UCalgary Rapid Energy Innovation Kick-Start Awards (UREIKA)
The UCalgary Rapid Energy Innovation Kick-Start Awards (UREIKA, pronounced EUREKA) supports graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who have innovative ideas to launch a small concept or project that is out-of-the-box and has a significant contribution to the field.
UREIKA provides funding for creative and innovative energy-related research and design activities. The applicants will need to utilize existing equipment or facilities for their projects. The timeline of the project is 6 months.
Awards will be funded and managed by the Global Research Initiative (GRI) at UCalgary.
Contact:
Competition Timelines
Competition 1 Big Question:
Attitudes on Energy: What actions can be done to motivate evolution?
Competition 1 ended November 2024
Energy Transition: Relationship between Society and Solutions
October 15, 2024: Launch of Competition 2 and call for proposals
DEADLINE EXTENDED TO JANUARY 3, 2025: Application deadline
January 31, 2025: Winners announced, projects start
July 31, 2025: Projects end
Competition 2 Big Question | Energy Transition: Relationship between Society and Solutions
About UREIKA
UCalgary’s new energy research strategy, Energy for the Common Good is focused on transdisciplinary energy research working with communities that serves society – it sets a mandate for community and solution-centric energy research. The 2023 strategy builds on UCalgary’s prior 2013 energy research strategy entitled Energy Innovations for Today and Tomorrow.
UREIKA is an initiative by the GRI which applies the principles of the strategy to foster an inclusive research environment where innovative ideas across campus are welcomed and promoted. UREIKA aims to:
- Engage with the energy community, in particular, graduate students and post-doctoral scholars (trainees), across campus.
- Ignite out-of-the-box thinking in our graduate students and postdoc community.
- Promote awareness among trainees of different styles and approaches towards energy research, innovation and creativity from different disciplines.
- Provide applicants with professional experience such as proposal writing, budgeting, project administration.
This competition is open to individual or project groups. The GRI office will administer, receive and process applications prior to an evaluation process by an independent Selection Committee. The GRI office will be administering the funds and will help process expense claims.
Application Process
Applications will be invited three times a year from current graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from all departments and programs at the university (refer to the competition timeline above). The application form will include applicant(s) information, a proposal template, and a budget template in a single Word file.
Eligibility
Applicants or project participants must be current masters, PhD students or postdoctoral fellows from any faculty at UCalgary.
Eligible expenses
- Project-related travel and subsistence (meals and accommodation)
- Dissemination of research results including publication fees and networking
- Professional development courses
Ineligible expenses
- Compensation-related expenses like salaries or stipends
- Computers and electronics or other equipment
For expense reimbursement, tri-council and university-specific requirements and restrictions will apply.
Following the closing date for applications, the GRI office will perform a preliminary eligibility screen and forward the applications to the Selection Committee. The Selection Committee will consist of an internal and external multidisciplinary panel of experts. Evaluation will be based on a set of criteria:
- Alignment with the Big Question – 20%
- Project/Concept Design – 20%
- Originality and How Innovative - 20%
- Feasibility- 20%
- Applicability to society - 20%
- Studies must be completed on/before the project end date.
- Award recipients will be required to submit a report (can be in different formats, e.g., written report, artistic contribution with written description, technical design with written description, model or test results with written description etc.) of their findings and achievements within 30 days of the project end date.
- Expense claims must be submitted to the GRI office within 15 days of the project end date.
- Unspent funds will be recovered by the GRI office.
- All publications, presentation and dissemination efforts from the research resulting from UREIKA must carry the following acknowledgement: “This research was undertaken thanks in part to funding from the Global Research Initiative at UCalgary and the Canada First Research Excellence Fund.”
- If applicable, the successful applicant must provide evidence of appropriate Research Ethics Board approval, along with consent forms where human subjects are involved in the study before the funding is released.
- Award recipients must ensure that they have consent of their supervisors to carry out the proposed study before accepting the award.
How do I apply?
Review the Terms of Reference
Carefully read the Terms of Reference (ToR) document outlining the details of the UREIKA program.
Complete the application template
Download and fill out the UREIKA application template.
Submit your application
Fill out the online UREIKA application form, and upload the application form document in step 2.