Collaborative Research Planning Grant

Updated: October 2025

Purpose

The Collaborative Research Planning Grant (CRPG) provides funding to a maximum of $10,000 to support the planning for the development/submission of collaborative research grants for which the total funding envelope is $200K or above. The objective of this program is to help enable UTM researchers to bring together a team of researchers and partners to develop collaborative grant proposals, with a priority on Tri-Council opportunities such as SSHRC Partnership Development Grants and Partnership Grants; NSERC Alliance and CREATE Grants; New Frontiers in Research Fund grants, etc. 

For grants exceeding $1M, UTM researchers are also encouraged to apply to U of T’s Major Research Project Management Fund. Please note: if a UTM researcher receives support from the CRPG fund, it will count as the UTM “match” for the Major Research Management Project Fund’s Stream 1, should the applicant be pursuing that opportunity.

NB: This is a pilot program that will be re-evaluated after the current cycle.

 

Eligibility Guidelines

The lead applicant must be a faculty member with a full-time continuing status appointment (tenure or teaching stream) at UTM, and awarded funding must be administered through a UTM academic unit. 

Planning grants to support ongoing research outside the partnership suites, such as SSHRC Insight Grants or NSERC Discovery Grants, are not eligible for support from this fund.

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 support proposal development;
  • hiring a research assistant to support organizing meetings and providing research and writing support;
  • hiring a free-lance 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 and Evaluation Criteria 

  1. The UTM Office of the Vice-Principal, Research and Innovation (OVPRI) senior leadership team will review and evaluate all nominations based on 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 seem to support 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 CRGP, applicants are strongly encouraged to meet with one of the OVPRI’s Strategic Research Development Officers (SRDO) to discuss the proposed grant application that would result from the CRGP funding. 

A complete application package must be submitted by the competition deadline as a single PDF document, including the following material in the order listed. All text must be in 12pt Times New Roman font. Margins must be set at a minimum of 3/4 inch (1.87cm).

  1. A cover sheet that includes applicant's name, department, email, and amount requesting.
  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).

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis and should be submitted in a SINGLE pdf file via an online application form. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. 

 

Application Results

Notification of the outcome of their application will be emailed to the lead applicant by the 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

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

Requirement: Upon acceptance of funding from the CRGP, successful applicants will be required to participate as application reviewers in at least two OVPRI-adjudicated funding competitions (e.g., Research Seed Grant, Black and Indigenous Research Excellence Fund).

 

Questions

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