New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF)- 2022 Transformation Competition – NOI

Aboriginal Peoples

Arctic and Northern Regions

Community, Regional & Enterprise Development

Creative Arts, Culture and Heritage

Environment, Energy and Natural Resources

Governance and Public Policy

Information and Communication Technology

Oceans, Fisheries and Aquaculture

Social Justice

Well-being, Health and Biomedical Discovery

Deadlines

Academic Unit: Inquire within your unit

Memorial Deadline: Thursday 28th, October 2021

External Deadline: Tuesday 2nd, November 2021

Description

SIRI will be offering support with application development for this opportunity. Prospective applicants are encouraged to contact Jennifer Stevens (v5js@mun.ca) early during the development process to discuss the services available to them.

The objective of the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) Transformation stream is to support large-scale, Canadian-led interdisciplinary research projects that address a major challenge with the potential to realize real and lasting change. The challenge may be fundamental, leading to a scientific breakthrough, or applied, with a social, economic, environmental or health impact. Projects are expected to be world-leading, drawing on global research expertise, when relevant.

Transformation stream grants will support projects that:

1. 1. tackle a well-defined problem or challenge;
2. 2. propose a novel world-leading approach that is different from the current state-of-the-art approaches to the issue;
3. 3. are interdisciplinary, bringing different perspectives to the defined problem; and
4. 4. have the potential to be transformative, defined as the potential to create a significant and real change or impact—a noticeable leap or tangible breakthrough rather than an incremental advance.

In the NFRF program, the definition of “transformative” is linked to the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s proposed definition of convergence research (PDF, 726 KB), where “convergence research is increasingly seen as the way to solve pressing challenges.” It is aligned with the National Science Foundation’s definition of convergence research, focusing on research driven by a specific and compelling problem and deep integration across disciplines. It also has strong parallels to Horizon Europe in its reference to mission-oriented research and innovation with bold and concrete objectives to respond to societal challenges.

Application process

To apply for a Transformation grant, an NOI must be submitted by November 2, 2021. This is a mandatory step in the application process. The team must then complete and submit an LOI by January 11, 2022. Selected teams will be invited to complete and submit a full application by September 20, 2022.

Applicants must complete the NOI, LOI and full application using the Convergence Portal following the accompanying NOI, LOI and full application submission guides.

NOIs, LOIs and full applications must be submitted before the Convergence Portal closes at 8:00 p.m. (eastern) on the deadline date. Applications that are incomplete will be withdrawn from the competition. No extensions to the deadlines will be provided. Please note that all NOIs, LOIs and full applications are submitted to the research administrator (research grants office [RGO] or equivalent) of the NPI’s primary affiliation. Research administrators are free to set their own internal deadlines. The RGO must submit the applications through the Convergence Portal before the relevant deadline.

Additional information can be found here.

Funding Sources

Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat (TIPS)