New Frontiers in Research Fund – Exploration

Procedures and timelines for the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) – Transformation competition. Please be aware that there are 3 stages to this application: Notice of Intent, Letter of Intent, and Application (by invitation only)

Notice of Intent (NOI)

Procedure

1. Signatures are not required for the NOI stage.
2. Your NOI application must be submitted via Convergence by 12:00pm on April 14, 2025. ORS will need to provide online approval by 4:30pm on April 15, 2025.

Letter of Intent (LOI)

Procedure

1. Your application package must be submitted to the Dean’s Office or affiliated hospital research office by Monday, June 9, 2025 for Faculty approval. Please email it to the Faculty signature contact for your site. Note that Evelina Tolstykh (fom.grantapprovals@ubc.ca) is the contact for Faculty approval for those located at the UBC Point Grey campus. See below for a complete list of the required items.
   
2. After Faculty approval, your application package will be sent to ORS.
3. Your application must be submitted via the NFRF research portal no later than 12:00pm on Monday, June 16, 2025.
4. ORS will electronically approve your application via the research portal for submission to NFRF.

Please remember that you can continue working on your research proposal up until you submit on the research portal on June 16, even after you have submitted your application package for Faculty approval.

Required Documents

Required Documents to be submitted to the FoM for the New Frontiers in Research Fund grant competition:

1. Completed Research Project Information Form including the following signatures:
   1. the Principal Investigator
   2. Department Head or School Director
   3. Research Centre Director (if using research space within a Senate-Approved Research Centre, identified with an asterisk on the Academic & Research Units page)
2. Completed and signed confirmation of eligibility form for all external co-PIs and co-applicants. If co-PIs and co-applicants are within UBC, they will need to determine with their Department/Faculty whether they need to review and sign the application.
3. Title page (page 1), including list of participants
4. Participants’ eligibility profile pages
5. Project description page
6. Budget and budget justification pages (note: budget should include 25% ICR as per NFRF guidelines)

Application (by invitation only)

Procedure

1. Your application package must be submitted to the Dean’s Office or affiliated hospital research office by Monday, February 13, 2026 for Faculty approval. Please email it to the Faculty signature contact for your site. Note that Evelina Tolstykh (fom.grantapprovals@ubc.ca) is the contact for Faculty approval for those located at the UBC Point Grey campus. See below for a complete list of the required items.
   
2. After Faculty approval, your application package will be sent to ORS.
3. Your application must be submitted via the NFRF research portal no later than 12:00pm on Monday, March 2, 2026.
4. ORS will electronically approve your application via the research portal for submission to NFRF.

Please remember that you can continue working on your research proposal up until you submit on the research portal on March 2, even after you have submitted your application package for Faculty approval.

Required Documents

Required Documents to be submitted to the FoM for the New Frontiers in Research Fund grant competition:

1. Completed Research Project Information Form including the following signatures:
   1. the Principal Investigator
   2. Department Head or School Director
   3. Research Centre Director (if using research space within a Senate-Approved Research Centre, identified with an asterisk on the Academic & Research Units page)
2. Completed and signed confirmation of eligibility form for all external co-PIs and co-applicants. If co-PIs and co-applicants are within UBC, they will need to determine with their Department/Faculty whether they need to review and sign the application.
3. Title page (page 1), including list of participants
4. Participants’ eligibility profile pages
5. Project description page
6. Budget and budget justification pages (note: budget should include 25% ICR as per NFRF guidelines)

Required Documents to be submitted to the FoM for the New Frontiers in Research Fund grant competition:

1. Please submit your online application via Convergence by 12pm one working day before the sponsor deadline.

General

Please also review the ORS website for the NFRF-specific Agency Application Requirements & Procedures.

If you have any questions regarding this process, please contact Evelina Tolstykh at the FoM (evelina.tolstykh@ubc.ca), or ORS (ors@ors.ubc.ca).

Procedures and timelines for the NSERC Discovery Grant competition.

