Collaborative Research Planning Grant

Updated: July 2026

 

Purpose

The Collaborative Research Planning Grant (CRPG) aims to support UTM faculty and librarians in the planning, development, and submission of high-value collaborative research grants with a total funding envelope of at least $200,000, prioritizing Tri-Council programs such as SSHRC Partnership Development Grants and Partnership Grants; NSERC Alliance and CREATE Grants; New Frontiers in Research Fund, etc. The CRPG provides up to $10,000, which may be used for eligible expenses listed below.

 

Eligibility Guidelines

The lead applicant must have a primary appointment at UTM and eligibility to serve as a Principal Investigator according to University of Toronto policy. Awarded funding must be administered through a UTM academic unit. The same UTM faculty member or librarian must also be the Nominated Principal Investigator or sole Principal Investigator on the planned external grant application.

This fund does not support the planning of grants outside of the “partnership suite,” such as SSHRC Insight Grants or NSERC Discovery Grants.

Researchers are eligible to receive only one CRPG award within a 12-month period.

NB: meeting the eligibility criteria does not guarantee that one will receive funding.

Eligible expenses

Examples include: 

  • food, travel, and/or accommodations to directly support proposal development activities;
  • hiring a research assistant to provide research, writing, and budget preparation support, as well as support in organizing meetings and other proposal development activities;
  • hiring a freelance grant-writer; and
  • professional graphics development.

Ineligible expenses

Examples include:

  • software and other expenses that are generally part of everyday research activity; and
  • salary for applicants/co-applicants.

 

Adjudication Process 

Applications will be adjudicated by the OVPRI senior academic leadership team.

 

Evaluation Criteria 

Applications will be evaluated with reference to the following criteria and the program funding available:

  • the clarity with which the planning activities are articulated;
  • the extent to which the proposed planning activities will contribute to the development of a sound and persuasive grant application;
  • the appropriateness of the proposed project that will serve as the basis for the grant application (e.g., is the project suitable for the grant program to which it will be submitted?);
  • the extent to which the proposed project represents an ambitious initiative that leverages existing UTM strengths to catalyze productive research collaborations across the campus and beyond; and
  • the appropriateness of budget.

The adjudication committee may recommend a lower amount of funding than requested.

 

Application Format and Submission Deadline 

Prior to applying to the CRPG, applicants are strongly encouraged to meet with one of the OVPRI’s Strategic Research Development Officers (SRDOs) to discuss the proposed grant application that CRPG funding would support.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis. Please submit your application as a single PDF document, including the following material in the order listed, via the online application form. All text must be in 12pt Times New Roman font with margins set to at least 0.75 in.

  1. A cover sheet that includes applicant's name, department, email, and amount requested.
  2. Proposal (2 pages maximum): in clear non-specialist language, under these headings:
    • Summary of Research: include a discussion of goals, objectives, and research problem to be addressed in the external grant that will be pursued.
    • Planning Strategy: discuss your approach to reaching the objective of a completed grant proposal, ideally listing milestones and other relevant details.
  3. List of participants in the planning group and their affiliations: 1 additional page for the participant table with the following columns: name; affiliation; and position (e.g., faculty/librarian/postdoctoral fellow/graduate/undergraduate student).
  4. Itemized budget and justification (additional 1 page maximum).

 

Application Results

OVPRI will notify the lead applicant of the results of their application. Individual scores and/or rankings will not be provided, but general feedback may be provided upon request.

 

Post-Award Details

Successful applicants will have their funding transferred to lead applicant’s commitment fund centre (CFC).

Upon acceptance of funding from the CRPG, successful applicants will be required to serve as referees in at least two OVPRI-adjudicated internal funding competitions or as reviewers on an internal peer-review panel

Questions

Questions about the program, eligibility, the application process, deadlines, etc., should be addressed to funding.ovpri.utm@utoronto.ca.