NOTICE – The Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ) was established on June 1, 2024, in accordance with the Act to amend the Act respecting the Ministère de l’Économie et de l’Innovation with respect to research. The Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies (FRQNT), the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé (FRQS) and the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC) have since been regrouped into the new FRQ, which continues their existence. The rights and obligations of the FRQNT, FRQS and FRQSC have become those of the FRQ; activities continue as usual.

Please note that if you come across an old name or logo of one of the Fonds de recherche du Québec in the program rules or on the website, it should now read as follows:

  • The FRQNT becomes the Nature et technologies sector;
  • The FRQS becomes the Santé sector;
  • The FRQSC becomes the Société et culture sector.

Thank you for your understanding.

Competition year : 
2024-2025

Deadline (pre-request) : 
August 10th, 2023 at 16:00 (EST)

Deadline (application) : 
September 21st, 2023 at 16:00 (EST)

Announcement of results : 
End of April 2024

Amount : 
15000$/ year (including equipment and excluding indirect costs of research)

Duration : 
Maximum 3 years (not renewable)

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This program refers to the Common General Rules (CGR), which are applicable to all FRQ programs. It is the responsibility of applicants and/or funding holders to read the CGR, which set out all rules governing competitions and managing awards. Only the special conditions applicable to the FRQSC Research Support for New Academics Program are indicated in this document, and these prevail over the CGR.

The link to the FRQnet E-portfolio and the forms associated with this competition are available under Portals access on the website. Further details are available in the “Documents” menu of the FRQnet E-portfolio. Application forms are generally available at least one month before the competition deadline.

To access the funding application form, a prior pre-application must be submitted before 4 p.m. on August 10th, 2023.

AT THE COMPETITION DEADLINE OF 4 P.M. ON SEPTEMBER 21, 2023, THE STATUS OF THE APPLICATION IN THE FRQnet SYSTEM MUST BE “SUBMITTED TO INSTITUTION” OR “SUBMITTED TO THE FONDS”. AN APPLICATION WITH ANY OTHER STATUS WILL BE CONSIDERED INADMISSIBLE. TO BE CONSIDERED ADMISSIBLE, AN APPLICATION WITH THE STATUS OF “SUBMITTED TO INSTITUTION” MUST NONETHELESS HAVE THE STATUS “SUBMITTED TO THE FONDS” WITHIN THE TIME LIMIT SET OUT IN THE CGR (SECTION 3.2).

This version was updated on June 20, 2023 subject to the approval of the Ministre de l’Économie, de l’Innovation et de l’Énergie.

Table of contents

  1. OBJECTIVES
  2. DESCRIPTION AND DURATION OF FUNDING
  3. ELIGIBILITY
  4. APPLICATION
  5. ASSESSMENT
  6. FUNDING AND CONDITIONS
  7. EFFECTIVE DATE

1. OBJECTIVES

The aim of the Research Support for New Academics program is to:

  • Enable the completion of an individual research project and incite new research academics who are beginning their careers to develop original research avenues;
  • Help support a new generation of university academics by assisting early-career faculty to establish themselves as independent researchers, become competitive nationally and internationally, and train the next generation of students;
  • Consolidate the research system by supporting up-and-coming research academics in social sciences and humanities, arts and literature fields.

In light of these objectives, universities are encouraged to support the application by releasing the applicant from at least 25% of his/her teaching duties.

2. DESCRIPTION AND DURATION OF FUNDING

The funding is an operating grant of up to $15,000/year, including expenditures for the equipment necessary to carry out the proposed research, but excluding indirect costs of research (FIR). FIR will be paid to the grant’s managing institution on top of the grant.

The funding must be used to cover current expenses directly related to the production and dissemination of the results of the research project. All expenses listed in the CGR are eligible.

The funding is awarded annually for the period from April 1st to March 31st for up to three years and is not renewable.

3. ELIGIBILITY

Applicants must, on the competition closing date, satisfy the following requirements:

  • Meet all eligibility requirements set out in the CGR;
  • Qualify for Status 1: University Researcher, remunerated as per Definition i) (CGR, Definitions – Status and Roles) *;
  • Have a doctoral degree**;
  • Have held one or more tenure-track positions as a regular professor or contract research professor at universities in Québec, elsewhere in Canada or abroad for less than 5 years***.

* Individuals who qualify for definition ii) are not eligible for this program. An applicant who does not qualify for the status of university researcher under Definition i) of the CGR on the competition closing date is still eligible if he or she expects to qualify for this status no later than June 1st,  2024, notwithstanding Section 2.1 of the CGR. Successful applicants must provide a letter from the appropriate university authorities specifying the hiring date and the position occupied.

