Alliance Grants

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Alliance funding supports research & development collaborations between Canadian university researchers and partners from the private, public or not-for-profit sectors, as well as opportunities for Canadian researchers to work with national and international academic counterparts.

Researchers can submit Alliance Grant applications at any time throughout the year, as the program accepts applications on a continuous basis.

There are three main types of grants, and ongoing special calls. 

Support for Researchers

Research Partner Network provides personalized support and expert guidance on how to apply for this grant and how to manage the funds should you be successful.
If you're interested in applying for this grant, please reach out to the designated Research Partners listed in the sections below.

Advantage + Society + Special Calls

  • Alliance Advantage Grants
    They support research projects conducted in collaboration with partner organizations to address their needs and accelerate the application of results. It requires at least one partner eligible for NSERC matching to provide matching funding. NSERC provides 66.7% of total project funding.
  • Alliance Society Grants
    They support research projects conducted in collaboration with partner organizations to address challenges at the intersection of natural sciences, engineering and society. It requires at least one partner eligible for NSERC matching, however for these projects NSERC will provide 100% of total project funding.
  • Special Calls, Joint Funding Opportunities + Joint Research Calls
    NSERC also uses the Alliance program to fund research in strategic areas (eg. Alliance Missions, Quantum grants), and they work with other funding partners to support joint funding programs (Alberta Innovates, Mitacs, Natural Resources Canada), and joint research calls on topics of national and global importance, including intermittent targeted calls (eg. NSERC-CSE Research Communities grants, NSERC-NSF Collaboration on quantum science and artificial intelligence)

Need help with Alliance Advantage, Alliance Society + Special Calls?

Contact: Sharon Harper
Research Partner, VPRI Research Partners Network
sharon.harper@ualberta.ca

Intended Recipients

University NSE researchers collaborating with private, public, or not-for-profit organizations.

Value + Duration

$20,000 to $1 million per year for one to five years

Deadlines

  • RAS Internal Review Deadline
    • 5 business days before application submission date (Submit application to RAS via the Researcher Home Page)
  • Final Version Submission Deadline
    • By 10:00 am MST on application submission day (Submit final application to the NSERC via their online system)
  • NSERC Deadline
    • Ongoing (continuous intake)

Additional Information

NSERC Alliance Grants

Alliance International

Supports partnerships between Canadian and international academic researchers to establish and grow research collaborations of global importance that will generate benefits to Canada.

Need help with Alliance International?

Contact: Grant Kemp
Research Partner, VPRI Research Partners Network
Grant.Kemp@ualberta.ca 

Intended Recipients

Canadian researchers working with international colleagues to pursue new knowledge, technologies, and solutions to complex problems.  

Value + Duration

$25,000 for 1 year (Catalyst grants)
$25,000 to $100,000 for one to three years (Collaboration grants)

Deadlines

  • RAS Internal Review Deadline
    • 5 business days before application submission date (Submit application to RAS via the Researcher Home Page)
  • Final Version Submission Deadline
    • By 10:00 am MST on application submission day (Submit final application to the NSERC via their online system)
  • NSERC Deadline
    • Ongoing (continuous intake)

Additional Information

NSERC Alliance Grants

support + resources

National Security Risk Assessment Support for Research Partnerships

The Government of Canada published its Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern  (STRAC Policy). This policy is complementary to, and does not replace, the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships . As of May 1, 2024, the NSERC Alliance  funding stream is in scope of this new policy.

What Does the Policy Involve?

The policy states that grant applications for projects which aim to advance a Sensitive Technology Research Area  will not be funded if any of the researchers involved in activities supported by the grant are actively affiliated with a Named Research Organization . Individuals are considered affiliated to any organization at which they are employed, appointed, or conduct research. In cases where individuals hold multiple affiliations, all must be considered when ensuring compliance to this policy. The policy only applies to current affiliations.

What Do I Need to Do?

  1. If you are applying for Tri-Agency or Canada Foundation for Innovation research funding, check the website for the relevant stream. It will indicate clearly on the page if the STRAC policy applies. You can also consult your Research Partner for information and advice on this.
  2. If the STRAC Policy applies, you need to follow the process outlined in the policy. Briefly:
    • Consult the Sensitive Technology Research Areas list  to determine whether your project aims to advance one of these areas. If not, you will indicate “No” in response to the question “Will the proposed research activities supported by this grant aim to advance any of the listed sensitive technology research areas?” on the submission portal.
    • If your grant application does aim to advance one of these areas, you will ask everyone with a named role on the team to consult the Named Research Organizations list  (NRO). If any of them have an active affiliation with an NRO, the project is ineligible for funding. If they do not have an active affiliation, they will fill out their own Attestation Form . The lead applicant will collect and merge all the attestation forms into a single PDF for submission with your application.
    • In the NSERC Online submission portal, the lead applicant will indicate “Yes” in response to the question “Will the proposed research activities supported by this grant aim to advance any of the listed sensitive technology research areas?” and attach the merged attestation forms as a single PDF in the appropriate section
    • Note: the above applies to all applications currently being prepared in NSERC’s online system, but not yet submitted.

Where Can I Get Help?

The Safeguarding Research Office is here to support researchers in all aspects of your research security requirements. If you have any questions or want to schedule a consultation with someone on our team, please reach out to safegrd@ualberta.ca.

Research Administrative Services (RAS) will perform a completeness check during proposal review to ensure that all required attestation forms (i.e. all named researchers) are provided if the applicant has identified that the proposal aims to advance a listed Sensitive Technology Research Area. Therefore, the named participant list must be finalized when submitting to in Researcher Homepage for institutional approval.

Alliance Grant Drop-In Sessions

Join our monthly NSERC Alliance Grant drop-in sessions to learn more about the program and receive guidance on applying for or leveraging an Alliance Grant. These interactive sessions cover program guidelines, institutional requirements, budget considerations, equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI), partner eligibility, project setup, and other topics of interest to researchers. Register for the next session on the  U of A Workshops and Events page, and feel free to submit your questions in advance.

Samples of Successful Applications

Samples of successful applications from previous Alliance Grant competitions are available through the GRANT library for reference.

For reference, samples of successful applications from previous Alliance Grant competitions are available in the GRANT library. To gain access to these samples, kindly complete the request form.

Please be aware that the sample grants in our library pertain to applications submitted in recent years. As application requirements and formats are subject to ongoing changes, we recommend referring to the latest information provided by NSERC to ensure compliance with the current competition guidelines.

We kindly request that you refrain from duplicating or distributing any sample applications you may utilize for guidance in developing your own grant.

Access Application Samples

Register to receive access to successful application samples »

additional resources

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