The Office of the Vice-Principal, Research and Innovation (OVPRI), University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM) supports research and innovation excellence by providing a suite of high-quality services and resources, including state-of-the-art core facilities, internal funding programs, and staff and faculty expertise. Below is a list of some of the supports available through the UTM OVPRI.
Research Funding Proposal Development Support
The OVPRI offers guidance and resources to support UTM faculty in developing and submitting competitive grant applications to external sponsors.
Services include:
- Helping to identify relevant UTM, U of T, and external funding opportunities
- Consulting on proposal development and/or (re)submission plans
- Providing editorial review of draft applications, with a focus on clarity, flow, structure, persuasiveness, and compliance with sponsor and institutional requirements
- Providing budget guidance and helping to identify potential sources of matching funds
- Clarifying internal processes regarding submission of applications via the U of T MRA system
- Providing support in navigating the broader U of T research ecosystem and its resources
- Granting access to the UTM Funding Application and Awards Repository, which includes confidential examples of recent successful UTM faculty funding proposals
- Facilitating information sessions focused on specific major external funding opportunities
Awards and Honours (A&H) Support
The OVPRI offers support coordinating A&H nominations for UTM faculty. This includes internal and external, Tri-agency, and discipline-specific awards/honours. Services include:
- Editorial review of draft nomination materials
- Helping to identify strong referees
- Benchmarking potential nominees to recent award winners
- Providing career trajectory advice and suggesting logical award ladders/progression
→ If you have recently won, been nominated, or are nominating another individual whose primary appointment is at UTM, please complete the Honours & Awards Reporting Form.
Research Partnerships
The OVPRI’s Research Partnerships team offers UTM faculty support in creating, formalizing, and fostering collaborative research projects and initiatives with external partners by:
- Discussing research partnership needs and brainstorming the unique offerings and applications of faculty research programs
- Exploring partnered research opportunities across disciplines and identifying matching funds programs to maximize partners' research investment
- Shortlisting potential research partners from a selection tailored to each research project's needs and priorities; conducting outreach and pitch to potential partners
- Facilitating proposal co-development to define shared goals, scope of work, and desired outcomes; facilitating project ideation meetings
- Navigating partnered research agreements (see Innovation & Partnerships Resources)
OVPRI Funding Programs
The OVPRI supports faculty research through an array of internal funding programs. These programs are the result of a recent review of our internal funding portfolio. The aim of the new suite of programs is to create a more streamlined and accessible suite of supports that will be easier to navigate and will better align with evolving faculty needs and UTM's broader research and innovation priorities.
These should be considered pilot programs, and after the completion of the first cycle we will be seeking feedback from faculty to help us refine and improve them.
- Black and Indigenous Research Excellence Fund
- Collaborative Research Planning Grant
- Emergency Research Support Program
- Joint Seed Grant
- Research Seed Grant
- SSHRC Insight Grant Planning Fund
- Strategic Grant Matching Fund
- UTM/Jackman Humanities Institute Annual Seminar
→ Should you have any questions about these programs, please contact our team at funding.ovpri.utm@utoronto.ca.
OVPRI Awards and Events
Take a break from the inbox and join us in person. At our annual Research Excellence Celebration, you'll hear from outstanding early-career researchers and enjoy a lecture by this year's Desmond Morton Research Excellence Award recipient. You can also join us in recognizing the authors and editors of recent scholarly monographs at our annual Celebration of Books, hosted in partnership with the UTM Library.
If you're looking for something more hands-on, drop by one of our Lunch and Learns. U of T experts will walk you through our research facilities, digital tools, partnerships supports, funding programs, and more. Visit our events page to learn more.
Research and Innovation Core (RICore)
From atoms to systems, UTM’s research facilities provide science researchers with shared, cutting-edge tools, expert support, and hands-on training. Now integrated as the Research and Innovation Core (RICore), these facilities form a coordinated ecosystem supporting more than 60 laboratories across UTM, with collaborators from UTSG, UTSC, and external partners, enabling seamless investigation across biological scales — from ecosystem to atomic level.
SpinUp
Led by the OVPRI, SpinUp is U of T’s first wet lab incubator, offering early-stage life science founders access to programs, partnerships, and affordable wet lab co-working space at UTM. Contact the team via email at spinup@utoronto.ca.
OVPRI Publications
- OVPRI News: Stories from UTM's research and innovation community
- Funding and Awards Roundup: Funding and award updates and opportunities
- This newsletter is emailed at the start of each month to all faculty via the UTM Faculty listserv.
- SURGE: News, events, facility updates, OVPRI announcements; UTM events
- This newsletter is shared with subscribers. Subscribe here to receive this monthly communication.
→ Do you have news to share? Whether you've published new research, received and award, or have an exciting collaboration in the works, we welcome your input! Please contact Tanya Rohrmoser, Senior Communications Officer with the relevant details so we can include it in an upcoming issue.
Should you have any questions or wish to meet with an OVPRI staff member to discuss any of the supports available through the UTM OVPRI, please contact Shaun Young, Director at shaun.young@utoronto.ca.