The Research Support Fund (RSF) program is a federal government funding initiative administered through the three research granting agencies: The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
The RSF assists Canadian postsecondary institutions with the costs associated with managing their research enterprise, helping them to maintain a world-class research environment. Grants can be used to support indirect costs in the following five categories:
- Research Facilities: maintain modern research labs and equipment
- Research Resources: provide access to up-to-date knowledge resources
- Management and Administration of an Institutions Research Office: institutional support for the completion of grant and award applications/research proposals
- Regulatory Requirements and Accreditation: meeting regulatory and ethical standards (for example, Research Ethics Board)
- Intellectual Property and Knowledge Mobilization: transferring knowledge from academia to the private, public and not-for-profit sectors
The RSF is essential to CapU’s success in maintaining a supportive research environment for faculty, students and the broader community.
What are the indirect costs of research?
Indirect costs of research are the operational costs that underpin an institution’s research activities (i.e., ethics reviews, management of intellectual property, environmental assessment and safety compliance). The services that give rise to indirect costs are institutionally based and are not specific to individual research grants.
Previous Research Support Fund Amounts
| 2021-2022 | 2022-2023 | 2023-2024 | 2024-2025 | 2025-2026 | |
| Research Resources | $13,000 | – | – | – | – |
| Management & Administration | $7,884 | $11,105 | – | – | – |
| Regulatory Requirements & Accreditation | $12,000 | $11,106 | $12,285 | $10,142 | $19,578 |
| Totals | $32,884 | $22,211 | $12,285 | $10,142 | $19,578 |
Allocation of Research Support Funds for 2026-2027
In the 2026-2027 fiscal year, CapU expects an allocation of $45,073, which will be allocated in its entirety to regulatory requirements and accreditation, including supporting CapU’s Research Ethics Officer, ensuring the institution maintains a robust and efficient research ethics review process. RSF funding helps sustain the administration of ethics applications, supports compliance with the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS 2), and provides guidance to faculty, staff, and student researchers throughout the ethics review process.