**An applicant who does not have a doctoral degree on the competition closing date is still eligible if he or she expects to successfully defend his or her doctoral thesis or obtain his or her doctoral degree no later than June 1st, 2024. Successful applicants must provide a letter from the appropriate university authorities stating that they successfully defended their thesis or obtained their doctoral degree within the prescribed time frame.

*** Applicants who have interrupted or delayed their career for parental leave, major family obligations, disability, bereavement, a career period outside the research community, or health reasons may be granted an eligibility period extension. In the case of parental leave, the eligibility period may be extended for up to one year per parental leave. In other cases, the Fonds will determine the extension to be granted based on the supporting documents provided by the applicant.

In all cases, the managing institution must attest that the researcher will be in its employment for the duration of the funding.

The following are not eligible:

  • Researchers who have already applied for this program three times;
  • Researchers who have applied the same competition year to another research start-up program of one of Québec’s three Fonds de recherche;
  • Researchers who are (or have been) already funded through a research start-up program of one of Québec’s three Fonds de recherche.

4. APPLICATION

The application process is comprised of two distinct and mandatory steps:

1.     Submission of a pre-application;
2.     Submission of the funding application.

Before completing a pre-application or a funding application, the applicant must create an FRQnet user account on the Fonds website, if this has not already been done.

With regard to the language of submitted forms and documents, please refer to Section 3.6 of the CGR.

IMPORTANT NOTE: It is the applicant’s sole responsibility to choose the right application form, the right funding program and the right Fonds for their application. In the event of an error in any of these respects, the Fonds will not transfer the application and the application will be deemed ineligible, either when assessed for eligibility or by the evaluation committee.

4.1   STEP 1: PRE-APPLICATION

The main purpose of the pre-application, which will not be assessed to determine the eligibility of the application or the scientific quality of the proposed research project, is to provide the information required to assemble the peer committee that will assess the grant application. At this stage, applicants are invited to indicate the disciplinary committee(s) that best correspond to their research topic (see the list here). Evaluation committees, which may be disciplinary or multidisciplinary, are formed after the competition closing date according to the funding applications received. The Fonds reserves the right to consider various factors – discipline(s), research area(s), research topic(s), field(s) of application, etc. – when assigning applications to the various committees.

The pre-application form, available under “Available competitions” in the FRQnet E-portfolio, must be submitted before 4 p.m. on August 10, 2023. At any time, applicants can verify in their FRQnet E-portfolio that their application has been successfully transmitted to the Fonds. The pre-application in “My forms” will be flagged as “Submitted to the Fonds” once it has been transmitted.

REMINDER: At this stage of the application process, the approval of the managing institution is not required.

The applicant is responsible for ensuring that the pre-application is duly completed and submitted within the prescribed time. The applicant must also ensure that, at the competition deadline, the pre-application form has the status “Submitted to the Fonds”. A pre-application that does not satisfy these requirements will not be considered.

4.2  STEP 2: FUNDING APPLICATION

The funding application form will be available in the FRQnet electronic Portfolio under “Available competitions” as of August 11, 2023. Only those applicants who have duly completed and submitted a pre-application form by the prescribed deadline will have access to this form.

At the competition deadline of September 21, 2023 at 4:00 p.m., the status of the application in the FRQnet system must be “Submitted to institution” or “Submitted to the Fonds” and all required documents must be attached to the form.

At this stage of the application process, the Fonds requires the Common Canadian CV and the PDF Detailed Contributions file to be included in the appropriate section of the FRQnet E-portfolio. The applicant must complete the Fonds Société et Culture version of the Common Canadian CV, update this document within 12 months prior to the competition deadline, and complete in due form the Detailed Contributions file specific to grants. The document Preparing a CV for the Fonds, available in the program’s Toolbox, can be consulted as needed.

