Research Support Fund: Accountability and Public Acknowledgement 2022 - 2023

While individual research awards typically cover the direct costs of research, including certain salaries, equipment, and supplies directly contributing to a project, research institutions must bear the increasing costs of supporting their overall research activity with appropriate facilities, research resources, researcher salaries, management and administrative personnel, oversight of regulatory compliance and accreditation, and intellectual property management.

The Research Support Fund assists Canadian postsecondary institutions with the expenses associated with managing the research funded by the three federal research granting agencies; the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

About the RSF Program

AREAS OF INVESTMENT

The Research Support Fund grant is critical to the success of the University’s research undertakings. Major areas of past and present investment include:

Research Software Solutions: Web-based software for data collection and management, teambuilding and collaborations has become indispensable to research and its importance has never been more pronounced than during the COVID-19 pandemic. By licensing and managing these tools centrally with the help of the Research Support Fund, the University of Winnipeg is building cutting edge and resilient research programs, while ensuring data security.

Vivarium: The University of Winnipeg Vivarium is a 7500 square foot facility housing traditional model organisms and wildlife for research. The complex includes living spaces, a surgery suite and biocontainment zone adapted to studies of behavior, physiology and infectious disease. The Vivarium’s residents are monitored daily by two animal care technicians who also support research initiatives ranging from nutritional studies to aquatic ecology and physiology, evolutionary biology and endangered species conservation.

Library: The Library has focused on sustaining resources responsibly through assessment and increased dialogue with faculty about their needs in the short and long term. The Library continues to work toward sustainable access to resources through supporting Open Access practices and investing in Open Access infrastructure, including Erudit/ Coalition Publi.ca, Scoap3 and our Institutional Repository, WinnSpace. These investments benefit the UW community by promoting trustworthy and respected open access resources to our faculty and students, and supporting the infrastructure that sustains them. As new research projects emerge, it is important to continually invest in this research facility to ensure that researchers have the equipment required to safely and humanely conduct their research. In addition, in order to be compliant with emerging requirements on research data management and storage, the capacity of the Library continues to grow to support researchers in their data planning needs.

Financial Services Upgrades: The University continues to offer on-line and personal training for users of the financial system, Microsoft Dynamics NAV and reporting software, Prophix. Award functionality includes multi-year reporting with enhanced non-financial information attached. Through Webclient, researchers have instant access to their award balances and reporting tools designed to improve analytical abilities. Continual upgrades are resulting in faster, more accurate, and more efficient services for researchers and research administration staff. Research accounting personnel are thus able to handle the increasing volume of research grants awarded with enhanced ability for financial analysis and reporting. Recently the Research Accounting office created a research accounting website with links to resources such as Webclient training videos, research related forms and policies, etc. Work is underway to also create additional training documents and annual information workshops for researchers and staff.

Research Support: The Research Office aims to add additional human resources to increase the University’s capacity to fulfill its 5-year Integrated Academic & Research Plan (IARP), which was developed in consultation with members of the University community. As the University’s research funding in the past decade has nearly tripled, the University of Winnipeg’s goal is to strengthen our capacity to provide relevant research support to faculty members. This means investing in new staff to support research-related infrastructure projects with Facilities Management, increasing the capacity of the Office of the General Counsel with a research-focused lawyer and legal assistant, and hiring staff who are dedicated to providing research program development specifically focused on equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization practices. The Research Office continually seeks ways in which it can better support researchers while maintaining its capacity to develop and administer increasing numbers of successful grant and ethics applications.

UNIVERSITY OF WINNIPEG 2022 -2023 ALLOCATION OF RSF FUNDS

Expenditure Categories	Dollar Amount
2022-23 Investment	$1,804,185
Research Facilities 23% Renovation & maintenance of research facilities, upgrades and maintenance of research equipment and other devices, operating costs, and technical support for labs, offices and other facilities.	$415,700
Research Resources 30.5% Acquisition of library holdings, improved information resources, library operating costs and administration, and insurance on research equipment and vehicles.	$550,000
Management and administration of the institution's research enterprise 39.5% Support for the completion of grant applications/research proposals, acquisition, maintenance and/or upgrade of information systems to track grant applications, certificates and awards, training of faculty and research personnel, human resources and payroll, financial and audit costs, research planning and promotion, and public relations	$713,000
Regulatory Requirements & Accreditation 5% Creation and support of regulatory bodies, relevant training of faculty and other research personnel, international accreditation costs, upgrades and maintenance of research facilities to meet regulatory requirements, technical support for animal care and handling of hazardous substances, and the purchase of animals exclusively for training purposes (not research).	$90,000
Intellectual Property 2% Creation, expansion or sustenance of a technology transfer office or similar function, administration of invention patent applications, support for technology licensing, administration of agreements and partnerships with industry, development of incubators, support for the creation of spin-off companies, certain public outreach activities, and marketing of teaching materials, scientific photo libraries, data sets, and other tools for knowledge transfer.	$35,485
TOTAL:	$1,804,185
Research Security Objective: Enhance the University of Winnipeg’s ability to identify, assess and mitigate the potential risks to research security over three years	$30,631