News from the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research

News from the Research and Grants Office

RGO Grantsmanship Meetings

All faculty members are invited and encouraged to attend the annual grantsmanship meetings organized by the Research Grants Office. New investigators, particularly those applying for the first time, are urged to attend. These meetings are aimed at providing assistance to enhance the quality of applications and increase their number to major granting agencies; hence to improve our performance and success rate as competition increases for external research funding.

Each of these meetings will have a panel, consisting of McGill faculty who have served on the peer review committees of the various agencies, as well as successful applicants, who will share their expertise with their colleagues.

Particular emphasis will be placed on i) how to plan and write a grant application in order to optimize its chances of getting funded, and ii) the mechanisms by which grants are channelled through the peer review process and the workings of the peer review committees.

The meetings are scheduled as follows:

1) Social Sciences & Humanities -- SSHRC / FCAR / CQRS
Date: Wednesday May 26
Time: 2:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Place: Room 26, Stephen Leacock Building
Panel Members: Associate Vice-Principal (Research) Ian Butler (Chair)
Professor Janet Donald from the Centre for University Teaching and Learning
Political science professor Christopher Manfredi
Sociology professor Michael Smith
Geography professor Sherry Olson
Anthropology professor Ellen Corin

2) Biomedical Sciences - MRC / NCI / NIH / FRSQ / FCAR
Date: Monday, May 31
Time: 2:00 - 5:00 p.m.
Place: Room 512 Jonathan Meakins, McIntyre Medical Sciences Building
Panel Members: Pharmacology and therapeutics professor Bernard Robaire (Chair)
Medicine professor Vincent Giguère
Oncology professor Annette Herscovics
Biomedical engineering professor Robert Kearney
Epidemiology and biostatistics professor Robyn Tamblyn
Urology professor Mario Chevrette

NSERC - International Opportunity Fund

Researchers in the natural sciences and engineering fields who wish to collaborate with their colleagues in other countries should consult the NSERC web site on International Relations. This page is aimed at keeping researchers abreast of the various opportunities that are available for international collaboration. NSERC also supports international co-operation through funds granted under its regular program.

The International Opportunity Fund is one of the new NSERC international co-operation programs. The Fund supports the non-research costs associated with Canadian participation in specific international opportunities, and that are not eligible for funding from other NSERC programs. It also provides a support mechanism for developing new collaborative research projects with countries with which NSERC has signed agreements. Total available funding for 1998-99 is $500,000; approx. $1.5 million in subsequent years. Proposals may be submitted at any time of the year, and a response is expected from NSERC generally within eight weeks.

For further details on this program and other international programs and details of NSERC's agreements with other countries, please consult www.nserc.ca/intnew.htm.

NSERC - University-Industry Synergy Awards

NSERC and the Conference Board of Canada are making a call for nominations for the Synergy R & D Partnership Awards. This competition is given to recognize and reward collaboration between universities and industries in Canada. Award winning university partners will receive a $10,000 NSERC research grant, and industry winners will receive the prestigious Synergy Award sculpture.

Nominations must be submitted before 1 June, 1999. Further details and nomination forms are available at Research Grants Office.

NSERC - E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowships

The E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowships are awarded each year to a maximum of four outstanding and highly promising scientists and engineers who are at an early stage of their careers, but already enjoy a reputation for original research in their respective fields. Nominations must be submitted by senior members of the Canadian science and engineering community and endorsed by the executive head of the university. There is no restriction on the number of researchers who may be nominated from a single department or university. However, university officials are asked to screen the nominations and to forward only those that are truly outstanding and of the calibre expected by a Steacie Fellow. We would therefore ask that a draft of the nomination be submitted to the Research Grants Office for review by 11 June, 1999. The deadline for submitting nominations to NSERC is 1 July, 1999.

SSHRC and the Law Commission of Canada - Relationships in Transition

The SSHRC and the Law Commission of Canada have joined forces in a new Strategic Joint Initiative for a total value of $800,000 over four years, the Relationships in Transition program. Each year, the program will focus on one of four themes: economic relationships, personal relationships, social relationships and governance relationships. The theme for the 1999 competition is Economic Relationships.

The program will support the researching and writing of interdisciplinary papers addressing public policy issues connected to law reform by individuals and teams. The average grant is approx. $25,000 per paper for a period of one year. Large teams may be awarded a maximum of $40,000 per paper.

The deadline for application submissions is 15 June, 1999. Subsequent deadlines will be announced at a later date. For more details on the program, please consult the SSHRC web site via the RGO web site.

The Toyota Foundation

The Toyota Foundation will award research grants under the key theme

"Creating a Society with Pluralistic Values" for independent and creative research projects that have broad social relevance. The four sub-themes are: 1) Mutual understanding and coexistence of diverse cultures, 2) Proposals for a new social system: building a civil society, 3) The global environment and the potential for human survival, and 4) Science and technology in the age of civil society.

This program supports both individual and collaborative research projects. Applications must be postmarked no later than 20 May, 1999.

More detailed information on these announcements and programs are available on the RGO's website at ww2.mcgill.ca/fgsr/rgo