Vice-President (Research) Indigenous Researcher Fund
These awards are made to promote research and scholarly work by Indigenous (First Nations, Métis and Inuit) researchers. The Vice-President (Research) has a small budget to fund such initiatives from sources such as indirect costs of research from contracts and residual NSERC and SSHRC funds.
Requests could include:
- Knowledge mobilization (including travel costs for Elders or community co-leads and partners)
- Mentorship (including hiring of students)
- Indigenous language supports
- Course releases (subject to approval by the reporting dean)
- Travel and accommodation to and from Indigenous communities
- Honoraria for Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and other members of Indigenous communities
- Matching funds for external grant
- Funding for unique, time-sensitive opportunities
- All other legitimate expenses associated with the Indigenous researcher’s research
Guidelines
All Indigenous academic faculty members at the University of Regina, including the three federated colleges, in permanent, probationary and term appointments are eligible to apply. Indigenous researchers working in Gabriel Dumont Institute partnership programs with the University of Regina (such as SUNTEP Regina) are also eligible.
The proposal may fall within any research area.
The University of Regina applies its Indigenous Citizenship and Membership Substantiation Protocol to all Indigenous-specific funding programs. Applicants to the VPR Indigenous Researcher Fund will be asked to self-declare their Indigenous citizenship or membership at the time of application. Successful applicants will be required to complete the substantiation process, in accordance with the University’s protocol, prior to the release of funds.
Applications may be submitted at any time and will be reviewed by the adjudication team once a month. Typically, only one application per fiscal year will be permitted.
All expenses must be essential for the activities being proposed. These can include support for research personnel (wherever possible, students should be retained as research assistants), travel, specialized research supplies, equipment or software, dissemination, data sets, honoraria for research participants, patent costs & associated legal fees.
Generally, funds will NOT be granted for non-specialized computer hardware or software, office supplies and equipment, training or completing degree requirements, activities undertaken prior to application to the fund, or activities that can be supported through other internal funding opportunities as noted above. Although no maximum size of grant is identified, applicants are advised to keep their budgets reasonable. It is expected that most awards will be less than $25,000.
The adjudication committee will consist of the Vice-President (Research), Associate Vice-President (Research), AVP Indigenous Engagement, an Elder/Knowledge Keeper/Old One, and two Indigenous faculty members.
In allocating the funds, the committee will consider:
- the completeness and clarity of the application
- need for funds
- availability of funds
The Office of the Vice President Research (VPR) will notify applicants about the results of their applications. Grants will be placed in separate accounts by the Office of Research Services in the name of the recipient. Expenditures may be made only for those specific purposes authorized by the committee. All financial claims against the account (e.g., payroll, travel, purchase requisitions, etc.) must be signed for by the recipient of the award and approved by the appropriate Department or Dean.
Unused balances in research accounts will be recovered when no longer required for the original purpose or typically two years from the date that the grant was authorized. The committee may assign an expiry date beyond two years where warranted. Research accounts will be closed automatically and the funds reclaimed after two years unless a request for an extension of the grant is received and approved.
Overspending is not permitted on these accounts. Overspent accounts become the personal responsibility of the account holder.
An award may be conditionally granted pending receipt of approval from the appropriate committee where the research involves humans, animals, biohazards, radiation, etc. An applicant has six (6) months from notification of a conditional award to submit an application to the appropriate committee.
Awards will not be placed in an account until all required certifications have been obtained. For multistage projects where activities involving human participants (and/or their data) or animals will take place prior to ethics approval, a portion of funds required for non-ethics related work may be requested.
Recipients of grants will complete a report for each award and submit it to the Office of the VPR at the completion of the project or within two years of the time that a grant is authorized. These reports are to describe the substantive results of the research for which the grant was made.
A list of funded projects will be posted on the ORS web site.