External funding

Royal Roads University faculty can apply for external research funding.

The following are some of the research grants available on a regular basis:

  • Canadian Institutes of Health Research Grants
  • Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Grants
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Grants
  • Vancouver Foundation Grants
  • Canada Research Continuity Emergency Fund

Email Research Services, if you're interested in funding from another organization.

Applying for external research funding

Get tips on applying for external research funding:

Canadian Institutes of Health Research grants

Project Grant program — Project grants are designed to support researchers at any career stage to build and conduct health-related research and knowledge translation projects across CIHR's mandate.

Deadlines: Fall and Spring
Length: Variable
Funding available: Subject to availability of funds

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council grants

Discovery Grants program — The Discovery Grants program assists in promoting and maintaining a diversified base of high-quality research capability in the natural sciences and engineering in Canadian universities, fostering research excellence, and providing a stimulating environment for research training.

Deadline: August 1 (notification of intent to apply); November 1 (application)
Length: Up to 5 years
Funding available: Subject to availability of funds

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grants

Connection Grants — These grants support events and outreach activities to exchange knowledge and engage on research issues. Events and outreach activities may serve as a first step toward more comprehensive and longer-term projects. Connection Grants are expected to respond to the objectives of the Connection program.

Deadlines: November 1, February 1, May 1, August 1
Length: 1 year
Funding available: $7,000 to $25,000 for events; $7,000 to $50,000 for outreach activities; higher if well justified

Insight Grants — These grants offer stable support for longer-term research initiatives. Funding is available to emerging and established scholars. Insight Grants are expected to respond to the objectives of the Insight program.

Deadline: October 1
Length: 2 to 5 years
Funding available: $7,000 to $100,000 per year (Stream A: $7,000 to $100,000; Stream B: $100,001 to $400,000)

Insight Development Grants — These grants support research in its initial stages. Funding is for short-term research development projects of up to two years. Fifty per cent of funds are reserved for emerging scholars. Insight Development Grants are expected to respond to the objectives of the Insight program.

Deadline: February 2
Length: 1 to 2 years
Funding available: $7,000 to $75,000

Partnership Development Grants — The grants provide funding to teams working in formal partnership between post-secondary institutions and/or organizations of various types.

Deadline: November 15
Length: 1 to 3 years
Funding available: $75,000 to $200,000

Partnership Engage Grants — These grants provide short-term and timely support for partnered research activities that will inform decision-making (e.g. an organization-specific need, challenge and/or opportunity) at a single partner organization from the public, private or not-for-profit sector, Canadian or international.

Deadline: September 15, December 15, March 15, June 15
Length: 1 year
Funding available: $7,000 to $25,000

Partnership Grants — These grants are intended for large teams working in formal collaboration between postsecondary institutions and/or organizations of various types.

Deadline: February 15 (Stage 1); October 29 (Stage 2)
Length: 4-7 years
Funding available: Stage 1: up to $20,000; Stage 2 (by invitation only): up to $2.5 million

Joint Initiatives — Funding available through initiatives through which SSHRC collaborates with national or international agencies, government departments and organizations across the public, private and not-for-profit sectors to help advance strategic objectives.

Use the SSHRC funding search tool to find current joint initiatives.

Deadline: Variable
Length: Variable
Funding available: Variable

Knowledge Synthesis Grants — Knowledge syntheses are comprehensive analyses of literature and other forms of knowledge on a particular question or issue. Knowledge Synthesis Grants are not intended to support original research.

Use the SSHRC funding search tool to find current Knowledge Synthesis Grants (Enter "Knowledge Synthesis" in the search filter.)

Deadline: Variable
Length: 1 year
Funding available: Variable

Vancouver Foundation grants

Systems Change Grants — Systems Change Grants support projects that take action to address the root causes of pressing social, environmental or cultural issues by influencing the behaviours of populations, organizations and institutions. Systems Change Grants fund charitable projects in and across any sector. There are three types of Systems Change Grants, depending on the stage of the project: Develop, Test and Scale.

  • Develop Grants (Up to $20,000, for up to 1 year)
  • Test Grants (Up to $100,000 per year, for up to 3 years)
  • Scale Grants (Up to $100,000 per year, for up to 3 years)

Participatory Action Research Grants — These grants support research that is co-led by community members and researchers to learn more about the root causes of pressing issues impacting the health of communities. There are two types of Participatory Action Research Grants, depending on the stage of the project: Convene and Investigate.

  • Convene Grants (Up to $20,000, for up to 1 year) — These grants help teams to articulate a research question and to develop a participatory research project plan that can then be submitted to funding organizations in the future.
  • Investigate Grants (Up to $100,000 per year, for up to 3 years) — These are multi-year grants to help teams answer a research question, analyze their findings, and share knowledge in a way that supports the community to take action in the future. Investigate grants are a two-stage application.

Canada Research Continuity Emergency Fund

Canada Research Continuity Emergency Fund is a Tri-Agency program that is part of the Government of Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan. Learn about RRU's participation in the program.

  • Stage 3: Research maintenance/ramp-up costs — Stage 3 of this program is to support direct costs of research that have been incurred to maintain essential research-related commitments during the COVID-19 pandemic or ramp-up to full research activities as physical distancing measures are eased and research activities can resume. Royal Roads undertook an open call for applications from core faculty members, who hold research funds at the university. The application deadline was December 3, 2020.
    • Download the application form.
  • Stage 4: Extension period for wage support for research-related personnel — Details to come.

Contact the Office of Research Services

Email