Infrastructure Grant Competition
Deadline: February 10, 2020
Introduction
The purpose of this competition is to provide financial support to CSDC members to enhance the CSDC research capacity and to strategically use our FRQSC infrastructure funding.
Research Infrastructure includes, but is not limited to, setting up of technical or digital services to support research, data analysis; development of a research platform; development of a database, or to enable the development of links between researchers in a network or with partners from the public, private or community sectors. The fund will also support the purchase of research equipment, or the update or maintenance of existing research equipment.
The infrastructure must be shareable and made available to any CSDC researcher or student in a collaborative manner. The infrastructure should also be made available to CSDC partners, if possible.
Preference will be given to proposals that will benefit as many members and users as possible and where resulting infrastructure can be shared between Centre-campuses. Funds are not meant to support a single research project but a broad range of Centre members and students.
Eligible expenses
Eligible expenses may include:
- Computational equipment and software licenses that form a comprehensive system intended to support research
- The purchase of new, used or refurbished equipment, or for the repair or upgrade of existing equipment
- Develop and operationalise participant pools
- Storage and networking
- Salaries or stipends for technicians, assistants or students to develop and operationalise the infrastructure
- Other expenses not listed here but covered by FQRSC infrastructure guidelines.
Ineligible expenses are:
- Salaries for research personnel for research projects
- Student stipends for research projects
- Consumables, office supplies, regular office furniture
Conditions of Award
The grant term will be one year from the award notification date; all funds must be used by the end of grant unless prior approval is obtained from the Steering Committee.
How to Apply
Submit a full application and prepare the attachments described below. Please note that the proposals will be evaluated by the CSDC Steering Committee in February 2020. Applicants may be invited to join the evaluation meeting to answer Committee questions.
An application consists of:
1. Proposal (max. 2 pages), including:
- Description of the research infrastructure requested
- Purpose: data collection, maintain data, reuse or archive data, analyze data or other
- Description of the types of research supported
- Need and urgency of the purchase to undertake research vis-à-vis other facilities on campus or other funding options, including timeliness of the infrastructure
- Prospective users and frequency of use (give details for each of the following categories members, students and partners)
- Longterm vision of use of the infrastructure
- If the infrastructure will help to attract additional funding and how
2. Budget and Budget Justification (1 Page)
- Include a detailed budget breakdown with justification of each item
- Explain how you will use the funds and why they are needed
- If the requested infrastructure requires operation and maintenance costs, and if so, explain how they will be covered
- Attach quote(s) (if available). Quotes are preferred to personal estimates
Value
Up to $ 10,000
Duration
1 year. Unspent funds at the end of the year will be returned to the CSDC.
Competition Deadline
February 10, 2020
For more information, please email Wim Wolfs at csdc-cecd [at] mcgill.ca