Research Support Fund
About the Research Support Fund
The Government of Canada’s Research Support Fund (RSF) - formerly known as the Indirect Costs Program (ICP) - assists Canadian post-secondary institutions and their affiliated research hospitals and institutes with the expenses associated with managing the research funded by the three federal research granting agencies to make Canada one of the world’s top countries in research and development. The Research Support Fund is a tri-agency initiative of the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). It is administered by the Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat, housed within SSHRC.
Annually, the RSF provides Canadian post-secondary institutions with grant funds to help pay for a portion of the central and departmental administrative costs or indirect costs of research - related to federally funded research. Indirect costs are the operational costs that underpin an institution’s research activities, such as heating, lighting, meeting ethical and regulatory requirements, facilities, management of intellectual property and knowledge transfer activities, environmental assessment and safety compliance, and costs of managing and administering research. The services that give rise to indirect costs are institutionally based and are not specific to individual research grants.
Research Support Fund grants can be used to:
- Maintain modern labs and equipment;
- Secure research from threats;
- Provide access to up-to-date knowledge resources;
- Provide research management and administrative support;
- Meet regulatory and ethical standards; or
- Transfer knowledge from academia to the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.
The five expenditure areas include:
- Research facilities
- Research resources
- Management and administration of the institution's research enterprise
- Regulatory requirements and accreditation
- Intellectual property and knowledge mobilization
Expense Example
An example of expenses incurred by Lambton College in managing the research funded by the granting agencies and supported by the Research Support Fund program are: salaries for staff who provide administrative support for researchers and their projects.
Who is Eligible as an Affiliated Institution?
Lambton College Research & Innovation department provides allocations from the Research Support Fund to support all research areas and centres across the department, including Bio-Industrial Process Research Centre (BPRC), Lambton Manufacturing Innovation Centre (LMIC), Centre for Industrial Material Development (CIMD), Digital Transformation Lab (DTL), Lambton Energy Research Centre (LERC), Lambton Water Centre (LWC), Centre for Community Health and Social Impact (CCHSI), Fire Science, Electric Vehicle, Food & Beverage, Canadian Materials Circular Economy Syndicate (CMCES), and Canadian Bio-Cleantech Applied Research Network (CBARN). Funds from this program also provide benefits to other student campuses including:
- Lambton College in Ottawa
- Lambton College in Toronto
- Lambton College in Mississauga
Research Support Fund Expenditures
To date, Lambton College has received a total of $1,667 from the Research Support Fund. We anticipate $33,667 in the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
How are Research Support Funds Used?
The Lambton College Research & Innovation department has and will utilize the Research Support Funds to support research in the following categories in 2024-2025:
- Research Facilities - $0
- Research Resources - $0
- Management and administration of the institution's research enterprise - $1,667
- Regulatory requirements and accreditation - $0
- Intellectual property and knowledge mobilization - $0