Procedure

For the 2024 NSERC Discovery Grants Program competition, please adhere to the following deadlines and procedures:

1. Your application package must be submitted to the Dean’s Office or affiliated hospital research office by Wednesday, October 23, 2024 for Faculty approval. Please email it to the Faculty signature contact for your site. Note that Evelina Tolstykh (fom.grantapprovals@ubc.ca) is the contact for Faculty approval for those located at the UBC Point Grey campus. See below for a complete list of the required items. 
2. After Faculty approval, your documents will be forwarded to ORS by October 25, 2024.
3. Your electronic copy must be submitted via NSERC’s on-line system no later than 12:00pm on Thursday, October 31, 2024.
4. ORS will electronically approve your application via NSERC’s on-line system for submission to NSERC.

Please remember that you can continue working on your research proposal up until you submit via the Research Portal on October 31, even after you have submitted your application package for Faculty approval.

Required Documents

Required documents to be submitted to the FoM for the NSERC Discovery Grant:

1. Completed Research Project Information Form including the following signatures:
   1. the Principal Investigator
   2. Department Head or School Director
   3. Research Centre Director (if using research space within a Senate-Approved Research Centre, identified with an asterisk on the Academic & Research Units page)
   4. Life Sciences Institute Director (if using research space within the Life Sciences Building, but excludes researchers using space within the Centre for Blood Research)
2. If you have any internal or external co-applicants, please also submit an ORS signature page. If co-applicants are within UBC, they will need to determine with their Department/Faculty whether they need to review and sign the application. External authorized institution signature is required for co-applicants outside of UBC.
3. Co-applicants page
4. Identification page (page 1 of the application)
5. Summary of proposal page
6. Proposed expenditures and budget justification pages
7. In the case of cooperative projects, letters of support or commitment from collaborating companies or institutions

Please also review the ORS website for the NSERC-specific Agency Application Requirements & Procedures.

If you have any questions regarding this process, please contact Evelina Tolstykh at the FoM (evelina.tolstykh@ubc.ca).

Requirements, deadlines and procedures for the MSHRBC Health Professional-Investigator Award.

The MSHRBC Health Professional-Investigator Program supports health professionals who are actively involved in patient care to build their health research programs, train the next generation of scientists, and make significant contributions to their field.

MSHRBC has launched the new 2025 Health Professional-Investigator (HPI) Competition. 

Competition guidelines and instructions are available on the MSHRBC website at https://healthresearchbc.ca/fundingprogram/health-professional-investigator-hp-i-program/. 

Procedure

1. For the MSHRBC full application, the Dean’s ApplyNet system account email is fomdean.mshrbc@ubc.ca. Please check with your UBC Department Head/School Director for their ApplyNet system account email address.
2. Check with your Department/School for its internal deadline for the review of your MSHRBC HPI application. See below for a list of the required items.
3. Your application package must be sent to evelina.tolstykh@ubc.ca via email by January 8, 2025.
4. The UBC Dean and UBC Department Head/School Director will strive to submit their forms on ApplyNet by January 21st, 2025. Do not submit the Department Head form on ApplyNet until you hear from Evelina Tolstykh.
5. Submit your application on ApplyNet by 4:30pm on January 23, 2025.

Please remember that you can continue working on your research proposal up until you submit on ApplyNet on January 23rd, even after you have submitted your application package for review.

Please note that unlike last program cycles, reference letters are no longer required (letters of collaboration are optional)

Required Documents

A complete application package consists of the following items:

1. Research Project Information Form, signed by the UBC Department Head or School Director. UBC Centre Director signature is also required if the applicant will be using research space within a Centre.
2. Request for Dean’s Approval Form, signed by the UBC Department Head or School Director, and Centre Director if applicable.
3. First few pages from MSHRBC Full Application, up to and including the Research Proposal section (not the full research proposal).
4. Department Head form, in MS Word format. Please note the following:
   1. Use the template (see “Dean and Department Head Forms” section)
   2. Signature on Department Head form not required for the FoM internal deadline (but will be requested once Dean’s Office review is completed)
5. Sponsor letter, if applicable (see Sponsor Letter” section for details).

Please email your application package to evelina.tolstykh@ubc.ca.

