Amount: up to 66.7% with a maximum of $1 million per year.

Alliance grants encourage university researchers to collaborate with partner organizations, which can be from the private, public or not-for-profit sectors. These grants support research projects led by strong, complementary, collaborative teams that will generate new knowledge and accelerate the application of research results to create benefits for Canada.

Eligible projects

Alliance Advantage grants (formerly Alliance cost-sharing option 1) are for partner-driven projects. They fund projects focused on the partners’ goals, with at least one partner sharing in the costs of research. Research supported by Alliance Advantage grants will:

  • generate new knowledge and/or technology to address complex challenges
  • create economic, environmental and/or other societal benefits
  • contribute to Canada’s long-term competitiveness
  • support public policy
  • train new researchers in areas that are important to Canada and partner organizations
  • draw on diverse perspectives and skill sets to accelerate the translation and application of research results

Alliance grants support projects of varying scale and complexity, from short-term smaller projects involving one researcher to long-term projects involving researchers across several universities, and from one-on-one collaborations with one partner organization directly involved in the research to projects involving many partner organizations across multiple sectors.

Eligible costs

Applicants can include only NSERC-eligible direct costs of research in your project budget, such as:

  • Salary support for research trainees (undergraduates, graduates and postdoctoral fellows) to perform research and related training
  • Salary support for technicians and research professional personnel
  • Materials and supplies
  • Activities that support collaborations and knowledge mobilization related to the project
  • Activities to develop and grow the research collaborations with the partner organizations

Eligibility requirements

  • a Canadian university researcher, who is eligible to receive NSERC funds, can apply on their own or as a team with co-applicants who are also eligible academic researchers.
  • must have at least one partner organization (in the private, public or not-for-profit sector) that can be recognized for cost sharing.

Eligible applicants:

  1. must hold or have a firm offer of an academic appointment at an eligible post-secondary institution.
  2. their position at the eligible post-secondary institution must:
    1. For university faculty:
      1. require them to engage in natural sciences and engineering research that is not under the direction of another individual, and
      2. permit them to supervise or co-supervise the research of postdoctoral fellows or students registered in an undergraduate or graduate degree program
    2. For college faculty:
      1. permit them to engage in research-related activities that are not under the direction of another individual
  3. their faculty appointment must not be conditional on obtaining NSERC grants or other non-NSERC sources of support, including salary support.
  4. their salary must not be paid by NSERC, SSHRC, or CIHR grant funds. Exceptions include: scientific directors of Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) and those under the agencies’ salary support programs.

Funding

The applicants can reimburse up to 66.7% of the research costs from $20,000 to $1 million per year. 

Timeline

The intake is rolling on ongoing basis.