NSERC Subatomic Physics - Major Resources Support program 2023

Eligibility

The applicant and all co-applicants must be eligible for NSERC funding. One person must be designated to administer the grant. This person is the applicant and is responsible for completing and submitting the notification of intent (NOI) to apply and the full application on behalf of the resource. Consult NSERC’s Eligibility requirements for faculty to apply for or hold grant funds for more information on the role of applicants and co-applicants.  

Summary

Objective

The objective of the Subatomic Physics Major Resources Support (SAP-MRS) program is to facilitate the effective access by Canadian academic researchers, working in the field of subatomic physics, to major and unique national or international (based in Canada) experimental or thematic research resources, by financially assisting these resources to remain in a state of readiness for researchers to use. The SAP-MRS program also enables Canadian researchers to come together as national user consortia to access a necessary major international resource located outside of Canada.

Description

SAP-MRS grants assist major and unique national or international subatomic physics experimental and thematic research resources located in Canada to cover their operating and maintenance costs. Supported resources are those that cannot fully cover such costs by using other research grants or by user fees, or those where user fees cannot be leveraged. The grants assist resources that are significant in size, value or importance and that are not customary in the discipline or commonly available in Canadian universities.

Supported resources must be used by researchers from several institutions across Canada including universities, or government laboratories.

Major resources supported by this program may include

• unique specialized experimental facilities or items of research equipment
• thematic research institutes that promote and trigger interactions within the constituents of relevant communities
• a team of highly skilled technical or professional research support staff essential to the research activities of users
  • the team (resource) must be national or international¹ in the nature of its support (i.e., must provide support to a national base of users, beyond one institution or region)
  • the team must be accessible to members of the community beyond the host institution or a region, and beyond a single project or collaborators
  • availability of the team and the access procedure must be made known to the subatomic physics community

SAP-MRS grants also assist Canadian researchers from more than one project who come together as national user consortia to access major resources located abroad, for which no equivalent is available in Canada. Such support excludes any direct contribution toward the operating and maintenance costs of foreign resources. The support is not given to individual researchers, but rather to the user consortia, which must be composed of researchers from several institutions (including universities or government laboratories) across Canada.

Research resources are defined as experimental research facilities or thematic research organizations such as institutes. An institute is defined as a research resource that promotes and triggers national, and possibly international, interactions within a given research community, and it provides a place where researchers meet, collaborate and exchange ideas. Institutes are infrastructures that provide an environment that serves to accelerate research.

Overhead

None

Application deadlines

RSO final internal review deadline

Program application deadline

NOTE: Consult your Faculty Associate Dean (Research) (ADR) regarding Faculty-specific deadlines and submission processes.

Principal Investigators: Complete a Research Management System (RMS) record, including a copy of your complete application, and submit this for approvals in RMS.

Postdocs, students, and trainees: For fellowships and externally-sponsored research training awards or opportunities, you must complete the Research Funding Application Approval (RFAA) Trainee PDF form, and submit it, along with a complete copy of the application, to Research Services at rsotrainee@ucalgary.ca. Trainees should not use RMS at this time.

Approvals: The University of Calgary requires that all funding applications be approved prior to submission. Approval requires signatures via either RMS or the RFAA Trainee form, in the following order:

• Principal Investigator
• Department Head
• Faculty ADR/Dean
• Research Services (on behalf of the Vice-President Research)

Read the Meaning of Grant Signatures policy to understand what your approval means. Please see the agency guidelines for details about which signatures are required on your application, as it may differ from internal requirements.

Late submissions: Late submissions will only be accepted in cases of medical or family emergencies, or other exceptional circumstances. If you submit your RMS record to Research Services after the internal deadline has passed, you must secure additional approvals. Please read: Late Applications Process.