New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF)
The New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) supports world-leading, radically interdisciplinary, international, high-risk / high-reward, transformative and rapid-response Canadian-led research. Competitions are a multi-stage, highly competitive process, with success rates of approximately 17% or less. Review is by a multidisciplinary panel which considers double-blind expert assessments by external reviewers and merit criteria which emphasize interdisciplinarity, novelty, EDI and intersectionality, risk vs reward, and feasibility.
There are four funding streams, with varying funding envelops, and indirect costs added to the budget:
Researchers considering any NFRF competition are strongly advised to confer with the Senior Research Partner leading on the competition well in advance of the initial notice of intent deadline.
The Research Partner Network, in partnership with other streams in the VPRI portfolio coordinates and provides advice, resources and supports aimed at maximizing researcher success, and streamlining the application process. Supports may include concept challenges, peer review, team composition advising, and more.
Research Administration Services conduct required eligibility and institutional reviews prior to the NOI and final stages. Their deadlines are minimally five full working days prior to the sponsor deadline. Your college or faculty may have earlier deadlines.
New Frontiers in Research Fund - Exploration
Program Summary
The objective of the Exploration stream is to support high risk, high reward and interdisciplinary research. It seeks to inspire projects that bring disciplines together beyond traditional disciplinary or common interdisciplinary approaches by research teams with the capacity to explore something new that might fail, but has the potential for significant impact.
Deadlines for NFRF 2023 Exploration Competition will be updated on this page when available. For reference, see the 2022 Exploration Competition Information.
Award Amount and Duration
- Up to $100,000 for direct costs per year plus 25% in indirect costs funding, for up to 2 years.
- 25% must be added to the budget in addition to the direct costs.
How to Apply
Application Stages: Two mandatory stages to apply using the Convergence Portal:
- Notice of Intent (NOI)
- RAS internal deadline: TBA for 2023
- Submission on the Convergence Portal: TBA for 2023
- Full application
- RAS deadline: TBA for 2023
- Submission on the Convergence Portal: TBA for 2023
RAS internal deadline reflects time/date for the proposal to be received by RAS through the Researcher Home Page online approvals. Ensure you submit early enough to obtain department and faculty approval prior to this deadline.
Please note that RAS must forward the submitted NOIs and full applications through the NFRF Convergence Portal before 4 pm on the day of the sponsor deadline.
At the NOI and full application stages as part of the institutional review, RAS must confirm the following:
- That all participants meet the NFRF eligibility criteria and the definition of ECR (if applicable). Written approval from all other institutions with participating Co-PIs and/or Co-Aps must be obtained using the external institution confirmation form, and
- The proposed research project meets the eligibility criteria
Thus, if you have any participating Co-PIs or Co-Aps from other institutions, please send them the external institution confirmation form for completion and signoff by their Research Services Office. Once completed and signed, the form should be emailed back to you and uploaded to the proposal request in your researcher home page (see below).
Internal approval requirements for U of A NPIs and U of A Co-PIs/Co-Aps participating in externally led applications
NOI stage
The U of A must provide confirmation to the lead institution of approval and eligibility to participate in addition to confirming Co-PI or Co-App status. You must create a new proposal request via your Researcher Home Page (RHP). If there are more than one U of A Co-PI or Co-App on a specific application, only one individual needs to create and identify the other participants as co-applicants on the one form. Attach a copy of the NOI and the required confirmation(s) from the lead institution to be signed by RAS as a single PDF document. Submit the proposal request for online approvals to meet the internal deadlines as listed.
Full application stage
- As required by NFRF, if any NEW Co-PIs or Co-Aps from other institutions have been added since the NOI stage, the external institution confirmation form will need to be sent to those individuals’ institutional Research Services Office to obtain written confirmation of participation of those new team members.
- Create a new proposal request via the Researcher Home Page (RHP) and attach a copy of the full application and any new external institution confirmation form obtained in 1) above as a single PDF document.
- Submit the proposal request for online approvals to meet the internal deadlines as listed.
