Federal Research Support Fund
Research requires both direct and indirect investments. The latter are operational costs that underpin an institution’s research activities and are not specific to individual research grants.
Research infrastructure renewal and maintenance activities require reinvestment on a significant scale, given their breadth and scope. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Space and utilities (electricity, plumbing, heating and air conditioning, as well as planning and financing new research spaces)
- Core facilities (Facilities and Management Planning, Information and Technology Services, Campus Safety Services, janitorial services, hazardous waste disposal)
- Library services (acquisitions, maintenance costs)
- Research financial services (personnel, financial management utilities, like FAST, Banner)
- Research compliance and regulatory requirements (Research Compliance Office, Animal Care Facility)
- Payroll
- Institutional support for the completion of grant and award applications/research proposals (personnel, cuResearch)
- Liability insurance
- Laboratory/office furniture
Recognizing that research requires a significant investment at the institutional level, the Research Support Fund (RSF) was introduced in 2003 to assist Canadian postsecondary institutions with the expenses associated with managing research funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Networks of Centres of Excellence.
The five main expenditure areas of the RSF are:
- Facilities
- Resources
- Management and administration
- Regulatory requirements
- Intellectual property (IP)
Introduced in 2018, the Incremental Project Grant (IPG) provides support in addition to the RSF, offering further funding for the indirect costs of research.
The IPG provides eligible institutions with support for projects that address priorities spanning the RSF’s five existing categories of eligible expenses. The initial four IPG priority areas are:
- Information resources, including digital resources, open-access databases
- Innovation and commercialization activities
- Facilities renewal, including deferred maintenance
- Equity, diversity and faculty renewal (in the context of equity, diversity and inclusion)
In 2022, the Research Security (RS) category with a dedicated funding envelope was added to the IPG “to further support the activities related to the indirect costs of research security and to support the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships.”
For 2025-2026, the IPG will be allocated towards the following projects:
- “Research Financial Services Dedicated Sponsored Research Support”
- “Research Management System Improvement”
- “Advancing Innovation and Commercialization in Priority Sectors”
- “Responsive Partnerships and Community Engagement Capacity”
- “Research Analytics Platform”
- The RS grant will be allocated towards “Risk Assessment and Mitigation Support”
These initiatives are located in the Offices of the Vice-President (Research, innovation, and International) and Finance.
The RSF, IPG and RS grants cover a proportion of the total costs incurred by Carleton in each category; the remainder of the cost is provided by the university from other sources. In 2025-2026, the RSF grant to Carleton is $5,455,328, the IPG is $999,602 and the RS is $313,150.
With these funds, Carleton intends to support a variety of initiatives across campus to maximize the investment of federal funding.
Research Support Fund
The RSF has five main categories of eligible research expenditures:
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The support Carleton’s research facilities receive from RSF is instrumental in ensuring their continued use and viability. At Carleton, we have more than 227,000 square feet of floor area designated as research space, including health science laboratories within the Health Science Building. -
Costs in this category include support for Information Technology Services (ITS) operations, resource acquisition and the provision of research support services. Examples include campus-wide research software site licenses for unlimited use. This category may also include support for the ITS Research Computing Services team, who assist researchers in using Advanced Research Computing (ARC) and high-performance resources available both on- and off-campus. -
At Carleton, this category includes expenses related to the Carleton Office for Research Initiatives and Services (CORIS), Industry and Partnerships Services (IPS) and Research Financial Services. Recent activities to streamline the research administration process, such as the implementation of enterprise data management systems, have been supported through the RSF. Automating certain tasks has simplified the process for grant holders, ensured compliance and reporting, and freed up research administration personnel time, allowing for more tailored services to be offered to the Carleton research community. -
This category covers many aspects of research compliance, including human ethics (overseen by two boards), animal care and biohazards. Controlled goods and radiation hazard costs, which are minor at Carleton, are currently absorbed into general administration costs and included in the previous category. The Department of Environmental Health and Safety supports all matters related to research compliance.RSF grant funds assist the university in fulfilling regulatory requirements, including internal and external reviews, post-approval monitoring and the implementation of new electronic systems to manage research compliance obligations. At Carleton, post-approval monitoring includes the review and clearance of proposed amendments, annual renewals and study closures, as well as reports of unanticipated events, such as adverse events, protocol deviations and violations, and new relevant information that could reasonably affect participants or their willingness to continue to consent to participation.
The RSF grant has also permitted Carleton to purchase Cyber Liability insurance, which provides added protection to the Carleton research community in the digital age.
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At Carleton, expenditures in this category cover the administration, from an IP perspective, of all types of agreements and relationships with industry, government and not-for-profit partners. RSF support has enabled Carleton to expand its services for researchers considering partnered research, including expert advice on IP issues and the establishment of the Carleton Innovation Transfer Office. Additional personnel support has helped researchers maximize the impact of federal funding by leveraging these services to engage with partnering organizations across the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. This category is greatly supplemented by other sources.
The RSF expenditures for the 2025-2026 government fiscal year are anticipated to be as follows:
| Category | Amount Allocated | Percentage of Total Grant |
|---|---|---|
| Facilities | $771,192 | 14.1% |
| Resources | $1,766,359 | 32.4% |
| Management and Administration | $2,334,664 | 42.8% |
| Regulatory Requirements and Accreditation | $540,277 | 9.9% |
| Intellectual Property | $42,836 | 0.8% |
Incremental Project Grants
The IPG expenditures for the 2025-2026 government fiscal year are anticipated to be as follows:
| Category | Amount Allocated |
|---|---|
| Information Resources | $759,602 |
| Innovation and Commercialization Activities | $240,000 |
Research Security
The RS expenditures for the 2025-2026 government fiscal year are anticipated to be as follows:
| Category | Amount Allocated |
|---|---|
| Research Security | $313,150 |
Performance Objectives
View Carleton’s performance objectives for 2025-2026:
Performance Objectives
2025-2026