Updated: October 2025
Purpose
The Research Seed Grant program provides seed support of up to $15,000 to catalyze well-defined early-stage research activities that can lead to external funding. Proposals that focus on incremental expansion/advancement of existing research activities will not be supported.
The Research Seed Grant (RSG) program is a slightly remodeled version of the Research and Scholarly Activity Fund. The RSG includes new elements that support the goals of securing external funding and ensuring the effective and efficient allocation of UTM resources that maximizes the impact of the funding provided.
NB: This is a pilot program that will be re-evaluated after the current cycle.
Eligibility Guidelines
RSG funding is available to faculty members with a full-time continuing status appointment (tenure or teaching stream) at UTM. RSG funds must be administered through a UTM academic unit. In the case of applications involving groups of faculty, the lead applicant must be a UTM faculty member.
Applicants must have held or applied for a Tri-Council grant within the previous 36 months. If not, an explanation as to why that was not the case must be provided for consideration.
Proposals that are similar in nature cannot be submitted to other internal funding programs at the same time (e.g., Black and Indigenous Research Excellence Fund). The Office of the Vice-Principal, Research and Innovation (OVPRI) will notify PIs in cases in which similar proposals are submitted to more than one funding program.
Successful applicants will be eligible to reapply for funding 24 months following the competition deadline in which they were successful. (NB: anyone who received funding from the Research Scholarly Activities Fund program in 2025 is not eligible to apply to the RSG until the 2026 competition). Those who have previously received OVPRI seed funding must indicate how they leveraged that funding to pursue external funding.
NB: meeting the eligibility criteria does not guarantee that one will receive funding.
Adjudication Process & Evaluation Criteria
The UTM Research Council—a multi-disciplinary group that includes one representative from each academic unit—is responsible for adjudicating RSG applications.
Each RSG application will be reviewed and ranked by three reviewers in the applicant’s broad discipline area (i.e., sciences, social sciences or humanities).
Applicants are expected to write their applications for review by non-specialist reviewers. Proposals written in a highly specialized or technical prose will likely receive a lower score/ranking due to the impact that such prose has on the ability of non-specialists to fully understand the proposal.
To support their development and career advancement, 30% of annual RSG funding will be allocated to early career researchers (ECR), defined as applicants who have held their first independent academic position within the last five years. The five-year window for being considered an ECR is adjusted to take into account instances when a researcher has had an eligible delay in their research career.
Proposal Elements and Weighting
1. Project Description (60%)
Describe your research project using non-specialist language, with a focus on four sections: 1) the objectives of the research and their significance; 2) the context for the research (with brief reference to literature review and theoretical approach); 3) methodology; and 4) expected outcomes.
2. Novelty and Leveragability (20%)
In this section indicate:
1) the novelty of the work: this grant is designed to seed new research: please describe how the proposed research differs from your current research projects; and
2) how the seed funding can/will be leveraged to apply for external funding: highlight how the RSG will improve your future competitiveness in Tri-Council.
3. Budget (20%)
On a separate page include an itemized budget and justification. Explain how the requested funds will help you achieve the project objectives. In cases where your overall project budget exceeds the RSG maximum, explain where you will access the additional funds. Be sure to provide specific figures for all costs, with reference to how you’ve calculated the expense. Standard Tri-Council expense eligibility requirements will apply. The adjudicators may recommend a lower amount of funding than requested.
Applicants who have received other internal seed funding, such as PERA or Connaught New Researcher Awards or other OVPRI funding, must justify the need for additional seed funding/explain why that funding was/is not sufficient.
Please note: the OVPRI maintains a repository of successful Tri-Council grants, which RSG applicants are welcome to access if they are interested in seeing examples of successful applications to help inform the development of their proposal/RSG application. To receive access to the repository, please contact grants.ovpri.utm@utoronto.ca.
Application Format and Submission Deadline
A complete, maximum 5-page application (or 6 pages with a Bibliography/References/Works Cited, or 7 pages with an RSAF report) must be submitted by the competition deadline as a single PDF document. All text must be in 12pt Times New Roman font. Margins must be set at a minimum of 3/4 inch (1.87cm). The application package must include all the following materials in the order as listed below:
- Cover Sheet (2 pages)
- Funding Proposal (must include Project Description, and Novelty and Leveragability; collectively, 2 pages maximum)
- Bibliography/References/Works Cited (optional; 1 page maximum)
- Budget & Justification (1 page maximum)
- NB: Past Research and Scholarly Activity Fund (RSAF) recipients must also include a brief report (1-page maximum), which includes the competition year(s) in which the applicant received RSAF funding and a brief summary how they have leveraged the RSAF funds to secure external funding
Applications for the next competition are due by Friday, December 12, 2025 (firm deadline). Please submit proposals in a SINGLE pdf file via an online application form by this date. File name should be: 2025-26_RSG_Applicant's Last Name_Applicant's First Name.
Competition Results
Notification of the outcome of their application will be emailed to RSG applicants by the Office of the Vice-Principal, Research and Innovation (OVPRI). To respect the confidentiality of adjudicators, individual scores/rankings will not be provided, but if adjudicators have provided comments on an application, that feedback can be shared with applicants upon request.
Post-Award Details
RSG funding for successful applicants will be transferred to the UTM faculty member’s commitment fund centre (CFC) following the receipt of any necessary certifications or related (see below).
Certifications: If University certifications for research using human subjects, animal subjects, or biohazards are required to conduct the proposed research, such certifications need not be provided at the time of application. However, successful applicants are required to secure any necessary certification(s) prior to beginning the research being funded (partially or wholly) by the RSG award, and those who fail to secure the necessary certification(s) will be expected to return any OVPRI funding they received.
Requirement: Upon acceptance of the RSG funds, successful applicants will be required to participate in at least two proposal reviews for subsequent OVPRI-adjudicated funding competitions (e.g., Research Seed Grant, Black and Indigenous Research Excellence Fund).
Final Report: RSG recipients must submit a 1-page final report describing the impact of the award on the recipient's research program. This statement could also briefly describe what was accomplished with the funding and how the funds were expended. The report is expected to be submitted to the OVPRI (funding.ovpri.utm@utoronto.ca) no later than one year following notification of a successful application. Failure to submit a final report could result in funds being withheld in a subsequent OVPRI internal funding competition for which one applies and is successful.
Acknowledgment: The UTM affiliation of researchers and support from the OVPRI should be acknowledged in any research outputs arising from this award.
Questions
Questions about the program, eligibility, the application process, deadlines, etc., should be addressed to funding.ovpri.utm@utoronto.ca.