Fund
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The Research Support Fund (formerly called the Indirect Costs Program) provides support toward the indirect costs of federally-funded research. The amount of funding that OCAD University receives through the program is directly related to its share of funding awarded by the three federal research funding agencies (SSHRC, NSERC, and CIHR).
What are indirect costs?
Indirect costs are the “hidden costs” associated with enabling research to take place at OCAD University. This includes things such as the cost of maintaining physical research spaces, staffing in the offices of Research & Innovation, Finance, and People & Culture, managing the activities of the Research Ethics Board, and providing IT research supports such as data storage, security and networking.
Research Support fund allocation
2024-25 Notional RSF Allocation
For the 2024-25 fiscal year, the notional amount of Research Support Funds to be received by OCAD University is expected to be $595,861. These funds are planned to be used to support researchers through the following mechanisms:
Management and administration of the institution's research enterprise - $595,861 (100%)
- Salaries for administrative staff in the Offices of Research, Finance, and People & Culture providing support to researchers in:
- Grant application development
- Grant writing workshops and networking events
- Training for faculty and research personnel on project and financial management
- Partnership development
- Research contract review and negotiation
- Financial administration of Tri-agency and other external research funds
- Research project management
- Coordination of research ethics review processes
- Hiring processes for research personnel
- Research communications
- License for the ROMEO research award and research ethics certification management software used to track grant applications, certifications and awards
2024-25 Performance Objectives
The following are the institutional performance objectives established for OCAD University's 2023-24 Research Support Fund grant:
| Eligible program expenditure category | Output (investment or expense of RSF grant funds) | Performance objectives | Performance indicators | Target outcomes |
| Management and administration of OCAD U’s research enterprise | $595,861 to be invested in administrative support staff in the Offices of Research, Finance and People & Culture | Increase research capacity | Number of tenure-track and tenured faculty members submitting applications to the Tri-agencies in 2024-25 | 5% increase in the number of tenure-track and tenured faculty members submitting applications to the Triagencies in 2024-25 as compared to 2023-24 |
| Strengthen research partnerships | Number of new research partnerships developed | 5% increase in the number of new research partnerships in 2024-25 as compared to 2023-24 | ||
| Improved research administration processes and communications | Creation of internal online “Knowledgebase” to support researchers in locating information, tools and resources needed to support their research | Researchers will have an easier time locating the information they need and will have access to more guidance on spending their research funds |
In the 2023-24 fiscal year, OCAD University received $551,462 from the Research Support Fund. These funds were used to support researchers through the following mechanisms:
Research Facilities - $4,875 (0.9%)
- Maintenance and support for the institution's research website
Research Resources - $38,669 (7.0%)
- IT resources to support research including cyber security, data centre maintenance, and access to ORION high speed research network
Management and administration of the institution's research enterprise - $507,918 (92.1%)
- Salaries for administrative staff in the Offices of Research, Finance, and People & Culture providing support to researchers in:
- Grant application development
- Grant writing workshops and networking events
- Training for faculty and research personnel on project and financial management
- Partnership development
- Research contract review and negotiation
- Financial administration of Tri-Agency and other external research funds
- Research project management
- Coordination of research ethics review processes
- Hiring processes for research personnel
- Research Communications
- License for the ROMEO research award and research ethics certification management software.
