Priority themes

The following themes constitute priorities under the program:

• Sustainable development, environment and climate change
• Advanced manufacturing
• Public health and aging
• Cultural industries

The research projects should be multi- or inter-disciplinary, covering at least two FRQ research sectors (intersectoral research) for the Quebec team, and demonstrate the added value of the collaboration and complementarity of the research teams.

• Natural sciences, mathematical sciences and engineering (FRQNT Web site)
• Health sciences (FRQS Web site)
• Humanities and social sciences, arts and literature (FRQSC Web site)

Objectives

The program's main objective is to create new collaborations and foster the advancement of knowledge and techniques in priority areas.

The projects must:

• support collaborations between researchers with diverse expertise in different research environments and disciplines through a range of approaches and cutting-edge technologies
• be structured in a way that provides a unique added value that the funded researchers could not generate on their own

Conditions

Structure of the research team

• A principal investigator in Mexico and a principal investigator in Québec shall both represent the project, ensuring its management and internal leadership according to the administrative conditions and requirements set out by the funding agencies that support them.
• At least one co-investigator from Québec shall be included on the team. Co-investigators from Mexico may also join the team (their participation is optional).
• Applicant teams must be made up of researchers in eligible institutions according to the administrative conditions and requirements set out by the funding agencies that support them (see below for further details).

Québec teams only: The participation of early-career researchers is strongly encouraged.

In Québec

All team members shall demonstrate in a detailed manner their contribution (or intended contribution) to the proposed research project and indicate the amount of time they will dedicate to the initiative.

The principal investigator shall demonstrate that a sufficient amount of research time will be dedicated to the project to ensure its success.

The Québec research team should be intersectoral and cover at least two of the FRQ's three core focuses.

This call for proposals is open to the following individuals:

For the FRQNT

• University researchers (CHU and CHUN) and institutional researchers (CE)

For the FRQS

• Independent researchers and independent clinical researchers (see appendix 1c of the Common General Rules) in a university or institution in the health and social services network

For the FRQSC

• University researchers (CHU and CHUN), researcher/creators (CRU and CRUN) and institutional researchers (CE)

Postgraduate applicants are not eligible to apply as collaborators.

In addition, the principal investigator and co-investigator(s) must:

• be affiliated with a Québec university
• be a citizen or permanent resident of Canada (see section 2.1 of the Common General Rules)

Collaborators may come from outside of Québec. However, no funds shall be transferred out of the province.

In Mexico

This call for proposals is open to public and private institutions, research centres, higher education institutions, associations and companies that have valid entry in the National Register of Scientific and Technological Institutions and Enterprises (RENIECY). Please refer to the CONACYT website for all details:  www.conacyt.gob.mx.

Ethics (Québec)

All Québec researchers shall comply with the rules for the responsible conduct of research and ethical standards (see sections 5.3 and 5.4 of the Common General Rules).

Basic research ethics training (Québec, FRQS only)

FRQS investigators who conduct research on human subjects as part of the project or program shall follow basic research ethics training.

Research on human subjects includes initiatives involving:

• living human subjects
• human cadavers and remains
• human tissue, biological fluids, gametes, embryos and foetuses, cells and genetic material
• personal information from medical files (information that makes it possible to identify a person)

To complete the training, researchers must follow levels 1 and 3 of the online tutorial developed by the ministère de la Santé et des Services Sociaux (in French: Programme de formation en éthique de la recherche).

Researchers must complete the training before the grant payments begin

Concurrent applications

Researchers may only submit one project to this call for proposals as a principal investigator but may contribute to several projects as a co-investigator.

Transmission of documents

The FRQNT shall administer the competition on behalf of Québec's funding agencies. All the documents listed below must therefore be sent via e-mail to Véronique Baril, program and international partnerships manager at the FRQNT (quebec.mx@frq.gouv.qc.ca). The documents must follow in a single (1) PDF attachment. The date and time at which the e-mail was delivered will serve as proof of the date and time at which the documents were submitted.

Documents that are not received by the deadline or which do not comply with the competition rules or forms may impact the eligibility of the application.  The principal investigator of Mexico should consult the CONACYT website for this step.

Principal investigator in Québec

NOTE: The registration letter must be submitted to the FRQNT by the principal investigator from Québec

• Letter of intent form
• For the FRQNT, FRQS and FRQSC: Canadian Common CV, funding of the principal investigator in Québec (updated since June 2014)
• For the FRQNT and FRQSC: detailed contributions (attachments to the Canadian Common CV), see Directives pour le fichier joint au CV – FRQNT et FRQSC (toolbox)
• For the FRQS: detailed contributions updated since June 2014 (attachments to the FRQS electronic portfolio on the Canadian Common CV page), see Directives pour le fichier joint au CV - FRQS (toolbox)

Principal investigator in Mexico

• Resume (free format) including key publications in the past three years.

