.4%
Research resources$2,428,92717.1%
Management and administration of an institution's research enterprise$5,742,45140.4%
Regulatory requirements and accreditation$1,447,44810.2%
Intellectual property$571,3904.0%
Total$14,222,286100%

Please note that the University also received $2,906,839 for the new supplement for incremental projects and $1,167,671 for research security funding. 

Institutional Performance Indicators Report

Institutional performance objectives: The University of Ottawa aims to support and maintain the research enterprise as demonstrated in the table below by supplementing funds from the Research Support Fund with the institutions’ internal operational budgets.

For the forthcoming year (2024-2025), the University of Ottawa’s target is to minimize the negative impacts of stagnant funding from the RSF program and to maintain current level of research activities.

2024-2025 Research Support Fund – Institutional Performance Objectives

Eligible Program Expenditure CategoryOutput (Investment or expense of RSF grant funds)Institutional Performance ObjectiveInstitutional Performance IndicatorsTarget OutcomesReported Outcome
Research FacilitiesProjected percentage of RSF grant invested in supporting operation of research facilities: 28.3%Maintain facilities that serve to attract researchersTotal research space in Net Assignable Square Meters (NASM)1To maintain the total research space in Net Assignable Square MetersUpcoming
Research ResourcesProjected percentage of RSF grant invested in supporting operation of research resources: 17.1%Continue support of digital and print library resourcesNumber of journal subscriptions (electronic formats) held by the institutionTo maintain the number of journal subscriptionsUpcoming
Management and Administration of Research EnterpriseProjected percentage of RSF grant invested in research administration tools, systems and processes: 40.4%Continue maintenance of research tools and systemsNumber of active research filesTo maintain the number of active research files in research administration systemsUpcoming
Regulatory Requirements and AccreditationProjected percentage of RSF grant invested in initiatives supporting regulatory requirements and accreditation: 10.2%Maintain support for ethics servicesNumber of active human ethics certificatesTo maintain the number of active human ethics certificates managed at universityUpcoming
Regulatory Requirements and AccreditationProjected percentage of RSF grant invested in initiatives supporting regulatory requirements and accreditation: 10.2%Provide essential support for animal care and trainingAnimal Care protocols and training materials2To maintain the current animal care protocols and training materialsUpcoming
Intellectual PropertyProjected percentage of RSF grant invested in supporting intellectual property development and management: 4.0%Maintain support to protect intellectual property generated at the universityNumber of invention disclosures3To maintain number of invention disclosuresUpcoming

1 The amount of area (in NASM) used for research purposes in square meters. 1 square meter = 10.76 square feet

2 The Animal Care Committee (ACC), supported by the Officer of Animal Ethics & Compliance (AEC; Director of Animal Ethics, Training & Communications Coordinator, and 2 Animal Ethics Coordinators), reviews and approves approximately 530 animal use protocols annually (with various amendments and yearly renewals). The goal is to complete protocol review and provide ACC approval within 8 weeks unless information is missing or is problematic, or when the volume of protocols is particularly high. Protocol software developments and the COVID-19 pandemic response resulted in some delays and backlog in the protocol review process in recent years, but these have been largely addressed; the ACC and AEC are continuing to work towards addressing the remaining backlog under the direction of a new Director of Animal Ethics who joined the program in Spring 2023. The AEC animal user training program continues to grow and develop novel materials and processes regularly to better meet the needs of the uOttawa research community while meeting or exceeding regulatory requirements.

3 As the university closed in March 2020, there were projects that were put on hold and therefore caused delays in disclosures. The lack of face-to-face meetings with researchers during Covid due to social distancing measures has reduced the number of disclosure conversations as well.

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Contact us

Research Management Services

Tabaret Hall
Room 159
550 Cumberland St
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada K1N 6N5

Tel: 613-562-5841 
Fax: 613-562-5338

General support: [email protected]

Contract Support: [email protected]

RMS directory

Research advisors

Be sure to contact the Faculty’s Research Advisors! They are a great resource and will help guide researchers in the administrative process of getting funding for their research. Check out the faculty’s homepage to find out more.