In addition, the following documents must be scanned individually in PDF format, identified with the name of the researcher and attached to the form at the place indicated:

  • A description of the research project (maximum 5 pages);
  • A bibliography (maximum 2 pages);
  • A description of the activities, tasks and responsibilities entrusted to students as part of the project (maximum 1 page);
  • A justification of planned expenditures (maximum 2 pages);
  • A letter from the appropriate university authorities stating that the applicant qualifies or will qualify for the status of university researcher, remunerated as per Definition i) (CGR, Definitions – Status and Roles) by June 1st, 2024. The letter must specify the hiring date, the type of position held, and state that the applicant will be employed by the institution for the duration of the funding, regardless of the type of position held (regular or contract research professor). The employment start and end dates for previously-held tenure-track regular professor or contract research professor positions at other universities must also be listed, if applicable;
  • If the applicant has not obtained his or her doctoral degree by the competition closing date, a letter from the appropriate university authorities stating that the applicant will have successfully defended his or her thesis or obtained his or her doctoral degree by June 1st, 2024;
  • In the case of a request for an eligibility period extension, official document or documents attesting to the nature and duration of the leave or the specific situation mentioned. Applicants who wish to extend their eligibility period but prefer, for personal reasons, not to attach one or more confidential documents to their application form may request accommodation. It is the applicant’s responsibility to contact the program manager in this regard, sufficiently in advance of the competition deadline to enable a secure transmission process to be put in place. In all cases, these documents are not sent to the evaluation committee;
  • If applicable, the necessary authorizations providing access to data or letters from partners attesting to partnership agreements;
  • If applicable, a document specifying the other sources of funding already obtained to carry out the project and explaining how the various sources of funding are complementary.

Please refer to the FRQNet Application Presentation Standards document to properly format the documents to be attached to the application. For further details on completing and submitting applications, please refer to Section 3.2 of the CGR.

IMPORTANT NOTE: PDF documents must not be read protected or have special double tab configuration.

An incomplete application that does not contain the information necessary to establish eligibility or which cannot be evaluated will be deemed ineligible by the Fonds. Applicants will not be notified of any information or documents missing from the application. Any documents received after the application deadline will not be considered. Any documents that are not required and which are included with the application will not be submitted to the evaluation committee.

ATTENTION: At this stage of the application process, the Fonds requires the approval of the managing institution. It is the applicant’s responsibility to transmit the application to the managing institution before the competition deadline and to ensure that the application is forwarded to the Fonds within the time prescribed by the CGR (Section 3.2). At any time, applicants may verify the transmission status of their application in the “My forms” section of their FRQnet E-portfolio:

  • The form will be flagged “Submitted to institution” once the applicant has transmitted the application to the managing institution;
  • The form will be flagged “Submitted to the Fonds” once the managing institution has transmitted the application to the Fonds.

All applications received by the Fonds are assessed for eligibility. A notice will be sent via email no later than December following the competition deadline, informing the applicant of the status of his/her application and, where applicable, its transmission to the evaluation committee. Applicants whose application is not forwarded to the evaluation committee will also be notified of this via email.

5. ASSESSMENT

Evaluation committees use the FRQSC Scoring System Grid. An overall score of 70% is required for the application to be recommended for funding. In addition, the submitted project must fall under one or more social sciences, humanities, arts and literature disciplines.

Evaluation criteria, sub-criteria and weighting

Funding applications are evaluated according to the following criteria, sub-criteria and weighting:

Evaluation criteria, sub-criteria and weighting

Research project – 60 points

  • Originality and contribution to the advancement of knowledge (10 points)
  • Clarity of the research problem, relevance of the theoretical approach and precision of the stated research objectives (20 points)
  • Relevance, rigor and rationale of the methodological approach (20 points)
  • Feasibility of the time frame and relevance of planned dissemination activities (10 points)

Expertise – 20 points

  • Quality of scientific achievements and research activities, peer recognition and reach (mobilization activities, seminars, communications, publications, student supervision*, scholarships, grants, etc.) (10 points)
  • Relevance of scientific achievements, research activities, experience (academic or other) and training to the project (10 points)

* Depending on the potential for supervision offered by the institution.

Research training – 10 points

  • Educational value of the activities offered to students and diversity of the tasks and responsibilities planned for that purpose during the project.

Budget – 10 points

  • Appropriateness and consistency of the budget with regard to the submitted research project and planned student training.

Applicants are advised to attach equal importance to both the evaluation criteria and their associated sub-criteria. Given the diverse profiles and fields of expertise of evaluation committee members, applicants are encouraged to present all documents submitted for evaluation in such a way as to be easily understood.

The role of the evaluation committees and the conditions governing funding decisions are defined in articles 4.4 and 4.5 of the CGR.

6. FUNDING AND CONDITIONS

The conditions regarding the announcement and management of funding are set out in the CGR (Sections 5 to 8).

Peer-reviewed publications resulting from the research made possible by this award must be released as immediate open access (without embargo), under an open license, in accordance with the FRQ Open Access Policy for the Dissemination of Research (revised in 2022).

7. EFFECTIVE DATE

These rules apply to the 2024-2025 fiscal year.