For Professors – Overview – Research Tools and Instruments and Infrastructure Programs

Major Resources Support (MRS) Program

Duration	Application Deadline	How to Apply
Up to five years	August 15	Notification of Intent (Form 181)
	October 1	Forms 101 and 100
Program Contacts		Apply on-line

Important Information

• Potential Applicants to the MRS Grants Competition
• MRS Grants – Frequently Asked Questions
• List of Grant Selection Committees

Objective

The objective of the MRS program is to facilitate effective access to major regional, national, or international (based in Canada) experimental or thematic research resources by financially assisting these resources to remain in a state of readiness for researchers to use. MRS grants are not intended to support resources that are standard in a discipline or commonly available in Canadian universities. The MRS program also aims to facilitate access by Canadian researchers to major international resources located outside Canada, excluding any direct financial support towards the operating and maintenance costs of such resources.

Research resources are defined as experimental research facilities or thematic research organizations such as institutes. An institute is defined as a research resource that promotes and triggers national, and possibly international, interactions within a given research community and provides a place where researchers meet, collaborate, and exchange ideas. Institutes are infrastructures that provide an environment that serves to accelerate research within disciplines as well as to promote links between different disciplines, thus fostering interdisciplinary research.

Description

MRS grants help major experimental and thematic research resources located in Canada to cover their operating and maintenance costs. Supported resources are those that cannot fully cover such costs by using other research grants or charging user fees, or those where user fees cannot be leveraged. The grants assist resources that are significant in size, value, or importance, and that are not customary in a discipline or commonly available in Canadian universities. Supported resources must be used by researchers from several institutions, which can include universities, government laboratories, or companies, within a region, across Canada, or from abroad.

Major resources supported by this program may include:

• specialized experimental facilities;
• research institutes that promote and trigger interactions within the constituents of relevant communities;
• field research stations;
• a core of highly skilled technical or professional research support staff essential to the research activities of a group;
• large specialized items of research equipment; or
• a collection of specialized samples or objects, as defined in the Framework for Researchers Working with University-Based Collections.

MRS grants also help Canadian researchers who come together as Canadian user consortia to access major resources located abroad and whose equivalent is not available in Canada. Such support excludes any direct contribution towards the operating and maintenance costs of foreign resources. The support is not given to individual researchers, but rather to the user consortia, which must be composed of researchers from several institutions that could include universities, government laboratories, or companies.

Eligible Costs

Support of resources located in Canada

MRS grants provide funding to assist in covering the following costs:

• salaries of technical and professional research support staff employed to operate and maintain the resource, as well as to provide assistance to users;
• operation and maintenance of the resource;
• materials, supplies, and minor equipment essential to the operation and maintenance of the resource;
• travel expenses to attend conferences as part of the resource’s plan to keep abreast of scientific and technical advances;
• dissemination costs as part of the resource’s outreach activities towards the relevant communities; and
• operation of scientific review panels and governing bodies.

Furthermore, in the case of thematic resources, MRS grants also provide funding to assist in paying the following costs, which should be listed as part of the operating costs:

• remuneration of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows involved in the context of thematic or collaborative programs;
• visitor expenses, including travel and local support; and
• honoraria for distinguished speakers.

In the case of experimental resources, the costs of running the facilities should be split into two major components: non-recoverable and recoverable costs. Only non-recoverable costs are eligible for MRS funding.

• Non-recoverable costs are those expenses necessary to keep the experimental resource in a state of readiness for researchers to use, and to increase the awareness of the potential user communities of the activities and opportunities offered by the resource. They are independent of the number of researchers actually using the resource and are not associated with specific research projects.
• Recoverable costs comprise expenses directly incurred when researchers and their highly qualified personnel use the experimental resource. Examples of such costs are those for consumables that are used for specific projects, sample preparation and analysis in the case of analytical facilities, and food, fuel, and staff salaries for specific projects in the case of field stations. Recoverable costs should be charged as user fees against the users’ Discovery Grants or other funding sources, and they should not be included in the amount requested from the MRS program. Regarding user fees, NSERC recommends that holders of MRS grants adhere to the guidelines given in Table 1. In some cases, a moderate differential between internal and external academic users may be accepted, provided that a case is made to justify it and to demonstrate that its impact on the accessibility to the resource would be minimal.

Due to the nature and purpose of thematic resources, costs directly incurred when researchers and their highly qualified personnel use such resources are eligible for MRS funding. This is in addition to the expenses necessary to keep the resource in a state of readiness for researchers to use and to increase the awareness of the potential user communities of the activities and opportunities offered by the resource.

Support of access to resources located outside Canada

MRS grants assist Canadian users groups in accessing major resources located abroad, whose equivalent is not available in Canada. Such support excludes any direct contribution towards the operating and maintenance costs of such resources. The following costs are eligible for MRS funding:

• membership or access/user fees;
• minor equipment needed to accommodate the specific needs of Canadian users;
• travel related to the use of the foreign resource, i.e., field work; and
• salaries of Canadian technical and professional research support staff employed to assist Canadian users in their use of the resource.

