University of Toronto

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University of Toronto NSERC Strategic Projects
Information Session February 21, 2007
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Todays Speakers 1) Debbie Bilinski, UTRS
Program Overview, Application process, review
other tips 2) Professor Li Shu, Mechanical
Industrial Engineering Successful Applicant -
Sustainable Energy Systems target area 3)
Professor Jing Chen, Geography Strategic
Selection Committee Member, Healthy Environment
Ecosystems
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NSERC Strategic Projects 2007 competition
Program Overview, application review
tips Debbie Bilinski, Research Partnerships
Officer University of Toronto Research Services
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• STRATEGIC PROJECTS PROGRAM OBJECTIVE
• Increase research and training in targeted areas
  that could strongly influence Canadas economy,
  society and/or environment within the next 10
  years.

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• SEVEN TARGET AREAS
• 1) Advanced Communications Management of
  Information
• 2) Biomedical Technologies
• 3) Competitive Manufacturing and Value-Added
  Products and Processes
• 4) Healthy Environment Ecosystems
  (extensively revised from last year)
• 5) Quality Foods Novel Bioproducts
• 6) Safety Security (revised from last year)
• 7) Sustainable Energy Systems (revised from
  last year)
• Detailed description of Target Areas priority
  research topics are in your handout.

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• EXPECTED RESULTS
• New knowledge/technology with strong potential to
  strengthen Canadas industrial base, generate
  wealth, create employment and/or Canadian public
  policy
• Highly qualified personnel trained in the
  identified target areas
• Increased participation of companies and/or
  government organizations in academic research
• Transfer of knowledge/technology to
  Canadian-based organizations that are well
  positioned to apply the results for economic gain
  or to government organizations to strengthen
  public policy

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• REQUIREMENTS
• The Strategic Projects Program funds early stage
  project research in targeted areas.
• The research must fall within one of the target
  areas identified for support.
• The project must be well defined in duration,
  objectives and scope duration may be from one to
  three years.
• One or more supporting organizations that can
  apply the results must collaborate in the
  project.
• Supporting organization must be actively involved
  in all stages of the project. Therefore, in-kind
  contributions to the direct costs of research are
  required, but cash is not.

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• SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS
• Private sector
• Canadian-based companies with Canadian operations
  (RD or manufacturing) that can apply the
  research results for economic gain
• Non-academic public sector
• Canadian government organizations that can apply
  the research results to strengthen policies
• Do not qualify as supporting organizations
• NGOs, venture capitalists, government research
  labs, foreign research institutions,
  implementation sites, potential customers.

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• SUPPORTING ORGANIZATIONS (continued)
• A supporting organization must also
• Have a demonstrated interest in the project
  (letters of support, in-kind contributions)
• Be involved in all stages of the research (Help
  to develop the proposal, interact with
  researchers and students, provide input to the
  project)
• Validate the results of the research
• Provide guidance concerning the exploitation of
  the results

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• Documents needed from your Supporting
  Organization(s)
• Completed and signed Form 183A
• Signed letter of support on partner letterhead
• Company profile
• TIP 1 Help your partner to write a strong
  letter by showing them the NSERC letter of
  support requirements included in your handout.
• TIP 2 Letter must be on the organization's
  letterhead and signed by a senior representative
  of the organization.
• TIP 3 Obtain signed originals of these
  documents well in advance of the internal
  deadline. They must be included when you bring
  your application to UTRS.

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• Documents needed from your Supporting
  Organization (continued)
• For electronic submission
• Form 183A and letter of support can now be linked
  to the application by either the applicant or the
  supporting organization.
• Linking Instructions at www.nserc.ca/forms/ins
  tructions/misc/183_lm_e.asp
• BUT original signed copy of letter(s) of support
  must be mailed to NSERC for receipt by April 16.
• For paper submission the original signed Form
  183A and letter of support must be included with
  the application package submitted to NSERC.

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• COMPETITION BUDGET
• NSERC will allocate an equal budget to each
  target area (approx. 2 million/year) with an
  expectation of funding about 15 new awards in
  each area
• 4-5 priority research topics identified within
  each target area (80)
• Exceptional opportunities outside the research
  topics but within the target area (up to 20)
• Research outside the 7 priority target areas will
  not be considered for funding

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• COMPETITION TIMETABLE
• Applications due April 16
• Pre-selection process, if number of applications
  in a given target area is very high
• External peer review Summer
• Panel evaluation September
• Results announced October

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• ELIGIBILITYOF APPLICANT CO-APPLICANTS FOR
  STRATEGIC PROJECTS
• Must hold, or have a firm offer of, an academic
  appointment at an eligible Canadian university,
  for
• A tenured, tenure-track or life-time professor
  emeritus position
• or
• A term position of no less than three years

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• ELIGIBILITY (continued)
• Adjunct professors
• whose primary place of employment is
  outside academia (e.g., government or industry)
  are eligible  as co-applicants only.
• NOTE NSERC will normally award funds to adjunct
  professors working outside academia only for the
  direct support of students (salaries or stipends,
  and student travel costs) all other costs must
  be covered through other sources of funding.

