Coronavirus (COVID-19) Research FAQ

Each academic division will have a process for determining the recovery and adaptation of research including the specific requirements for approval. This process is based on the University of Toronto Approach for Research Recovery and Adaptation and the COVID-19 General Workplace Guidelines (GWG).

Please contact your unit head for information.

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Indigenous populations are at increased risk from COVID-19 for numerous reasons; thus, in-person research with Indigenous individuals and communities is currently not possible. This includes observational research, both on and off-reserve, involving humans, wildlife, and environmental studies on the land. Please see the COVID-19 update from the Waakebiness-​Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health for more information.

The University’s REBs are currently accepting all submissions of F2F human research for two separate review processes. The REB review process focuses on human research ethics issues. The second review process is conducted by the Face-to-Face COVID-19 Review Committee (F2FCRC) and focuses specifically on the COVID-19 health and safety risks to participants of the research being proposed, through the review of the principal investigator’s submission of the Face-to-Face Human Participant COVID-19 Risk Assessment Form. Approvals from both review processes will be required before F2F research activities can commence.

For research where the U of T REB is not the Board of Record (e.g. a TAHSN REB is the Board of Record), researchers should follow the applicable direction of that institution (assuming the in-person research is not on the U of T campus).

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The University has Working Alone Guidelines that include resources available to support members of our community while on our campuses.

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All university buildings, including research and teaching spaces are subject to increased cleaning and disinfection as per public health guidance. In addition, the University is taking the proactive step of doing additional cleaning to areas whenever an individual tells us they have COVID-19 related symptoms or report a confirmed case of COVID-19. Additional cleaning should not be interpreted as a sign of a confirmed case. For both symptomatic and confirmed cases, we follow the same procedures of contact tracing and disinfection in our buildings. We also provide community notifications and cleaning notifications to those affected. These notifications are provided out of an abundance of caution and do not signal elevated risk or require any further action by individuals, other than those who are contacted directly by the Health & Safety Office. We have a COVID-19 dashboard that is regularly updated with any confirmed cases on our three campuses.

Yes, these meetings can currently proceed and are covered in the General Workplace Guideline under instructional activity. The meetings can occur without distancing, but where distancing can be achieved it should be encouraged. Non-medical masks must also be worn during such meetings.

During this period of uncertainty and potential related delay/interruption to research programs, it is important to keep research sponsors apprised of the status of funded research initiatives. Every initiative is subject to a research agreement which includes contractual obligations.

Most major research sponsors have existing mechanisms for addressing exceptional circumstances, and are sharing information via dedicated web pages, such as those hyperlinked in 5.3, below.

At the outset of the pandemic, NSERC and SSHRC authorized institutions to provide an unfunded extension of 12 months for grants that ended between February 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021 due to delays as a result of COVID-19. NSERC and SSHRC have authorized institutions once again to provide an unfunded extension of 12 months for grants that end between April 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022 regardless of any previous extensions obtained for the grant(s) to date.

NSERC or SSHRC grant holders wishing to obtain an extension can write to their contact in RSO or IPO.

More details about NSERC’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic are available on NSERC’s website or for SSHRC’s response to COVID-19 on SSHRC’s website. You can also reach out to your contact in RSO or IPO.

CIHR  provided an automatic one-year unfunded extension to all active CIHR grants in order to give researchers an additional full year to use any residual unspent funds. The automatic extensions were confirmed in the early summer of 2020 and all eligible CIHR funds at U of T were extended.

More details about CIHR's response to the COVID-19 pandemic are available on CIHR's website, their FAQ, or you can reach out to your contact in RSO or IPO.

Smaller and /or private sector sponsors may not publicly communicate in the same way. Should you have questions or concerns about existing agreements with such sponsors, please be in touch with the relevant VPRI staff member.

Financial Services has issued guidelines on steps that university employees should take in light of a new refund policy being provided by Air Canada and potentially other airlines to customers. The University has a responsibility to the government, donors and funding agencies to pursue all possible refunds available, and therefore any university researcher who has previously received a reimbursement from the university for a flight not taken should now be proactively seeking this refund from Air Canada and any other airlines and subsequently reimbursing their department for the cost of the ticket. They should also be advised that under no circumstances should the refund be converted to frequent flyer points. Researchers should consult with their Divisional administrators and Divisional Financial Advisory Services and Training (FAST) Team Representatives for more details on this process. Questions regarding expenses on restricted research and innovation funds may be directed to the “Authorized By:” staff contact in the Funded Research Digest (FReD) and via the VPRI contact list.