Dean and Department Head Forms

MSHRBC requires the completion of the Dean and Department Head forms online to support each application. The Dean’s form will be completed by the Dean’s Office and not required as part of your application package. Applicants are asked to draft the Department Head form, then send to their UBC Department Head for review and approval. We highly recommend that Department/School administrators and HR staff are involved with the completion and review of this form to ensure accuracy of the details provided within. The UBC Department Head or

Please use the following templates for the Department Head form:

• Download the 2025 HP-I Department Head form 

The Dean’s Office reserves the right to request changes on this form. Changes will be communicated to the applicant and Department/School if applicable. Evelina Tolstykh will inform the UBC Department Head/School Director once the Dean’s Office has approved this form so that it can be submitted on ApplyNet.

Do not submit the Department Head form on ApplyNet until you hear from Evelina Tolstykh.

Sponsor Letter

Partner and Clinical faculty applicants have an appointment at UBC, but may be employees of (i.e. paid by) another institution. In such cases, the applicant may be required to obtain a letter from their employer, addressed to their UBC Department Head/School Director, to be included in the application package for Departmental and Faculty approval. This sponsor letter should address the following:

1. Required – Confirmation of 50% of the applicant’s time protected for research activities
2. If applicable – Available resources to the applicant (salary support, administrative support, infrastructure and equipment, human resources, etc.)

If the UBC Department Head/School Director has the authority to comment on items 1-2 above, then the sponsor letter will not be required.

Procedures and timelines for the CIHR Spring 2025 Project Grant competition.

Procedure

For the CIHR Spring 2025 Project Grant competition, the Faculty of Medicine (FoM) has established the following procedures, in alignment with the Office of Research Services timelines:

1. Your application package must be submitted to the Dean’s Office or affiliated hospital research office by Friday, February 21, 2025 (for application involving private sector partners) OR February 25, 2025 (for application without private-sector partner) for Faculty approval. Please send it via email to the Faculty signature contact for your site. Note that Evelina Tolstykh (fom.grantapprovals@ubc.ca) is the contact for Faculty approval for those located at the UBC Point Grey campus. See below for a complete list of the required items.
   
2. Your NSGRP Risk Assessment Form, applicable when applying with a private sector partner, must be submitted directly to research.security@ubc.ca as soon as possible.
   
3. After Faculty approval, your application package will be forwarded to ORS.
   
4. Your application must be submitted via ResearchNet no later than 12pm on Tuesday, March 4, 2025.
   
5. ORS will electronically approve your application via ResearchNet for submission to CIHR.

Please remember that you can continue working on your research proposal up until you submit on ResearchNet on March 4, even after you have submitted your application package for Faculty approval.

To avoid system issues which may cause delay in the submission process on the deadline day, you are highly encouraged to submit early. While ORS makes best efforts to submit all applications on time and to facilitate support for our research community, application packages submitted for Faculty approval after September 3 may not receive a guarantee of administrative review from ORS which includes confirmation of application completeness.

NEW for CIHR Project Grant
Please note that starting May 1, 2024, new federal research security requirements apply to applications for research funding from the Tri-Agencies and Canada Foundation for Innovation when the project aims to advance certain sensitive technology research areas. The CIHR Project Grant program is affected by these changes. Please review the policies and whether they are applicable to your application via UBC Research Security website and by completing the Federal research security funding policy self-check. 

Required Documents

Required Documents to be submitted to the FoM for the CIHR Spring 2025 Project Grant competition:

1. Completed Research Project Information Form including the following signatures:
   1. the Principal Investigator
   2. Department Head or School Director
   3. Research Centre Director (if using research space within a Senate-Approved Research Centre, identified with an asterisk on the Academic & Research Units page)
   4. Life Sciences Institute Director (if using research space within the Life Sciences Building, but excludes researchers using space within the Centre for Blood Research)
2. Complete application, including the following sections:
   • All pages of the CIHR Application Detail sections (download from ResearchNet under “Preview Application Materials”)
   • Complete Summary page
   • Other Applicants pages, if applicable
   • Budget modules, including written justifications and quotes, where applicable
   • Partner budget details, if applicable
   • Signed letter(s) of support from Partners (cash or in-kind), if applicable

Please note, the letters from collaborators are not required for UBC internal submission.

Please also review the ORS website for the CIHR-specific Agency Application Requirements & Procedures.

If you have any questions regarding this process, please contact Evelina Tolstykh at FoM (evelina.tolstykh@ubc.ca).