About the Research Support Fund Program
We acknowledge the contributions of the Research Support Fund. The Research Support Fund assists Canadian postsecondary institutions and their affiliated research hospitals and institutes with the expenses associated with managing the research funded by the three federal research granting agencies.
A tri-agency initiative
The Research Support Fund is a tri-agency initiative of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). It is administered by the Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat, which is housed within SSHRC.
The program (formerly known as the Indirect Costs Program) was introduced in 2003 as part of the federal government’s strategy to make Canada one of the world’s top countries in research and development. It currently has a budget of nearly $400 million and serves more than 150 postsecondary institutions across the country.
What costs does the program support?
Examples of costs supported by the program are:
- Salaries for staff or students who provide administrative support for researchers and their projects;
- Training costs for workplace health and safety, as well as the development and promotion of equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives and practices;
- Costs related to the maintenance of libraries and laboratories; and
- Administrative costs associated with getting a patent for an invention.
Current Funding from the RSF
The amount awarded to George Brown College for 2024/2025 is $81,659, all of which are allocated towards the management and administration of the institution's research enterprise.
Affiliated Institutions
George Brown currently has no affiliated institutions associated with this funding.
George Brown College Expenditure Categories
Out of RSF’s 5 expenditure categories, George Brown College is allocating 100% of this year’s RSF award of $83,774 towards the management and administration of the institution’s research enterprise. The funds will be spent on:
- Salaries and benefits for staff who work on grant applications and research proposals
- Salaries and benefits for staff who assist and coordinate research activities across the institution
Fiscal Year | Amount | Allocation |
|---|---|---|
2019-2020 | $5,068 | Management & administration of the George Brown's research activities |
2020-2021 | $13,493 | Management & administration of the George Brown's research activities |
2021-2022 | $35,421 | Management & administration of the George Brown's research activities |
2022-2023 | $75,163 | Management & administration of the George Brown's research activities |
2023-2024 | $83,774 | Management & administration of the George Brown's research activities |
Indirect Costs of Research
For the most part, funding for research initiatives from granting agencies are limited to direct costs for the project such as research equipment, materials and salaries of lead researchers, student researchers and technical staff directly involve in research.
Research institutions incur other incidental or hidden costs to support the research activities such as grant writing, management and administration of the grant, research facilities maintenance, knowledge transfer and metrics collection among other things. These are the indirect costs of research. The Research Support Funds helps research institutions to cover these indirect costs associated with research projects funded by the Tri-Agency (NSERC, SSHRC,CIHR).
