New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) — Special Calls Stream

Who is eligible?

This grant supports projects that align with the UN Research Roadmap priorities and address socio-economic recovery post-pandemic through justice and equity. Projects must exhibit interdisciplinarity and innovation, whilst integrating principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion.

• Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion: Pass/Fail - Commitment to EDI in project teams, particularly through removing barriers and fostering inclusive environments.
• Interdisciplinarity/Fit to Program: Pass/Fail - Demonstrating response to UN Roadmap priorities with elements from at least two different disciplines.
• High Risk: 30% - Assessment of novelty and innovation in addressing UN Roadmap priorities.
• High Reward: 40% - Evaluating potential impact and significance in terms of socio-economic benefits or advancements towards Sustainable Development Goals.
• Feasibility: 30% - Evaluation of research challenge, team expertise, work plan, and inclusive approaches such as GBA+.

Who is not eligible

• For-profit companies (cannot be an eligible affiliation for a co-principal investigator or co-applicant; collaborators from for-profit companies may participate but cannot access grant funds).
• Federal, provincial, territorial or municipal government departments (cannot be an eligible affiliation for a co-principal investigator or co-applicant; collaborators from government may participate but cannot access grant funds).

Eligible expenses

• Direct research project costs (up to $200,000 per year, for up to two years).
• Indirect costs (up to 25% of the direct research costs), limited to eligible expenses under the Research Support Fund.
• For eligible Canadian colleges only: salaries for part-time faculty (contract of less than three years) for project research activities.
• For eligible Canadian colleges only: salaries and non-discretionary benefits for technical/professional staff carrying out research/technology and/or knowledge transfer personnel (excluding research administrators and business development personnel).
• For eligible Canadian colleges only: course load reduction replacement costs (up to $9,000 per course load reduction per semester per faculty, or the equivalent of 0.1 FTE).
• For eligible Canadian colleges only: student salaries (including non-discretionary benefits) or stipends to support student involvement in the project.

Ineligible Costs and Activities

• Salaries and benefits for research administrators or business development personnel
• Project work performed by, or grant funds paid to, team members affiliated with for-profit companies
• Project work performed by, or grant funds paid to, team members affiliated with federal, provincial, or municipal governments
• Applications for projects that are the same as or similar (in whole or in part) to applications already submitted to or funded by a federal research funding agency program (including other NFRF competitions)
• Personal information about research team members included in the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) section

Eligible geographic areas

• Canada (the nominated principal investigator’s primary affiliation must be with a Canadian institution holding full institutional eligibility with CIHR, NSERC or SSHRC).

• Applications are screened for eligibility and completeness; submissions that do not meet requirements are withdrawn.
• Eligible full applications are evaluated by external reviewers (high risk, high reward, feasibility).
• A multidisciplinary/multisectoral review panel assesses the full application (including external reviews) and applies pass/fail checks for EDI and interdisciplinarity/fit to program, then scores the remaining criteria.
• The review panel makes funding recommendations to the NFRF Steering Committee, which makes the final funding decisions.
• Applicants are notified of results via the Convergence Portal and receive a summary of the evaluation (ratings by criterion).

• Projects awarded through this Special Call may be eligible for supplemental funding from one or more partner organizations (subject to partner-specific criteria).
• Successful project teams are expected to attend a forum at the mid-term and at the conclusion of the grant period to present findings and lessons learned.
• A proportion of awards is reserved for early career researchers, in proportion to the share of applications received from early career researchers.
• Applicants are encouraged to consult competition updates regularly, including information about webinars, to ensure submissions are complete.