Please note that unsolicited full proposals will not be accepted by APC. Do not prepare a full proposal until advised to do so by the APC Project Office.

NSERC Form 101 – Application for a Grant

APC requires applicants to fill out certain portions of the NSERC Form 101 – Application for a Grant, including signatures, to provide basic information about the proposal.

Application Profile
Co-Applicants and Supporting Organizations (Industrial Partners)
Summary of Proposal
Proposed Expenditures (Budget)
Contributions from Supporting Organizations
Referee Suggestions

NSERC Form 100 – Personal Data Form

Academic applicants are required to include an up-to-date copy of their NSERC Form 100 - Personal Data Form, as well as a signed Terms and Conditions of Applying Form.

NSERC Form 183A and Industrial Letter or Support

The industrial partners on a project are required to provide a completed and signed NSERC Form 183A.

Industrial partners are also required to furnish a letter of support, which should include:

the organization's support for, and agreement with, the proposal submitted to APC;
the reasons for being involved in the proposed collaboration;
how the organization expects to integrate the results into its operations or to otherwise benefit from the anticipated outcomes;
the next steps required to exploit the results in Canada;
the potential for benefit to the Canadian economy and the expected time frame;
the anticipated interaction of the organization's personnel with the academic and NRC researchers;
the contribution to the direct costs of the research, in cash and in-kind, as stated in the research proposal; and
if applicable, a description of the R&D programs with details of any public funding received that is directly related to the application.

CFI Project and Financed Modules

Applicants seeking support for research infrastructure from CFI are required to complete the CFI Project Module and Finance Module through CFI Online. Researchers are encouraged to contact their institutional research office for assistance in completing these forms.

Budget Justification

A detailed explanation and justification for each budget item identified in the Proposed Expenditures page must be provided. Provide sufficient information to allow reviewers to assess whether the resources requested are appropriate.

Salaries and benefits: Give the names (if known), categories of employment and proposed salaries (including non-discretionary benefits) of students, postdoctoral fellows, research staff and the project manager. Briefly describe the responsibilities for each position and indicate the percentage of time they will be spending on this project over its life span. Do not include salaries of faculty in project costs.
Equipment or facility: Give a breakdown of the items requested. Provide details on models, manufacturers, prices and applicable taxes. Justify the need for each item requested.
Provide two recent quotations for any items or systems costing more than $25,000 before taxes. Provide justification if two quotations are not available.
Fees to be paid for the use of equipment or a facility should be described (e.g., hours and rate).

Materials and supplies: Provide details and explain major items.
Travel: Explain how each activity relates to the proposed research.
Dissemination: Provide details of publication costs, user workshops or other activities.
Technology transfer activities: List the expenditure for field trials, building prototypes, scale-up costs, demonstration projects, workshops and other miscellaneous expenses.

Contributions from Supporting Organizations – Justification of In-Kind

A detailed explanation of the in-kind contributions to the project must be provided. This information will be used to assess the level and nature of the partner involvement, and the importance of their contribution to the success of the project.

Salaries for scientific and technical staff: list the name of each staff member, their role at the company, their specific expertise, details as to what they will be providing to the project (link to milestones if possible), the number of hours they will devote to the project and their hourly rate.
Donation of equipment and/or software: list each item of equipment and/or software being donated to the project, explaining how it will be used and its importance to the success of the project. Provide details on how the cost of the equipment/software was calculated.
Donation of material: describe the materials to be provided, their importance to the project and how the cost of the materials was calculated.
Field work logistics: describe the importance of the proposed field work to the project and provide details on how the cost of the field work was calculated.
Provision of services: provide details on the services to be provided, the importance of these services to the success of the project and how the cost of providing these services was calculated.
Other: provide sufficient details on items listed in this category, their importance to the project and the calculation of associated costs.

Full Proposal Format

The main, free-form portion of the proposal is not required to follow any specific format, nor are there specific page limits. However, the following points should be taken into consideration by applicants when preparing their final proposals.

Proposals will be subjected to a merit review process and, as such, sufficient detail must be provided to allow reviewers to carry out a thorough evaluation of the proposal.
The proposal should take into account, and adequately address all of the APC Evaluation Criteria, as appropriate. It is advised that proposals be structured to reflect the need for reviewers to evaluate proposals against these criteria:
- Scientific Merit and Feasibility
- Quality of Researchers
- Industrial Relevance
- Contribution to the Training of Highly Qualified Personnel
- Project Management
- Institutional Priority and Commitment
- Budget
- Benefits to Canada
Applicants are encouraged to make use of diagrams and charts to illustrate their proposal and to clarify concepts such as project management, human and material resource allocation, interactions among researchers and partners and time lines.