Transmission of documents

The required documents must be submitted in the FRQNT website. Researchers who submitted a letter of intent and whose eligibility was confirmed will receive an e-mail containing a link to submit a complete application. The documents must follow in a single (1) PDF attachment. The date and time at which the e-mail was delivered will serve as proof of the date and time at which the documents were submitted.

Documents that are not received by the deadline or which do not comply with the competition rules or forms may impact the eligibility of the application. 

Principal investigator in Québec

NOTE: The complete application must be submitted to the FRQNT by the principal investigator from Québec

• Application form, including a description of the project
• For the FRQNT, FRQS and FRQSC: Canadian Common CV, funding of the principal investigator in Québec (updated since June 2014)
• For the FRQNT and FRQSC: detailed contributions (attachments to the Canadian Common CV), see Directives pour le fichier joint au CV – FRQNT et FRQSC (toolbox)
• For the FRQS: detailed contributions updated since June 2014 (attachments to the FRQS electronic portfolio on the Canadian Common CV page), see Directives pour le fichier joint au CV - FRQS (toolbox)
• Letter of support from the administration of the institution or university department at which the research will be conducted
• Letters of support from collaborators and partners (if applicable)
• Cooperation agreement letter (between the principal investigators in Québec and Mexico)
• For principal clinical investigators: letter from the administration of the clinical department or dean of the faculty indicating the number of hours for which the investigator will be released of his/her clinical obligations to conduct the research project
• Copy of the Certificat de sélection du Québec, permanent resident card or work visa (if applicable)

Principal investigator in Mexico

• Please refer to the CONACYT website for all details:  www.conacyt.gob.mx

Co-investigator in Québec

• For the FRQNT, FRQS and FRQSC: Canadian Common CV, funding of the principal investigator in Québec (updated since June 2014)
• For the FRQNT and FRQSC: detailed contributions (attachments to the Canadian Common CV), see Directives pour le fichier joint au CV – FRQNT et FRQSC (toolbox)
• For the FRQS: detailed contributions updated since June 2014 (attachments to the FRQS electronic portfolio on the Canadian Common CV page), see Directives pour le fichier joint au CV - FRQS (toolbox)
• Letter of support from the administration of the institution or university department where the research will be conducted
• Letters of support from collaborators and partners (if applicable)
• Cooperation agreement letter (between the principal investigators in Québec and Mexico)
• For principal clinical investigators: letter from the administration of the clinical department or dean of the faculty indicating the number of hours for which the investigator will be released of his/her clinical obligations to conduct the research project
• Copy of the Certificat de sélection du Québec, permanent resident card or work visa (if applicable)

Co-investigator in Mexico

• Please refer to the CONACYT website for all details:  www.conacyt.gob.mx

Choice of location

In Québec

A Québec university, a research group or centre recognized by the FRQS or an establishment designated by the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (MSSS).

In Mexico

Any Mexican entity.

Change of location (Québec)

See section 6 of the Canadian Common CV for information on the conditions pertaining to a change in research location and all other changes during the funding period.

Funding pediod

• Up to two (2) years, non-renewable
• Up to four (4) projects shall receive funding

Start date

• September 2017

Amount

In total, the FRQ shall contribute CAD $800 000 to the competition (up to CAD $100 000 per project, per year for two (2) years) for Québec researchers.

The CONACYT shall contribute $10,000,000 MXN to the competition (up to $2,500,000 MXN, per project of two years lasting) for Mexican entities.

Sources of funding

Researchers in Québec shall receive funding from the FRQNT, FRQS and/or FRQSC according to the research topic.

Entities in Mexico shall receive funding from the CONACYT.

Indirect research costs

Researchers from Québec

The grants awarded under this program may include an additional amount to cover the indirect research costs incurred by institutions. However, the FRQ are not responsible for the amounts paid out by the CONACYT. More information on the reimbursement of indirect research costs will be available when the grants are awarded.

Researchers from Mexico

Please refer to the CONACYT website for all details:  www.conacyt.gob.mx. 

Management and funding rules

The funding shall be managed according to the general rules set out by each funding agency.

Eligible expenses (e.g. salaries, research material, equipment and other project expenses) are subject to the results and practices set out by the funding agency.

