For the application to be eligible, the applicant must:

• Hold a full-time tenure or a tenure track position 
• Be within their first 20 years as an independent researcher
• Have obtained external committee comments on their unsuccessful proposal
• Provide a plan of action to address the comments in order to improve their chance to secure funding from the same agency
• Have held as a principal applicant at least a one year grant from one of the three funding organizations (NSERC, SSHRC, CIHR)
• Obtain matching contribution from the Faculty

Application Deadline

There are two competitions per year for the BFO. The deadlines are:

• January 15^th
• June 15^th

A full application consists of:

Completed Bridge Funding Application Form that includes:

1. SUMMARY
2. COMMENTS
3. EXTERNAL FUNDING
4. REFERENCES
5. BUDGET AND BUDGET JUSTIFICATION

FIVE ATTACHMENTS

1. Common CV or equivalent
2. OVPR RE form
   • The 'amount requested' field should define the amount that is being requested from the SFO only
3. Faculty RE form
   • The 'amount requested' field should define the amount that is being requested of the faculty
4. Letter of recommendation from the Dean, Vice-Dean or Associate Dean, Research of the Faculty confirming:
   • The faculty's equal matching contribution to the amount being requested of the BFO
   • The specific dollar amount of matching funds to be provided by the Faculty
   • The faculty's support of the researcher activities and plan of action for the improvement of the research project
5. Comments from agency

Applications must be submitted to:

Research Management Services 
[email protected]

Subject: RDP – Bridge Funding Opportunity

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• The applicant’s faculty must review and approve the application.  Applicants must submit an RE form with the appropriate signatures. RMS will not accept application past the deadlines nor without the faculty approval.  RMS will reject incomplete applications.  
• The application must not exceed 20 pages including all of the above mentioned documents. Any additional pages will be automatically removed.
• A multi-disciplinary Selection Committee will review the applications. Taking this into consideration, the proposal should be written for non-experts.

Adjudication Process

Two selection committees will be established for the BFO:

• In the Social Sciences and Humanities
• In Sciences, Engineering and Health Sciences

IMPORTANT NOTE:  The Vice-Dean, Research or their delegate will chair the review committees. Applicants can suggest which committee should review their proposal.  RMS will direct the application to the appropriate committee.  For each competition, RMS will draw committee members from a pool of potential members.

Evaluation Criteria

Applications will be assessed using the following criteria:

• Relevance of the action plan to significantly improve the researcher's chances of obtaining external funding at the granting agency for the research project:
  • Action plan, including timelines and associated activities, must be feasible and adequate
• Quality of the presentation:
  • Proposal should be clear, concise, legible and complete
• Record of research achievement, including, without limitation, the following factors:
  • Quality and significance of past contributions
  • Level of research activity relative to the stage of the applicant's career
• Need for funds, including, without limitation, the following factors:
  • Justification of the budget relative to the action plan
  • Need for BFO funds and justification of the request relative to other currently-held and/or available funding. Other currently-held funds must be clearly indicated in the applicant's C.V.  

IMPORTANT NOTE: The evaluation for the BFO is based on documentation available in the original application.

Guidelines on how to present an application

• Be concise
• Avoid acronyms and abbreviations or explain them fully
• Write the proposal for a multidisciplinary scientific audience not expert in your discipline
• Include a clear description of your research objectives, why the research you are proposing is important, how it relates to prior work/state of the art and what the impact of the findings will be on the discipline
• Explain and support the methodological approach
• Describe any prior work that you may have performed to demonstrate your ability to deliver on the project
• Outline the risks and pitfalls, if any, and explain how they will be addressed
• Outline the resources available for this project and specify how they will help advance your research
• Provide a realistic timeframe
• Explain your plans for the disseminating results
• Explain how the proposed research supports or enhances a future application

Budget justification, eligible and non-eligible expenses

The maximum award for the BFO is $10,000.00 ($5,000.00 BFO & $5,000.00 faculty) over one year. The budget section should describe the entire budget, including contributions from both the BFO & the Faculty.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Applicants must submit two RE forms:

• In the first REform, the “Amount Requested” field should define the amount that is being requested from theSFO only.
• In the second REform,the “Amount Requested” field should define the amount that is being requested of the Faculty only.

Budget Justification

The justification must:

• demonstrate the need for funds from the BFO relative to other funding available to the applicant
• explain how the costs were established for each item in the budget
• describe and justify how the budget items are needed to accomplish the project objectives
• demonstrate how the funds contribute towards the direct costs of the research plan of action
• demonstrate economical use of funds

Awardees must, on request of the Office of the Vice-President Research (or delegate), submit a final report to RMS (1 page) describing progress in light of original project objectives and plans to pursue the research.

• By accepting this award, researchers agree to re-apply to the selected agency within two years.
• The funds will be release once all certification requirements are met (ethics of research with human subjects and/or stem cells, animal care, radiation safety, etc.)
• Any unused funds at the end of the project must be returned to the RDP program.  Researchers can request an extension to use the funds.  The extension will be in time only, not funds. To request a one year extension, researchers have to write to RMS and justify how the extension will help them advance their project. For more information please contact Research Management Services at [email protected].