Research Tools and Instruments Grants Program

The Research Tools and Instruments (RTI) grants program fosters and enhances the discovery, innovation and training capability of university researchers in the natural sciences and engineering (NSE) by supporting the purchase of research equipment.

Visit the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) website for more information on the Research Tools and Instruments grants program.

Deadlines

• Faculty deadline: consult your Faculty Research Facilitator
• Office of the Vice-President (Research, Innovation and International) (OVPRII) Approval Form deadline: October 19, 2026 (anticipated)
• OVPRII submission to sponsor: October 26, 2026 by 11 a.m. (anticipated)

Value and Duration

Up to $150,000 for one year.

Overview

The RTI grants program provides the primary avenue for university researchers in NSE to obtain up to $150,000 in support for research tools and instruments with a net cost between $7,001 and $250,000. 

Net cost is defined as the purchase cost of the equipment after any discount from the vendor and before taxes, customs and importation fees, transportation and shipping charges, and assembly and installation costs. The vendor discount must be free of conditions, restrictions or limitations (e.g., it cannot be offered in exchange for services from users benefiting the vendor company).

Researchers are also encouraged to explore other avenues for funding research tools and instruments, including NSERC’s other programs that allow the purchase of equipment as eligible expenses.

NSERC will only accept the following requests:

• For tools and instruments that form a comprehensive system intended to support NSERC-funded research in NSE:
  • a comprehensive system is one in which each tool or instrument forms part of an integrated system of operation to support the research program(s)
  • requests that bundle unrelated tools and instruments together will not be accepted
• For the purchase of new, used or refurbished equipment, for the repair, upgrade or rental of equipment or for the fabrication of equipment that is not readily available off the shelf.
• For equipment that is purchased or rented after the application deadline.

Equipment and items that are part of laboratory infrastructure or intended to render other equipment compliant with health and safety standards are ineligible for RTI support.

For more information on eligible expenses.

Eligibility

To apply for and hold RTI funds, applicants and co-applicants must each meet the eligibility requirements for faculty and hold at least one of the following NSERC research grants (either as an applicant or co-applicant):

Applicants and co-applicants may apply for any of the above grants while concurrently applying to the RTI program. However, if any applicant or co-applicant does not hold one of the above grants by the RTI award start date or is not successful in obtaining one of these grants while concurrently applying to the RTI program, the applicant and/or co-applicant will be deemed ineligible and removed from the application.

New: Beginning with the 2023 competition, (which had a deadline of October 2022), RTI grant applicants and co-applicants who were successful in the previous year’s RTI competition are ineligible to apply for one year. Eligibility will be reinstated the following competition year. This change is being implemented to increase access to the RTI program to the largest number of eligible researchers. This decision, as well as the changes to the selection criteria, are informed by the recent evaluation of the Discovery research program and the results of the gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) of the RTI program.

Submitting Your Application

1. Submit an internal Approval Form through our central awards management database cuResearch.
2. Submit an external application to NSERC by following their submission guidelines.

Contact Us

Potential applicants are encouraged to discuss this funding opportunity with their Faculty Research Facilitator.