Frequently Asked Questions
Research Management
Research Management Services (RMS) compiled a list of questions and answers to assist you as you navigate through the world of research management. The questions and answers are organized by category and a summary of those categories and questions is listed below.
General Information
What is the difference between a grant and a contract?
A Research Contract is:
- A formal agreement between the University of Ottawa and a sponsor to provide support for a specific activity under defined terms and conditions.
- A document which generally contains provisions related to the work to be conducted, the time periods over which the work will be performed, confidentiality, ownership rights, commercial exploitation and licensing rights, etc.
- An agreement where one is legally bound to produce results (deliverables).
A Research Grant is:
- An award where the funding is provided with the intent of encouraging a professor's research efforts or other studies done at the University of Ottawa.
- An award where the funding is to be utilized exclusively for the purposes described in the grant application.
- Grants are generally funding distributed by federal grant councils and other non-profit, philanthropical agencies. Funding is granted to a researcher by a sponsor, with an expectation – but not the requirement - that the task can be accomplished.
What is the difference between Research Management Services (RMS), Innovation Support Services (ISS), and the Office of Strategic Development Initiatives (SDI)?
Research Management Services
RMS oversees post award management, including grant competition management, internal funding opportunities, external funding opportunities, opening of accounts, compliance with agencies guidelines, and research statistics/reports.
Innovation Support Services
ISS oversees contract pre and post award management including negotiation, intellectual property, and research partnerships with the public and private sectors.
Office of Strategic Development Initiatives
SDI oversees major infrastructure programs offered by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).
Questions related to a contract?
- Contact Innovation Support Services (ISS)
- Phone: 613-562-5399; Email: iss@uOttawa.ca
Questions related to a grant (whether from an internal or external agency)?
- Contact Research Management Services (RMS)
- Phone: 613-562-5841; Email: info-sgr-rms@uottawa.ca
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Questions related to a Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) fund?
- Contact the Office of Strategic Development Initiatives (SDI)
- Phone: 613-562-5270
What is considered overhead?
- Overhead are used to cover the indirect costs incurred by the University for the conduct of research (e.g., heating, electricity, administrative support, etc.).
- Overhead costs are applicable to research contracts and are negotiated on an individual basis by Innovation Support Services (ISS).
- Generally, overheard costs are not applicable to grants.
Funding Awarded
What documents are required to access funding?
The following documents must be received by the approriate research office before an account may be opened:
- A copy of the full proposal and any other supporting documentation (contract = ISS, grants = RMS, CFI = SDI) with the signed RE form.
- A copy of the Notice of Decision (NOD) from the sponsoring agency.
- A copy of any required certificates for the project (animal care, biohazard and/or ethics).
Once this information has been obtained, the research office responsible for your file will review and analyse it, then open your account with Financial resources.
How will a researcher know when an account has been created?
- You will receive an email confirmation together with an official ‘Notification of decision’ (NOD) from Research Management Services (RMS) informing you that your account has been created and providing you with your account number. Typically, the account is set up within 24 – 48 hours of RMS receiving a NOD from the agency unless some information is missing or you need to fulfill some obligations prior to your account being created (e.g., ethical submission/approval). Even if your account is not set up, RMS will send you an email to inform you that your account can only be created once obligations have been met.
Who should be contacted once the account number is received?
- Once you have obtained your account number, contact your faculty/department administration officer to begin accessing your funding. He/she may not have received the information (account number, budget and Notice of Decision from the agency). You may consequently be asked to provide these documents to him/her.
- Please note that all information concerning your research portfolio on grants/contracts is available through eAwards.
What is required to open an account for funding that has been awarded without a formal grant application?
You will need to provide to the appropriate research office (RMS, ISS or SDI) all relevant correspondence/documentation related to the award, including:
- A copy of a signed RE form
- A copy of the Notice of Decision (NOD) from the sponsoring agency or any other documentation confirming the award
- All relevant documentation describing the project, terms and conditions related to the award
- A copy of any required certificates for the project (animal care, biohazard and/or ethics)
Once this information has been obtained, the research office responsible for your file will review and analyse it, determine the type of award (contract or grants) and proceed to open the appropriate type of account for your award.
Compliance Certification
Is there a time limit to acquire ethical approval in order to activate an account?
- As per the Tri-Council Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), you are required to obtain the appropriate ethical approval within six months of the award date in which case the agency may consider that the condition of award has not been fulfilled and may reallocate the funding.
What is required to receive partial funding for a project that involves animals or biohazardous material in subsequent years?
- You must inform the research office responsible for your file (RMS, ISS or SDI) and the appropriate committee (Animal care of Biosafety) in writing that work with animals and/or biohazardous material will not begin until a later date.
- Please note that animals and/or biohazardous materials may be acquired and work initiated only after the project proposal has been approved by the University of Ottawa Animal Care Committee (ACC) and/or the Biosafety Committee.
What is the procedure regarding ethics for a project grant involving human subjects that would not be recruited until the second year?
