Research Support Fund

The Research Support Fund (RSF) is an annual grant that helps defray some of the administrative costs associated with federally-funded research.

This fund assists Canadian post-secondary institutions with the costs associated with managing their research enterprise, helping them to maintain a world-class research environment.

The RSF is a joint initiative of these organizations

To learn more about the Research Support Fund

Indirect costs of research

Research funding provided by granting agencies is generally limited to direct project costs (research equipment, salaries of research assistants, etc.). Institutions whose researchers receive research funding also incur costs in managing their research enterprise. These are often referred to as the indirect costs of research.

More details (in French)

Distribution of the Research Support Fund

The allocation from the Fonds de soutien à la recherche de l'Université de Montréal is calculated on the basis of funding granted over the previous three years by the three Councils (CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC).

(Please note that the graphics in this section are in French)

Financial year 2024-2025

The government uses data for fiscal years 2019-2020, 2020-2021 and 2021-2022, 2022-23, 2023-24, and the sum of funding used to calculate indirect research costs averages $103M annually for UdeM. The amount paid by the RSF represents a contribution of nearly 16% of this funding, and supports other internal and external sources of funding for the general research activities of the Université de Montréal, the largest French-language research university in North America.

For fiscal 2024-2025, UdeM and its affiliated institutions will share a grant of $16,181,615.00 (excluding additional project grants):

These funds are used for 5 main categories of expenditure:

Facilities: renovation, maintenance and operation of research facilities (heating, air conditioning, etc.),
Resources: acquisition of journals, books and periodicals, access to library collections for research staff, both on campus and in affiliated centers, and enhancement of computer resources for research (database and grant management systems).
Management and administration: administrative support for obtaining research funds and administering grants, including resources from finance, HR, purchasing and the research office).
Regulatory requirements and accreditation standards: animal ethics and deontology committees, technical support for animal care and health and safety in laboratories.
Intellectual property and knowledge mobilization: support for the valorization of research results and knowledge transfer activities.

Performance targets for 2024-2025

In line with the new Research, Discovery, Creation and Innovation Action Plan 2022-2027, Université de Montréal has revised its RSF performance objectives to align them with the action priorities of the Vice-Rector for Research:

Supporting collaboration
Promoting responsibility in research
Maximizing the impact

Previous and planned uses in 2024-2025

The Government of Canada's Research Support Fund(RSF) is designed to help post-secondary educational institutions, as well as their affiliated hospitals and research institutes, cover the expenses incurred in managing research funded by the three federal granting agencies:

Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR);
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC);
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Under the affiliation agreements, which are still in effect, the federal government's share of indirect costs is calculated on an annual basis. A significant part of UdeM's research takes place in its affiliated hospitals, which is why they receive around $7 million annually from the Research Support Fund.

Expenditures in recent years are shown in the following table:

Consult previous uses : 2022-23

2023-2024 Performance targets

2022-2023 Results and performance targets

2021-2022 and earlier performance targets

Cliquez sur le tableau pour l’agrandir.

Partner institutions

Université de Montréal relies on a broad network of affiliated schools, university hospitals, university-affiliated centers and university institutes to cover the entire spectrum of current knowledge and encourage research, whether fundamental, clinical, applied, evaluative or interdisciplinary.

Consult the complete list of affiliated establishments (in French)

Incremental Project Grants

Since 2018-2019, the Canadian government also funds the Incremental Project Grants (IPG) program and allows UdeM and its affiliated institutions to receive money for specific activities. These funds must be invested in priority areas targeted by the government:

innovation and commercialization activities,
facility refurbishment, including deferred maintenance,
information resources, including digital resources, open access and databases,
equity, diversity and faculty renewal (in the context of increasing equity, diversity and inclusion).

(Please note that the graphics in this section are in French)