NSERC RTI

Research Tools and Instruments (RTI) grants foster and enhance the discovery, innovation and training capability of university researchers in the natural sciences and engineering (NSE) by supporting the purchase of research equipment.

The RTI Grants program provides the primary avenue for university researchers in NSE to obtain up to $150,000 in support for research tools and instruments with a net cost between $7,001 and $250,000. Net cost is defined as the purchase cost of the equipment after any discount from the vendor and before taxes, customs and importation fees, transportation and shipping charges, and assembly and installation costs. The research community is also encouraged to explore other avenues for funding research tools and instruments, including NSERC's other programs that include the purchase of equipment as eligible expenses.

Important Dates

Wednesday October 11, 2023 at 10 a.m.: Internal submission of:
- ROLA proposal for e-approvals, and
- Submission in the Research Portal of a complete draft application, including CCV(s) (applications can be returned for editing, as needed)
Wednesday October 25, 2023 at 10 a.m.: Final application submission in the Research Portal (there is no Notice of Intent stage for the RTI program)

When you submit your application in the Research Portal, it does not go directly to NSERC. It is first routed to Western Research for review and final submission to NSERC.

Important Notes

Eligibility: Research Tools and Instruments (RTI) grant applicants and co-applicants who were successful in the previous year’s RTI competition will be ineligible to apply for one year. Eligibility will be reinstated the following competition year. This change is being implemented to increase access to the RTI program to the largest number of eligible researchers.
Changes to the selection criteria for this year are informed by the recent evaluation of the Discovery research program and the results of the gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) of the RTI program.
Budget Justification: Changes to the budget justification instructions to clarify and emphasize that an application will be rejected if the necessary quotations or the budget justification are not submitted with the application.
"Excellence of the Researcher" will no longer be assessed. Instead, the review committee will evaluate the extent to which the research team has relevant experience, or present a training plan to demonstrate how they will gain the ability to use the equipment.
EDI: Equitable access, time sharing and accessibility of the equipment for co-applicants and other users should be discussed, as well as the consideration of EDI in the training of HQP.
The application assessment criteria are weighted (see RTI program overview page for the detailed sub-criteria):
- Need, urgency and suitability (40%)
- Feasibility and impact (40%)
- Training of highly qualified personnel [HQP] (20%)
Researchers can submit one RTI application per competition, either as an applicant or a co-applicant, but not as both.
Each applicant and co-applicant must complete a Canadian Common CV and link it to the application.
Co-applicants: Include only major users (who frequently use the equipment) as co-applicants. Note that co-applicants have action items that must be completed before an application can be submitted.
Considering equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the research process promotes research excellence by making research outcomes more ethically sound, rigorous, reproducible, and useful. It is important to consider EDI through each stage of the research process including, but not limited to, the research questions, design, methodology, analysis, interpretation and dissemination of results, and integrate these considerations where relevant. Consult Equity, diversity and inclusion considerations at each stage of the research process for more information.
Please thoroughly review the application instructions at the link below.

Eligibility to Apply

To be eligible to apply for and to hold RTI funds, applicants and co-applicants must each:

meet NSERC’s Eligibility Criteria for faculty
hold one of the following eligible NSERC research grants: Discovery Grant, Alliance grant, Discovery Horizons grant, Discovery Development grant, Canada Excellence Research Chairs (NSERC), Canada 150 Research Chairs (NSERC), Canada Research Chairs (NSERC), Collaborative Research and Development grant, Industrial Research Chairs grant, Strategic Partnership grant.

*Note: Applicants and co-applicants may apply for any of the above grants (those still accepting applications) while concurrently applying to the RTI program. However, if any applicant or co-applicant does not hold one of the above grants by the RTI award start date, or is not successful in obtaining one of these grants while concurrently applying to the RTI program, the applicant and/or co-applicant will be deemed ineligible and removed from the application.