- In instances where a project is not yet ready to be reviewed by a REB, a researcher can request the partial release of some funds to support activities that do not involve human beings, their data, or human biological materials. To release a portion of the research funds, the researcher must complete the form Conditional Release of Research Funds and submit a signed copy to Research Management Services.
Can the same certificate be used for two similar projects?
- Whenever you receive new funding, you must always confirm with the committee who granted the approval (ethics, animal care or biosafety) to confirm the relevance or eligibility of your current certificate in relation to your newly funded project.
Transferring Money
What is the procedure to transfer money to a co-applicant from another institution?
- You need to contact the research office that is responsible for your project (Research Management Services – RMS, Innovation Support Services – ISS or the Office of Strategic Development Initiatives – SDI).
- The research office responsible for your file will draft a transfer agreement between the University of Ottawa and your collaborator’s university/hospital. This agreement will need to be signed by all parties before any funding is transferred.
- Please consult our website for more information on inter-institutional transfers.
What is the procedure for a uOttawa co-applicant to receive funding from a principal investigator from another university?
- It is important to note that the principal investigator must initiate the transfer process with the research managers at his/her institution.
- In order for you to receive funding from a principal investigator from another university, you must provide the following documents to the research office responsible for your file:
- Completed RE form with all required signatures
- Copy of the application made by the Principal Investigator at the other university along with an updated budget
- Copy of the notification of decision from the funding agency
- Any certifications required for the project
- Once each of these documents has been provided the research office responsible for your file will proceed to sign an agreement with the responsible service from the other university. After the agreement is signed, they can open a project account.
What is the procedure for transferring a grant held at another institution to the University of Ottawa?
- First, you must inform the agency and/or sponsor that you intend on transferring funding to the University of Ottawa.
- You must provide the following documents to the research office responsible for your file:
- Completed RE form with all required signatures
- Copy of the application made by the principal investigator at the other university along with an updated budget
- Copy of the Notice of Decision (NOD) from the funding agency
- Any certifications required for the project
- Copy of the most recent financial report that was submitted to the agency
- List of outstanding commitments at your previous institution (if you had funding from a Tri-Council agency, you will need to complete the F303 form.
- The research office responsible for your file will coordinate the transfer of funding with the agency and the other institution.
What is the procedure for transferring a grant held at the University of Ottawa to another institution?
- You must inform RMS of your departure and the agency and/or sponsor that you intend on transferring funding from the University of Ottawa to another institution.
- RMS will review your accounts and provide all necessary instructions.
- At a minimum, you will be asked to provide a list of any outstanding commitments at the University of Ottawa. If you had funding from a Tri-Council agency, you will need to complete the F303 form.
- Via RMS, the University of Ottawa will produce and submit a financial statement to the agency and the other institution.
- You will need to provide information and/or documentation to the other institution. Please consult your new institution’s research office for specific details.
Managing Accounts
What happens to the remaining balance of an account when it is in the process of being closed?
- ‘Where’ the money is going depends on the type of account you have:
- Cost reimbursable contract: There should not be any funding left in a cost reimbursable contract.
- Firm price contract: Once all verifications have been completed by Research Management Services, i.e., deliverables have been met by the researcher, the University has received all payments, an account analysis was done to ensure all invoices have been processed, etc., residual funding will be transferred to the researcher’s general research account by RMS and Financial Services.
- Tri-Council grants: For most programs, residual funding is transferred to the University of Ottawa general research fund to be reinvested into internal funding programs.
You can consult the Grant Management Procedures section of RMS’ website to view detailed instructions regarding account closure at the University of Ottawa.
- ‘Where’ the money is going depends on the type of account you have:
Can all research funds be grouped into one account?
- You cannot put all your research funding into one account for the following reasons:
- Funding from an agency (public funds) is allocated to a specific project, for a specific purpose and as per submitted budget projections. Each project requires its own account.
- You cannot mix funding from an internal source with funding from an external source (public funds).
- Different agencies have different rules and regulations.
- Agencies require separate financial reporting.
- You cannot put all your research funding into one account for the following reasons:
Requesting an Extension
What needs to be done to obtain an extension on an account?
- All requests for extensions (internally and/or externally) must be requested at least 6 months prior to the project end date.
- CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC
- In some cases a one-year automatic extension is allowed for CIHR grants and some NSERC and SSHRC grant programs. Please consult the list of grants that are awarded with a one-year automatic extension and a list of grants where the researcher must make a request prior to the end date of the award.
- Other external grants
- You must request an approval from the funders.
- Once obtained, you are required to submit a written approval from the agency to Research Management Services (RMS) in order to extend the end date of an account.
Can a second extension for a Tri-Council grant be approved once the one-year automatic extension expires?
- An additional extension will be considered only in the case of extended leaves of absence during the grant period or due to uncontrollable delays to project activities. Please consult the list of grants for additional Tri-Council grant extension information.
- If the Tri-Council agency rules do not allow for an additional extension, under exceptional circumstances Research Management Services may grant an additional ‘special’ one (1) year extension.
