Policies & Guidelines

Selecting the Appropriate Federal Granting Agency and Addressing Other Sources of Funding

Selecting the Appropriate Federal Granting Agency

NSERC (the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) support and promote high-quality research in a wide spectrum of disciplines. This includes research that falls between disciplines or that requires the skills of several disciplines. The researcher must apply to the agency that deals with the dominant research discipline, i.e., natural sciences and engineering, social sciences and humanities, or health research.

The agencies are continuously reviewing their areas of responsibility to minimize gaps in coverage, and they have flexible mechanisms for the joint review and funding of research activities involving several disciplines or overlapping jurisdictions. Applications submitted to NSERC that would be more appropriate for evaluation by CIHR or SSHRC will be rejected. This could require a new submission/application to the appropriate agency.

Research Falling Under the Jurisdiction of More Than One Agency

For proposals with one applicant and/or a budget of less than $100,000 per annum, NSERC expects that researchers applying for research grants will normally select the most appropriate federal granting agency (NSERC, CIHR, SSHRC) to support their research activities. Measures are taken to ensure that applications that overlap jurisdictions are assessed fairly, with input from the other agency(ies) as required. Applicants desiring a review by more than one agency should attach a covering letter requesting that experts from more than one agency be involved in the evaluation of the application.

Although support from more than one agency is permissible, a researcher may not submit the same application to NSERC and CIHR or SSHRC.

Researchers who are unsure whether to submit their application to NSERC or to another granting agency should contact NSERC before submitting an application.

Research proposals involving more than one applicant and/or with a budget of more than $100,000 per annum could require joint evaluation. Researchers must apply to an existing program of the agency that deals with the dominant research discipline, and must meet the eligibility requirements of that agency. The agency to which the application has been formally submitted will normally become the lead agency and take prime responsibility for peer review. Applicants should contact the lead agency by telephone to discuss their proposal before submission. Applications should be accompanied by a covering letter requesting that experts from more than one agency be involved in the evaluation, and suggesting an appropriate sharing of costs. In the case of large, complex proposals, applicants may be advised to send a letter of intent before submitting a full proposal.

The agency receiving the application will carry out a preliminary screening to determine if it should undergo interagency review, or be considered by one agency. The applicant will be notified in either case. If another agency becomes the lead agency, additional information may be required by the new agency; however, efforts will be made to minimize demands for additional material.

Once an application is accepted for interagency review, the lead agency will use its normal review mechanism wherever possible, inviting the other agency(ies) to participate in the review.

The agencies will review the recommendations and agree on the level of funding and on an appropriate funding split. Funding decisions will be made using the usual procedures in each agency.

Support of Research in Psychology

The field of psychology is supported by the three granting agencies as follows.

NSERC considers applications that relate to fundamental psychological processes, their underlying neural mechanisms, their development within individuals, and their evolutionary and ecological context. Fundamental processes are understood to include:

• sensation and perception;
• sensorimotor integration;
• motivation, emotion, and reward;
• learning and memory;
• cognition and language; and
• sleep, arousal, and the chronobiological modulation of behaviour.

NSERC also considers applications concerning statistical methods for analysis of psychological data.

Clinical psychology programs are not normally eligible for NSERC support.

SSHRC considers applications in the broad area of social psychology. A detailed description of the areas that fall under the jurisdiction of SSHRC is published by that agency. These currently include, but are not necessarily limited to:

• experimental social psychology: social behaviour in an experimental setting including the dynamics and processes of interpersonal relations; behaviour in small and large groups; interpersonal influence;
• communication: interpersonal communication; social aspects of psycholinguistics; socio-linguistics and ethnolinguistics; mass media effects;
• social processes and social issues: the examination of social phenomena in a natural setting from a psychological perspective;
• personality: human personality traits and processes and their behavioural manifestations, including emotions and non-pathological emotional reactions; defence mechanisms, cognitive style, creativity, self concept, self perception, and the measurement of these traits;
• developmental psychology: children's social and personality development, social behaviour and personality in adulthood and aging;
• educational psychology: educational research pertaining to both normal and special populations; school learning and prediction of achievement;
• history and philosophy of psychology and psychological analysis of historical figures;
• theory and method: studies of a theoretical or methodological nature; and
• applied psychology: projects in the areas of organizational and industrial psychology, and environmental psychology.

CIHR considers applications for support of research on normal and abnormal psychological processes with clear and direct relevance to human health. This includes research on behavioral aspects of physical health and disease or mental health and disorders.

Relationship Between NSERC Proposals and Other Sources of Funds

There are various sources of funding available for each discipline. These include other NSERC programs, and grants from government, industry and private sources. NSERC does not restrict researchers from obtaining other sources of funding, but does expect that there will be no duplication of funding for the same research.

The principles in assessing the relationship with other sources of funding are: 1) Access to NSERC funds should be fair for all applicants, regardless of their other sources of funding; 2) Applications are evaluated according to the program's review criteria; 3) There must be no duplication of funding for the same research. However, when research programs are supported by multiple sources, the additional benefits of NSERC support must be well explained and justified.

The onus is on the applicant to provide sufficient information to enable a review committee to evaluate the relationship with other sources of support and to recommend the appropriate NSERC funding level. The consequence of not providing adequate information to enable a selection committee to assess the relationship to other research support is that the committee may recommend reduced or no funding.