2023-24 Performance Objectives
The following are the institutional performance objectives established for OCAD University's 2023-24 Research Support Fund grant:
Eligible program expenditure category | Output (investment or expense of RSF grant funds) | Performance objectives | Performance indicators | Target outcomes | Outcomes achieved in 2023-24 |
Management and administration of OCAD U’s research enterprise | $507,918 invested in administrative support staff in the Offices of Research, Finance and People & Culture | Increase research capacity | Number of grant applications submitted in 2023-24 | 5% increase in grant applications submitted in 2023-24 compared to 2022-23 | Applications submitted to the Tri-agencies increased by more than 37.5% in 2023-24 |
Strengthen OCAD U’s research culture | Number of research events hosted by the Research Office | Increased number of research events hosted in 2023-24 as compared to 2022-23 | The Research Office hosted 15 events in 2023-24 including 3 book launch events, an 8-week grant writing webinar series, and 4 webinars focused on specific Tri-agency programs | ||
Improved research administration processes and communications | Resources created to support researchers in managing their research funds | Develop tools and resources to streamline administrative processes | Preliminary work on the development of an online resource to support researchers in managing their research funds began in early 2024 |
In the 2022-23 fiscal year, OCAD University received $ 486,230 from the RSF. It was used to provide support to researchers through the following mechanisms:
- Salaries for administrative staff in the Offices of Research, Finance, and People & Culture providing support to researchers in:
- Grant application development
- Grant writing workshops and networking events
- Research contract review and negotiation
- Financial administration of Tri-Agency and other external research funds
- Research project management
- Coordination of research ethics review processes
- Hiring processes for research personnel
- Research Communications
- License for the ROMEO research award and research ethics certification management software.
In the 2021-22 fiscal year, OCAD University received $ 448,456 from the RSF. It was used to provide support to researchers through the following mechanisms:
- Salaries for administrative staff in the Offices of Research & Innovation, Finance, IT, and Human Resources providing support to researchers in:
- Grant application development
- Grant writing workshops and networking events
- Research contract review and negotiation
- Financial administration of Tri-Agency and other external research funds
- Research project management
- Coordination of research ethics review processes
- IT support for procurement and operations of research infrastructure
- Hiring processes for research personnel
- Research Communications
- License for the ROMEO research award and research ethics certification management software
- Data Centre maintenance, compute and storage, cybersecurity, and access to high speed research networks.
In the 2020-21 fiscal year, OCAD University received $ 373,817 from the RSF. It was used to provide support to researchers through the following mechanisms:
1. Salaries for administrative staff in the Offices of Research & Innovation, Finance, IT, and Human Resources providing support to researchers in:
- Grant application development
- Grant writing workshops and networking events
- Research contract review and negotiation
- Financial administration of Tri-Agency and other external research funds
- Research project management
- Coordination of research ethics review processes
- IT support for procurement and operations of research infrastructure
- Hiring processes for research personnel
- Research Communications
2. License for the ROMEO research award and research ethics certification management software.
In the 2019-20 fiscal year, OCAD University received $ 299,938 from the RSF. It was used to provide support to researchers through the following mechanisms:
- Salaries for administrative staff providing support to researchers in:
- Grant application development
- Grant writing workshops and networking events
- Research contract review and negotiation
- Financial administration of Tri-Agency and other external research funds
- Research project management
- Coordination of research ethics review processes
- IT support for procurement and operations of research infrastructure
- Hiring processes for research personnel
- Research Communications
- License for the ROMEO research award management software (which is also used for REB protocol submissions and reviews)
In the 2018-19 fiscal year, OCAD University received $ 286,359 from the RSF. It was used to offset the costs of salaries for administrative staff providing support to researchers in the areas of:
- Grant application development
- Financial administration of Tri-Agency and other external research funds
- Hiring processes for research assistants, post-doctoral fellows, and other research personnel
- Coordination of research ethics reviews
- IT support for research and research equipment procurement
- Research project management
- Research Communications; including OCAD U’s PULSE Research & Innovation Newsletter, and ‘This Is Research’ campaign
In the 2017-18 fiscal year, OCAD University received $293,804 from the RSF. It was used to offset the costs of salaries for administrative staff providing support to researchers in the areas of:
- Financial administration of Tri-Agency and other research funds
- Hiring processes for research assistants, post-doctoral fellows, and other research personnel
- Coordination of research ethics reviews
- Research project management
- Research Communications
In the 2016-17 fiscal year, OCAD University received $256,913 from the RSF. It was used to provide support to researchers through the following mechanisms:
- License for the ROMEO research management software (which is also used for REB protocol submissions and reviews)
- Maintenance on network infrastructure
- Salaries for research administration-related staff, including:
- Manager of the Research Ethics Board
- Research Projects Officers
- Research Accountant