Researcher leaving the University of Ottawa
When a researcher leaves the University of Ottawa to continue his/her research project at another eligible Canadian University, it is essential that he/she contact Research Management Services immediately. By promptly advising the Office of Research Management Services of his/her intentions to transfer universities, necessary actions may be undertaken immediately to initiate the necessary procedures to transfer the grant/contract to the new university. In doing so, the researcher greatly increases his/her chances of accessing the funds more rapidly and effectively at the new University.
eAwards
Accessing the RE Portal
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Which account must a researcher use to access the system?
You have to access the system by using your uoAccess login information. If you cannot remember your access codes, please log in to the uoZone to confirm your username and password.
Please note the uoAccess Account applies to paid employees of the University of Ottawa.
Once logged in, please consult the ‘Password management’ page and your username will be located in the first paragraph
If you cannot access the uoPortal, contact Computing Services at extension 6555.
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How to create an eAwards account?
Navigate to the sign in page for eAwards
- I am a uOttawa employee and I have a @uottawa.ca email address:
Click on “Create Account” and accept the terms and conditions. Select I am a uOttawa employee and enter your username (uoAccess information - prefix of your @uottawa.ca email address) and enter your password (same as the one used to access your Outlook emails account), fill-in the profile information and click “Save”. After saving, you can log in from the main page with the same access information used to create your account.
Completing and Submitting an RE Form
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Why does an RE form need to be completed?
The faculty, via the Vice-Dean of Research or the Dean’s signature on the form, confirms the faculty’s approval and support for the project, and is also used to confirm their ability to house the proposed research activities in the event that it is funded by the agency in question. It must be noted that the RE form is an institution-wide requirement which informs the requesting Principal Investigator’s faculty as well as the Office of the Vice-President of Research of the proposed project’s requirements and overall project objective.
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Can an RE form “in progress” be saved and accessed at a later time?
Yes, an RE form “in progress” can be saved and accessed at a later time. To do so, log in to eAwards and your RE form can be found in the 'My Forms' section.
Remember to save each page as you complete it or the data will be lost. You will also need to take note of the RE number as you will need this information to find your RE form when you come back to it at a later date.
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How to access a saved RE form?
The “My forms” option in the Activity Details menu shows a list of all RE forms that you have begun to fill out, or already submitted. The Activity Details menu is found at the left of the screen; click on “As Principal Investigator” and then on “My Forms”. Clicking on the RE number will allow you to edit or continue filling out the RE form.
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What if a researcher’s eAwards profile information is not correct?
Click on the “Profiles & Preferences” link at the top of the interface. Under the heading “Update your profile”, you will be able to update all of your information, including your correspondence language, faculty, department and telephone number.
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What if the external sponsor is not on the list?
To add your external sponsor, click on the green ‘plus symbol’ in the “Funding” section and enter the name and information for the organization. Don’t forget to include their web and civic addresses.
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How can the end date in the “Annual Amounts Requested” section be changed?
The system automatically enters an end-date of one year after the start-date. The end date can only be changed by clicking on the calendar widget as it isn’t possible to manually type a date into the box.
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Does a multi-year project need to be entered year by year?
Yes, enter each year by selecting the ‘Add year’ tab in the ‘Funding’ section.
In order to enter dates, use the calendar widget, as well as manually input the financial values for the year in question.
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What should be done if the project doesn’t fit in any of the categories of the Areas of Development in Research?
Pick the Area of Development most closely related to your field of study but if none apply to your specific expertise, select the ‘None of the Above’ option. Please note that this section should be a last resort.
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How many Areas of Development in Research must be selected?
You must choose at least one area of research development and one subcategory.
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Is it mandatory to include a copy of any compliance certification?
You must provide answers to the questions regarding your research proposal in the ‘compliance’ section. If you have not yet received the certificates, there is no information for you to upload.
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Once all the information is entered, what are the steps to complete and submit the RE form?
- Select the ‘Signature and Submission’ section, read the content of the terms of submission and if in agreement, select the “YES” button to indicate that you accept.
- Click on the “VALIDATE SUBMISSION” tab to highlight any fields or sections that are incomplete. If all of the sections are in green, as indicated in the ‘activity details’ window, no information is missing and the RE form is ready to be submitted.
- Click the “SUBMIT” tab to complete the RE form process.
- Once you’ve submitted your RE form, the system will prompt a confirmation window containing information related to the RE form
Viewing my Request
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What is the “Print Preview” section?
“Print preview” creates a document containing all the information entered in the RE form. Please note that this is not the file to print for signatures as it contains the entirety of your RE form, which is a minimum of 12 page, and does not contain a signature section.
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What is the procedure for printing the RE form for signature?
Submit the RE form electronically. A dialogue box will appear with instructions on how to print the RE form.
Click on 'Close Window' to return to the 'My Forms' section of eAwards.
In the 'My Forms' section, click on the PDF icon found in the last column entitled 'RE Form Signature Pages'.
Print the RE form signature pages, sign it, and forward it, along with other required documentation to the research office of your Faculty. The research office will obtain necessary signatures and will finalize the process by sending the RE form signature pages along with supporting documentation to Research Management Services.
For detailed instructions and print screens please click here.