Summary of Grant Development Support for NFRF Applicants
Documentation
- 10 tips: Submitting your NOI to NFRF-E
- Additional information on completing EDI section & team biographical information
- Best Practices in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in Research
- Request a copy of a successful Explorations application from a previous competition
Workshops
Mechanical Engineering Department 2021 Lunch and Learn NFRF Exploration (webinar recording)
The session covered the submission structure and evaluation criteria, with a round table Q&A with past NFRF Exploration winners Drs. Ge Li, Dan Romanyk, Morris Flynn, and Hossein Rouhani.
New Frontiers in Research Fund Exploration Roundtable with Evaluators - 2021 (audio recording)
Eight of the multidisciplinary review panel members who participated in the NFRF Exploration application panel provided insights and tips. A better understanding of how reviewers assess applications and what makes an application successful might help boost the competitiveness of your application.
New Frontiers in Research Fund Exploration (NFRF-E) 2023 Info Session with Multidisciplinary Review Panel Members
Thursday, June 15th, 2023 l Noon – 1:00 PM l Online l Registration here
Are you thinking about applying or re-applying to the 2023 NFRF-E competition? Meet with University of Alberta NFRF-E multidisciplinary review panel members Dr. David Bressler, Dr. David Evans, and Dr. Andrea MacLeod to get their valuable insights and tips. A better understanding of how reviewers evaluate NRFR-E applications and what makes an application successful might help boost the competitiveness of your application. With our university success rate at 47% in 2022, which is higher than the national average, it is worth considering submitting to this competition. Details on the 2023 competition have not yet been posted, but general information is available here.
New Frontiers in Research Fund Exploration (NFRF-E) Concept Challenge Sessions
NFRFE Concept Challenge (Pitch) Sessions with NFRFE Panel Reviewers and Award Recipients. Concept Challenge Sessions are available between July 10 - July 28, 2023. Book a Session by June 23, 2023.
NFRF Program - 2022 Exploration NOI Webinar
New Frontiers Research Fund (NFRF) - Transformation
Overview
The Transformation Stream is designed to support large-scale, Canadian-led interdisciplinary research projects that address a major challenge with the potential to realize real and lasting change (high reward). 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 where relevant.
The Transformation stream grants will support projects that:
- tackle a well-defined problem or challenge;
- propose a novel world-leading approach that is different from the current state-of-the-art approaches to the issue;
- are interdisciplinary, bringing different perspectives to the defined problem; and
- 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 versus an incremental advance.
Details on the next NFRF Transformation Competition (2024) are anticipated soon. For reference, see:
Please check with your Department & Faculty for any internal deadlines. At each stage, new external co-applicants must be approved by their institution using the external institution confirmation form and the signed form must be included in the proposal request.
If you have any questions, please contact your Research Partner.
Award Amount and Duration
- Up to 4M per year inclusive of 25% indirect research costs, for up to 6 years.
- Indirect Costs: 25%
How to Apply
Application Guidelines: Competition Guidelines
Application Stages: Three mandatory stages to apply to NFRF using the Convergence Portal:
Please note that all NOIs, LOIs and full applications are submitted to the research administrator of the NPI's primary affiliation. The RAS must submit the NOIs, LOIs and applications through the Convergence Portal before the relevant deadlines.
- NOI Stage Application: U of A nominated principal investigators must create a new application request via the Researcher Home Page (RHP) system. Written approval from all other institutions with participating Co-PIs and/or Co-Aps must be obtained using the external institution confirmation form (PDF). The signed forms must be attached to the RHP proposal as a single PDF attachment. See information session presentation.
- LOI Stage Application: U of A nominated principal investigators, as well as U of A co-principal investigators or co-applicants on applications with nominated principal investigators at other institutions, must create a new application request via the Researcher Home Page (RHP). Any new Co-PIs and/or Co-Aps added at the LOI stage must be obtain written approval from the external institutions using the external institution confirmation form (PDF). The signed forms must be attached to the RHP proposal as a single PDF attachment.
