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Name changes at the Tri‑Agency

Posted by Suman Jha on November 30, 2015 in Announcements

Dalhousie Research Services, November 2015

The Indirect Costs Program renamed to the Research Support Fund

from Executive Director Newsletter, Chairs Secretariat, Winter 2015

The Indirect Costs Program has transitioned to the Research Support Fund. The transition is a result of a 2013 review which examined the Indirect Costs Program in consultation with the post-secondary sector to ensure it was meeting its objective of reinforcing excellence in post-secondary research. In these consultations, the Government indicated that it would introduce minor changes to the current reporting requirements for the Indirect Costs Program, to bring awareness to the value of the program within the research community, and to ensure accountability to stakeholders (researchers, industry partners, affiliates and Canadian taxpayers).

What are indirect costs?
Institutions whose researchers receive funding for research also incur costs to manage their research enterprise. These are often called “indirect costs of research.” These costs include, for example, the costs of maintaining modern labs and equipment; costs of providing researchers with access to up-to-date knowledge resources; costs of managing and administering research; costs of meeting regulatory and ethical requirements; and costs of transferring research results to knowledge users.

What does the Research Support Fund support at Dalhousie and affiliate hospitals?
Examples of the types of expenses incurred at Dalhousie University and affiliate hospitals in managing the research funded are:

  • research space facility fees, e.g., custodial, maintenance, security, utilities and insurance, and research equipment maintenance
  • electronic data access and resources including technical support, e.g., portion of library operating costs
  • Research Services’ staff assistance and oversight
  • regulatory compliance including human and animal ethics certifications and research integrity and scholarly misconduct services
  • research commercialization and intellectual property services and support through the Industry Liaison & Innovation office.

For more information on the Research Support Fund, visit Dalhousie Research Services’ website here (scroll down to Indirect costs of research program) or the Research Support Fund website here.

Chairs Secretariat renamed to Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat (TIPS)

from Canada Research Chairs’ website (2015-09-24)

The Chairs Secretariat is changing its name to the Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat (TIPS) / Secrétariat des programmes interorganismes à l’intention des établissements (SPIIE), to better reflect its mandate.

The organization, housed within the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), is responsible for the administration of the:

  • Canada Research Chairs (CRC) Program
  • Research Support Fund (RSF)
  • Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) Program, and
  • Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF).

Changes to reflect the new name will be made to administrative documents over the coming weeks.