Financial support

Objectives

• Support the use of platforms, equipments and analytical services of partner institutions;
• Encourage members who do not have access to certain equipment or services at their institution to use the platforms, equipments and analytical services of another institution in the cluster.

This support will only be considered in the case of projects that have a structuring potential for INAF. Requests related to individual projects or projects that have already received funding for the requested support are therefore not eligible for this support program. However, support for a new phase not initially planned for an already funded project may be eligible.

Eligibility Criteria

• The project must be led by a regular research member and include at least one other INAF member;
• The project must allow a member of an institution that does not have the necessary equipment to carry out its project to use equipment from another institution in the cluster;
• The proposed project must contribute to the enrichment of INAF’s research program;
• An INAF member may submit only one project as principal investigator.

Submission of applications

Applications must include all of the following information:

• The title of the project, the team members involved, their institution of affiliation and their complementarity; * A brief description of the project (context, objective, methodology and implementation plan (max. one page);
• A brief description of the equipment that will be used in this project (max. half a page);
• The expected benefits of the project (max. half a page);
• A detailed description of the support requested according to the objectives pursued, including a budget justification (max. half a page).

 Nature of the support 

• The maximum financial support granted per research member is $5,000. Support will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis according to the budget available for this program, which is $30,000 for the year 2024-2025.
• Each request for support that meets the eligibility criteria will be evaluated by the INAF management team.
• The request can be sent at any time to Eliane.Picard-Deland@fsaa.ulaval.ca

Objectives

• Initiate and stimulate new collaborations between new INAF members and established members in the research themes covered by INAF;
• Foster collaborations between INAF members working in various research institutions;
• Generate innovative preliminary data and proofs of concept that will serve as leverage for the preparation of grant applications to various funding agencies.

Eligibility Criteria

• The project must be led by a regular researcher;
• The project must include at least one other member;
• An INAF member may submit only one project as principal investigator;
• The proposed project must contribute to INAF’s research programming;
• Projects including researchers from at least two research institutions will be prioritized;
• Projects including a young researcher member will be prioritized;
• Projects including a student will be prioritized.

Please note that in the case of a project involving international collaborators, the transfer of funds to international institutions is not permitted.

Submission of applications

Applications must include all of the following information:

1. The title of the project, the team members involved, their institution and their complementarity;
2. A short summary of the project (which may be published on the INAF website (max. 6 lines);
3. A description of the project (context, objective(s), methodology and implementation plan) (max. 2 pages);
4. The expected impact of the project and the planned follow-up (max. 1 page);
5. A detailed budget and justification of the funds requested according to the stated objectives of the project (max. 1 page);
6. Abbreviated CVs of non-INAF researchers, if applicable (maximum 5 pages per CV).

The deadline for submitting the application in .pdf format (with all sections and CVs merged if
applicable) is October 21, 2024 at eliane.picard-deland@fsaa.ulaval.ca

Evaluation of Applications

Evaluation Procedure

Eligible applications will be forwarded to an evaluation committee composed of INAF researchers who have not submitted a project in this competition. The recommendations of the evaluation committee will be submitted to the INAF Scientific Committee for funding decisions. The four evaluation criteria listed below will be evaluated.

Evaluation criteria (passing grade: 80%)

• Quality of the team (complementarity of research expertise) and pooling of resources. The integration of a researcher at the beginning of his/her career (less than 6 years between the date of hiring and the date of submission of the project) into the research team will be an asset (30 pts);
• Potential for benefits to INAF and expected outcomes of the project (e.g. publications, submission of a project to a granting agency) (30 pts);
• Relevance to INAF’s scientific programming and innovative aspect of the project (20 pts);
• Project implementation plan (objective(s), methodology, schedule, budget) (20 pts).

Announcement of results

Results will be announced in November 2024.
An impact report must be completed at the end of the project.

Nature of the financial support

• The maximum support granted per project is $15,000.
• Eligible expenses include laboratory supplies, analytical costs, salaries and scholarships (students, research professionals, trainees) and inter laboratory travel costs for team members.

Funding is granted for a period of 12 months and is not renewable.This initiative is funded by the FRQ-Nature and technologies sector.