- Application Stage (by invitation): U of A nominated principal investigators who are invited to submit a full Application, as well as U of A co-principal investigators or co-applicants on applications with nominated principal investigators at other institutions, must create a brand new application request via the Researcher Home Page (RHP) and obtain online approval prior to submitting their application for review and approval by RAS and submission to NFRF.
See below for application development support available and additional details about deadlines.
As part of the institutional review, RAS will confirm the following:
- That all U of A team members are eligible to participate in accordance with U of A policies.
- That it has obtained written approval from all other institutions involved in the application (required by NFRF at all stages).
- The status of Early Career Researchers (ECR).
- Whether or not nominated principal investigator (NPI) and co-principal investigators (CPI) and/or co-applicants (CAP) are participating in more than one Transformation grant. NFRF recommends that individuals limit their participation as NPI, CPI, or CAP to a single application.
Participant Role Definitions
- Nominated Principal Investigator (NPI)
- Independent Researcher
- Co-principal investigators (CPI)
- Co-applicant (CAP)
- Collaborator (can be on multiple applications)
Students, postdoctoral fellows, research associates, etc. are not eligible to apply as nominated principal investigators, co-principal investigator or co-applicant.
Eligibility
Due to the ambitious and interdisciplinary nature of the projects, proposals must be submitted by teams. Participants who do not meet the eligibility criteria will be removed from the application. In the event that the NPI is considered ineligible, the application will be removed from the competition. If removal of ineligible participants from the application results in research teams with fewer than five members, the application will also be removed from the competition.
- Teams must include a nominated principal investigator (NPI) and may include co-principal investigators, co-applicants and/or collaborators. Individuals who are not academic researchers are eligible for all roles except NPI. At the notice of intent to apply (NOI) stage, a minimum of five confirmed members (NPI, co-principal investigators and co-applicants but not collaborators) is required. Additional members can be added at each stage of the competition process and throughout the term of the grant.
- All core members of the team are expected to be confirmed when the letter of intent to apply (LOI) is submitted.
- The NPI should be the most appropriate Canadian researcher to lead an interdisciplinary project of this scale which requires integration and coordination beyond usual disciplinary perspectives.
- The focus should be on assembling a coherent team of experts to execute the project rather than on establishing a network.
- National, international and cross-sector (private, public or other) collaborations are encouraged, as needed, to ensure that the most appropriate individuals and/or organizations are involved and that team composition reflects best practices in equity, diversity and inclusion.
- Teams must include confirmed members who are Early Career Researchers (ECRs).
- Award holders may serve as an NPI or co-principal investigator on only one Transformation grant. An individual's status as an applicant or grantee of other NFRF competitions (Exploration or International) does not affect their eligibility for the Transformation stream.
Institutional Financial Support
There is no requirement for institutional financial support but a description of support (institution or partner) may be included in the budget justification at the full application stage.
Grant Development Support
Grant development supports University of Alberta NFRF Transformation applicants at any stage of the competition (NOI, LOI or Full applications). This is provided by the Research Relationships team at RAS. Connect with the Research Relationships team by email (cihrgrants@ualberta.ca) for more information.
Contact the Research Partner Network for:
- Concept Discussion: to assess strategic alignment of proposed research with expectations of the NFRF Transformation competition and to provide feedback on strategic cross-council research project content development. Express interest to participate in Concept Discussion by September 20, 202X.
- Peer review, Editorial review, and Graphic design services. For more information email cihrgrants@ualberta.ca. Please see tables below for summary of support for applicants.
Summary of Grant Development Support for Applicants
NOI Stage
NFRF NOI Webinar
NFRF EDI Webinar (recording)
NFRF Convergence Portal walkthrough
LOI Stage
LOI Webinar
Best practices in equity, diversity, and inclusion in research (NFRF guide)
Contact
For questions and more information regarding the New Frontiers Research Fund, contact the Research Partner Network.