Investigators in Québec

In addition to the eligible and ineligible expenses listed in section 8 of the Common General Rules of the FRQ, the following expenses are eligible:

• salaries for students (master's and PhD) and postdoctoral fellows
• salaries for research assistants
• research material and expenses incurred to conduct the research project (these expenses must be justified in the application)
• expenses incurred to acquire or rent equipment, including maintenance contracts for joint services and shared installations (these expenses must be justified in the application)
• travel and accommodation expenses for researchers in Québec and Mexico (reasonable amounts)
• participation in conferences and seminars
• costs incurred to apply knowledge and transfer results to users (specifically other investigators, the public, practitioners, decision makers and industry representatives), according to project needs
• joint publication costs
• translation costs

Ineligible

• salaries of principal investigators, co-investigators and collaborators
• indirect costs related to the renovation, rental or maintenance of the research premises and the indirect costs paid by the host institution

No funds shall be transferred outside Québec.

Investigators in Mexico

Please refer to the CONACYT website for all details:  www.conacyt.gob.mx.  

Letter of intent

The letter of intent aims to:

• establish applicant eligibility, especially for principal investigators, based on the criteria set out by each funding agency
• determine the relevance of the application based on the program objectives 
• help assemble a peer assessment committee of qualified members depending on the topics.

Only the applicants whose letter of intent is eligible shall receive an e-mail invitation from the FRQNT to submit a complete application.

Complete application

The assessment process includes two steps based on the rules for the assembly of peer assessment committees:

• Two independent peer committees (one for Québec, one for Mexico) shall assess the complete applications.
• Then, a joint peer committee made up of international experts from clinical and scientific settings selected by the FRQ and CONACYT shall assess the applications that earned an above-average score for scientific excellence from at least one of the two agencies following the independent peer assessment process.

Assessment criteria

Research project

• Consistency with priority themes
• Clarity of objectives and scientific excellence
• Originality and innovation

Research team

• Achievements and international scientific level
• Added value of the collaboration, complementarity of expertise between investigators in Québec and in Mexico, and for the Québec team, the multidisciplinarity (or intersectoral) expertise of the Québec researchers
• Level of involvement of early-stage investigators (Québec only)

Feasibility

• Scientific and technical feasibility of the project, choice of methods
• Realism, significance and rigour in the definition of the project structure and project outcomes and benchmarks
• Realism of the project schedule and relevance of follow-up indicators
• Efficient use of existing resources

Impacts

• Significance (quantitative, when applicable) of the research topic and potential impact of the approach to resolve the issue. The project proposal must clearly address these issues and provide as much proof and as many solutions as possible.
• Impact on the elaboration of new concepts and models and development of new instruments, approaches and methods

Budget

• Budget justification based on the proposed project

Submission of reports

By accepting the grant, recipients agree to submit:

• annual financial reports and a final financial report by the deadlines set by the FRQ and CONACYT
• a joint scientific report in the three (3) months following the end of the grant period to the FRQ and CONACYT

Dissemination and use of the research results by partners (Québec only)

Grant recipients shall authorize the funding agencies to use the final research report and results made public by the investigators (in a scientific or online publication or at a conference, seminar or symposium) for reproduction, translation, implementation and public communication purposes by any means, as well as for any other type of use. This use shall be in accordance with copyright laws and only for non-commercial purposes.

Knowledge mobilization (Québec only)

The FRQ encourage grant recipients to lead and take part in knowledge mobilization initiatives (transfer, sharing, development and dissemination) in practice settings and for the public whenever relevant. See the Mobilisation des connaissances section on the Web site of the FRQ (toolbox) for more information.

In Québec

In submitting an application, the applicant shall:

• comply with the Common General Rules, the Politique de libre accès aux résultats de recherche publiés  (FRQS investigators) and the conditions and requirements set out in the e-form and program rules
• provide additional documents related to the use of the grant when required by the FRQ
• comply with the ethics and integrity standards set out by the FRQ in the Policy on the Responsible Conduct of Research, in the document Politique d'éthique et d'intégrité scientifique (FRQNT), the document Standards en éthique de la recherche et d'intégrité scientifique (FRQS)
• authorize the FRQ to save and use the personal and scientific information included in the application, in keeping with the conditions set out in the Accès aux documents et protection des renseignements personnels and on the condition that the individuals who access the information shall keep it confidential

In Mexico

Please refer to the CONACYT website for all details:  www.conacyt.gob.mx.

The host institution shall:                                

• provide functional laboratories and research premises and the basic equipment required to carry out the project
• provide an environment that meets the ethics and integrity standards set out in the Policy on the Responsible Conduct of Research of the FRQ and in the FRQNT, FRQS and FRQSC documents

The funding agencies recognize that the grant recipient and host institution hold the intellectual property rights according to the institution's own rules.

Mexico

• Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT)

Québec

• Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies (FRQNT)
• Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS)
• Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et Culture (FRQSC)