Research Support Fund Program

The Research Support Fund (RSF) assists Canadian universities with the expenses associated with managing the research funded by the three federal research granting agencies, SSHRC, NSERC, and CIHR. The RSF reinforces the federal government's research investment by helping institutions ensure that their funded research projects are conducted in world-class facilities with the best equipment and administrative support available.

Direct costs — equipment, research assistant salaries and research travel, for example — are borne by funding agencies, but to establish successful research programs, there are many indirect costs, including maintenance to labs and equipment, access to up-to-date knowledge and information, research management and administrative support, and knowledge transfer from academia to the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.

To maintain transparency, and to demonstrate the importance of the RSF program to our researchers, students, community members and elected officials, this report is prepared and made public annually.

The federal government requests that institutions report the use of funds in five areas of priority:

Research facilities: The RSF grant is used to maintain high-quality research infrastructure via the provision of upgrades to equipment, facilities renovations, and the operating costs of research space. The grant is used to employ a technician to upgrade and maintain research equipment and other devices located in TRU's research labs (including an NMR, mass spectrometer, and a gene sequencer) that enable faculty and students to undertake world-class research.

Research resources: The RSF grant creates additional capacity within the TRU Library, ensuring it provides effective research services for faculty and students.

Management and administration of an institution's research enterprise: The fund provides researchers with grant-writing assistance, research liaison support for inter-institutional research collaboration, EDI and data management support, research accounting services, research communication support, the Annual Report on Research, and the software used by faculty to manage their grants.

Regulatory requirements and accreditation: The RSF grant commits resources to the Research Ethics Board, the Animal Care Committee and the Biosafety Committee. The RSF provides resources that cover the costs associated with membership in regulatory bodies (for example the Canadian Council on Animal Care) necessary to maintain research in these areas and to provide veterinary services for the university. The RSF enables TRU’s research compliance coordinator and other staff to provide training and support to our animal care, human ethics, and biohazards committees.

Intellectual property and knowledge mobilization: The RSF supports the university-industry liaison and enterprise creation office, the role of which is to develop industrial partnerships, administer agreements, including contracts and memorandums of understanding, with industry and the private sector.

Research security: Research security is categorized as a fifth priority area of the IPGs. These investments are aligned with the RSF’s objectives to help Canadian postsecondary institutions ensure their federally funded research projects are conducted in world-class facilities with the best equipment and administrative support available. By directing funds to specific investments and to annual or multiyear projects initiated by institutions, research security funding will help to build capacity within postsecondary institutions to identify, assess and mitigate the potential risks to research security.

For 2024-25, TRU’s allocation of the Research Security Fund is $2,312.

2024-25 Research security fund institutional performance objectives

Project title	Output (investment or expense of RSF grant funds)	Performance objective	Performance indicator	Target outcome
Assessment of Security Infrastructure	Projected percentage of Research Security grant invested in supporting the project: 100%	Collaborate with TRU IT Services to assess the existing state of the security infrastructure Identify potential needs for additional measures to enhance research security	Track the number of technological systems assessed and identify risks and vulnerabilities to measure the progress of the security infrastructure assessment	TRU better understands the technologies and measures currently in place and identifies potential needs for further improvements

Research support fund performance objectives, 2024-2025

Eligible program expenditure category	Output (investment or expense of RSF grant funds)	Performance objective	Performance indicator	Target outcome
Research Facilities	Projected percentage of RSF grant invested in supporting the operation of research facilities:$51,016(5%)	Supporting operation and maintenance of research equipment by partially covering the compensation of technical staff	Reports of research projects impacted because of equipment needing repair	Dependable research equipment for productive research activities
Research Resources	Projected percentage of RSF grant invested in supporting the operation of research resources: $333,609 (33%)	Ensure maintenance of library services and access to the Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN)	Total number of views /downloads accessing digital content in the library	Maintain access to research librarian and CRKN digital content network in the library
Management and Administration of Research Enterprise	Projected percentage of RSF grant invested in management and administration of research enterprise: $492,849 (49%)	Continue providing competent research facilitation and management support (proposal writing, grant management, research personnel hiring, facilities, finance) to faculty and students applying to and holding Tri-Agency grants and awards Maintenance of electronic grants management system (Romeo)	Number of grant applications processed and submitted, success rates and amounts awarded for major Tri-Agency grants and awards Number of active accounts	Effectively support operations of research administration and management leading to the growth of research Effective management of grants and awards
Regulatory Requirements and Accreditation	Projected percentage of RSF grant invested in supporting regulatory requirements and accreditation: $86,722 (9%)	Maintain compliance with regulatory requirements	Maintaining good standing with Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) guidelines Number of active Animal Use Protocols and Human Ethics projects	100% compliance with Tri-Council Policy Statement (TCPS2) and CCAC
Intellectual Property (IP)	Projected percentage of RSF grant invested in supporting IP development and management: $37,440 (4%)	Maintain support for faculty, students and community for collaboration, innovation, and entrepreneurship	Research activity from collaborative agreements with province, industry, and community	To maintain/ increase the research collaborations and partnerships with province, industry, and community