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NEW Form 100, Page 1 revised re your appointment
status
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• COLLABORATOR
• Government scientist, company staff member,
  research scientist from another country
• Not eligible to hold NSERC grants
• Qualified to undertake research independently
• Expected to contribute to the overall
  intellectual direction of the research project
• Expected to bring their own resources

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Applicable Overhead Rates on Partner Cash -
Grant overhead rate 20 of direct costs

- Contract rate overhead 40 of direct
costs How to Calculate Overhead A) Overhead is
normally calculated as a percentage of the total
direct costs of the partner budget. Add up all
your budget items and multiply the total by the
appropriate overhead rate Example
Your total proposed budget 9000 x 0.20 1800
overhead Total contribution from partner
9000 1800 10,800 B) If your partner has
proposed a maximum budget (e.g. 10,000)
Example 10,000/1.20 8333 (the
direct cost amount) 10,000 -
8333 1667 (the overhead amount) NOTE only
the direct cost amount should be entered in Row
One of Form 101, Page 6. The overhead amount
should be entered in the last row.
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STRATEGIC PROJECTS 2006 COMPETITION SUMMARY
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STRATEGIC PROJECTS 2006 UofT RESULTS SUMMARY
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• DEADLINES
• On or before Thursday, March 29, 2007 internal
  deadline for optional proposal review. Please
  send only the proposal to me via e-mail
  attachment. NOTE there are no extensions to this
  deadline.
• Reviewed for
• comprehensibility to lay reader
• conformance to NSERC guidelines
• ProGrid style criteria

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• DEADLINES (continued)
• On or before Monday, April 9, 2007 internal
  deadline for university review signature
  applies to BOTH electronic paper submissions
• comprehensive administrative review in time to
  address any problems, whether major or minor,
  well in advance of the NSERC deadline.
• we check eligibility, whether all the required
  forms and free form sections have been completed,
  certifications, expense eligibility, whether
  budget adds up agrees with the justification,
  completeness of proposal, page limits,
  presentation standards, etc.
• On or before Monday, April 16, 2007 deadline
  for applications to be received at NSERC

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What does UTRS Need? for both paper
electronic submissions - APPLICANTS 1. RIS
Application Attachment signed by applicant and
Principal/Chair/Dean/Director as
applicable.Indicate whether you are submitting
electronically. 2. The complete signed, original
application forms (both 101 and 100) which will
be returned to the applicant for electronic
submissions, this is your backup in case you want
to switch to paper submission.3. One photocopy
of the full NSERC application, including Form
100, to be kept on file at UTRS. NOTE For
Applicants using eSubmission - completely signed
hard copies of your applications RIS form must
be received by UTRS BEFORE the University can
electronically approve the application.
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• What Does UTRS need? - CO-APPLICANTS
• 1) For Co-Applicants (on another institutions
  application)
• A. RIS form for co-applicant also signed by the
  co-applicants one-up.
• Copy of application for UTRS Form 101, Pages 1,
  2, 3, 5(budget) and budget justification pages.
• Original signature page (Page 2) will be returned
  to co-applicant.
• D. Copy of Form 100 of UofT co-applicant (s) for
  UTRS
• 2) For Co-applicants (from another Canadian
  university on your application)
• - UTRS requires a copy of Form 101, page 2,
  signed by each co-applicant their institution,
  regardless of submission method.

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• FINAL ADVICE
• Start early!!!!
• Get partners involved early on to help develop
  the project strategy
• Clear demonstration of the benefits to Canada and
  partner organization
• Get the signed support letter(s) and Form(s) 183A
• Multi-disciplinary research is a plus but not
  essential all participants must have a
  demonstrated role in the project!

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• FINAL ADVICE (continued)
• FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY!
• Proposal 11 pages maximum organized into
  Introduction plus 4 Sections References 1
  additional page maximum.
• Note - NSERCs instructions ask you to NOT
  include any colour figures or tables in your
  proposal.
• Follow the presentation standards for all your
  free form sections
• Make the proposal and Form 100 easy to read and
  digest use colleagues in non-related disciplines
  to proofread and evaluate
• Objective and work plan must be crystal clear

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• FINAL ADVICE (continued)
• If applying for a second or third time, pay
  careful attention to comments of reviewers.
  Address the issues and clearly state how the
  application has been changed!
• Use the Tips Sheet included with your handout
  package
• Use the detailed checklist in your handout to
  make sure your application is complete
• Submit application in time for the internal
  deadline(s).
• Submit electronically by 9 a.m. April 13 at the
  latest - but earlier is better. There will still
  be time to fix any problems!!

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• NSERC STRATEGIC PROJECT GRANTS
• USEFUL LINKS
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• Program Description and target areas
• www.nserc.ca/professors_e.asp?navprofnavlbib1
• Form 101 application instructions
• www.nserc.ca/forms/instructions/101/e.asp?progspg
  
• Form 100 instructions
• www.nserc.ca/forms/instructions/100/e.asp
• Instructions for Form 183A Information required
  from
  organizations participating in Research
  Partnerships Programs
• www.nserc.ca/forms/instructions/183A/e.asp
• Strategic Projects Selection Panel Members
• www.nserc.ca/commit/strpa.htm

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• NSERC CONTACTS
• Advanced Communications Management of
  Information marie.thibault_at_nserc.ca
• Biomedical Technologies sylvain.langlois_at_nserc.ca
  
• Competitive Manufacturing and Value-Added
  Products and Processes - until Mar. 23
  bert.vandenberg_at_nserc.ca /after Mar. 26
  robert.lebel_at_nserc.ca
• Quality Foods Novel Bioproducts
  sylvain.langlois_at_nserc.ca
• Healthy Environment Ecosystems
  madeleine.bastien_at_nserc.ca
• Safety Security susanne.liou_at_nserc.ca
• Sustainable Energy Systems susanne.liou_at_nserc.ca
  
• NSERC Helpdesk Tel [phone] / E-mail
  webapp_at_nserc.ca

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• UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO CONTACTS
• Debbie Bilinski, Research Partnerships Officer
  debbie.bilinski_at_utoronto.ca, 416-978-7118
• Angie Agulto, Grants Officer
  angie.agulto_at_utoronto.ca, 416-946-7517
• Christine Kwan, Awards Administrator
  c.kwan_at_utoronto.ca, 416-946-0246