Ineligible Costs

MRS grants cannot be used to pay for any indirect costs of research or expenses that are central or departmental institutional costs. Examples of such indirect costs include, but are not limited to, those for the renovation of research spaces and buildings, leasing costs of space and equipment, utilities, general technical support to laboratories, security and occupational safety, or insurance. Other ineligible costs can be found in the Use of Grant Funds section of the NSERC Program Guide for Professors.

Selection Criteria

Any application to the MRS program will be assessed on the basis of the eight selection criteria listed below. Each criterion lists the factors that will be considered. To be eligible for MRS funding, a resource must meet all eight criteria.

• Uniqueness of the resource
  • Research resource not standard in a discipline and not commonly available in Canadian universities.
• Regional, national, or international nature of the resource.
• Uniqueness compared to other Canadian resources that may be providing similar services.
• Use of the resource by the research community
  • Past (if applicable), current, and projected level of use of the resource.
• Accessibility of the resource to, and actual use by, researchers beyond the host institution, including both academic and non-academic users.
• Potential for collaboration with complementary Canadian or, if applicable, international resources.
• Extent to which the resource can accommodate the specialized needs of the users.
• Demonstrated outreach to the potential Canadian or, if applicable, international academic and non-academic user communities.
• Need for access to the resource for the research programs
  • Impact of the resource on the advancement of the research programs of current and projected users and, when applicable, on the dissemination and use of the knowledge generated in the supported area(s) of research.
• Consequence of the loss of access to the resource on the users’ research programs.
• Merit of the research programs that rely on access to the resource and excellence of the user community
• In the case of experimental resources, the quality, significance, and pertinence of ongoing research programs of the users.
• In the case of thematic resources, the quality, pertinence, and impact of the past (if applicable), current, and planned scientific activities, and significance of the research themes to the related communities.
• Excellence of the users and, in the case of thematic resources, excellence of activity organizers and users, and their level of commitment to the activities within the resource.
• Scientific (knowledge and technology) return on the investment in the resource.
• Demonstrated need for support through an MRS grant
• Demonstrated need for, and effectiveness of, support through an MRS grant as opposed to other NSERC grants (e.g., Discovery Grants) and contributions from other sources.
• Nature and extent of the commitment and support from universities and other organizations.
• Justification of the requested funds from NSERC.
• Proposed sharing of costs, including user fees (if applicable).
• Rationale for the proposed user fees (if applicable).
• Management of the resource
• Effectiveness of the management structure.
• Administration and allocation of access to the resource to different users (internal and external, from universities, government, or industry).
• Plan and budget for the maintenance and operation of the resource.
• Plan of the resource to keep abreast of scientific and technical advances, as well as to sustain well-coordinated and leading-edge research activities.
• Contribution of the resource to the training of highly qualified personnel
• Importance of the resource for training, including unique training opportunities offered by the resource.
• Extent and excellence of training.
• Opportunity for hands-on training.
• Synergy
• The extent to which a grouping of equipment, staff, or participants enhances the value and capability of a resource and enables researchers to obtain results or carry out studies that would otherwise be very difficult or impossible.

Application Procedures

The first step in applying to the MRS program is to submit a Notification of Intent to Apply for a Major Resources Support Grant (Form 181) to NSERC. The purpose of such a Notification of Intent to Apply is to provide NSERC with information to determine the most appropriate review mechanism for the application. Starting in the summer of 2007, for grants that will be awarded in April 2008, the Notification of Intent to Apply will be used for screening purposes. For any prospective application, the Notification of Intent to Apply will undergo a review process to ensure that the resource meets the program’s objectives and guidelines. Only resources whose Notifications of Intent to Apply are accepted will be invited to put forward a grant application.

The Notification of Intent to Apply will not be used for screening purposes in the first year of the program, i.e., for applications to be submitted in the summer/fall of 2006 for grants to be awarded in April 2007.

Review Procedures

Applications to the MRS program are reviewed by a multidisciplinary selection committee. This committee is composed of distinguished members who have extensive expertise in, and broad practical knowledge of, experimental and thematic resources in the various disciplines that NSERC serves. The competition is held annually.

For each application, the MRS Selection Committee receives input from the discipline-based Grant Selection Committees (GSCs). Furthermore, for any application requesting more than $500,000 per year, the MRS Selection Committee may also receive input from an expert ad hoc committee that would perform an on-site evaluation and review of the resource. NSERC reserves the right to perform an on-site evaluation and review of any resource that applies to the MRS program, even for requests that are less than $500,000 per year. The conclusive recommendation to NSERC on any application is that made by the MRS Selection Committee.

Duration and Conditions

MRS grants can be awarded for up to five years.