Researchers and research support staff should regularly visit the websites of their research sponsors to see what new information they may be providing regarding COVID19-related changes. Given that the number of sponsor programs is in the thousands, we cannot link to them all here. Here are links to some key sponsor updates:

• CIHR
• NSERC
• SSHRC
• Canada Research Chairs
• CFI
• New Frontiers Research Fund - Transformation
• Canada Council for the Arts
• Ontario Genomics
• Ontario Research Fund (ORF) and Early Researcher Award (ERA)
• Canadian Cancer Society
• NIH

CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC, and CRC have postponed the deadlines for submitting financial reports for 2020-21 (April 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021) until September 30, 2021. The preparation and distribution of financial reports will be led by the Research Oversight and Compliance Office (ROCO), utilizing SharePoint for both distribution and collection. Questions may be directed to Olga Ledeneva, Manager Research Financial Reporting & Audit.

As other sponsors notify University of Toronto regarding extension of their financial reporting deadlines due to impacts of COVID-19, the Research Oversight and Compliance team will contact affected grantees with revised timelines.

In late summer 2020, the Tri-Agencies each offered a supplement amount for each active eligible grant to help offset the cost for PIs who continued to pay students and/or staff from their grants during April 1, 2020 to June 30, 2020 (the “qualification” period). Supplement funds could be used for salary (including benefits) or stipends only, between April 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021 for NSERC and SSHRC. The eligible period for use for CIHR grants is April 1, 2020 to the end date of the primary grant for which the Supplement funding was provided. Those paid with the Supplement funds could/cannot also be receiving other federal income support programs simultaneously. Given the very specific purpose of this program, we created a dedicated web page, which you can access for more details at: COVID-19:  Supplements for Tri-Agency Research Grants.

Most externally funded research personnel continue to be engaged in work remotely, or on campus for essential research programs. The University expects these research personnel will continue to be paid.

The University also expects that funding commitments for trainees such as graduate students and post-doctoral fellows will be met and that supervisors will ensure that they are able to maintain their academic progress.

Academic administrators should work with their divisional leaders and Divisional Human Resource Offices to assess any individual circumstances that require special consideration. The School of Graduate Studies has issued guidance for Chairs and Supervisors.

For questions regarding eligible research expenses, please contact the appropriate staff member in the Research Services or the Innovations and Partnerships Offices.

No, there is no institutional fund to bridge lost or interrupted research funding. Unfortunately, some research programs, if we are not able to restart them in the coming weeks, and if there is no external funding support to maintain wage continuity, will require difficult decisions. Academic administrators will need to work with their PIs and divisional leaders to address financial challenges to research programs, ensuring that plans take appropriate account of the University’s collective agreements and employment policies.

There are many different and complex situations across our campuses. Each PI’s research program is relatively unique in terms of funding source(s) and personnel. Each program has different opportunities to continue work remotely, or as we start to consider restart of operations, to be able to maintain physical distancing and other control requirements related to COVID-19.

An important first step is to visit the website of your research sponsor(s).  Many funding organizations have web pages dedicated to COVID-19 changes to their funding programs.  Where there is no externally facing information on the sponsor website, faculty members can turn to their unit/division research support staff, or with the relevant staff member in the VPRI Research Services Office or the Innovations & Partnerships Office . We do not recommend engaging directly with research sponsors, given the pressures on sponsors at this time, and the University’s efforts to negotiate helpful and consistent program adjustments.

In addition to the COVID-19 Emergency Benefits described on the Government of Canada website, the Prime Minister has made the following announcements specific to research programs at universities and research institutions:

22 April 2020Federal Tri-agency Supplements: $291.6M, including:

• Up to $40M to extend expiring federal graduate research scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships. Award holders will need to attest that their research was disrupted by COVID-19 constraints and that they are not benefiting from compensation under the Canada Emergency Student Benefit or the Canada Emergency Response Benefit or other income supports related to COVID-19. Award holders will be contacted in the coming weeks by their respective agency, and the funding will be provided before September 30, 2020. Further information is available here.
• The balance of the fund, $251.6M ($32.3M SSHRC, $140M NSERC; 79.3M CIHR), is to supplement existing federal research grants, to support students, post-doctoral fellows and research support staff. Additional information about this supplement program is available at COVID-19: Supplements for Tri-Agency Research Grants.
   

15 May 2020Canada Research Continuity Emergency Fund (CRCEF): $450M, provided over 4 phases for:

• wage support to universities and health research institutes, so they can retain research staff who are funded from industry or philanthropic sources and are unable to access existing federal or provincial COVID-19 support measures. The Fund is providing up to 75 per cent of the eligible research personnel’s wages, with a maximum of $847 per week for up to 24 weeks per individual, within the eligibility period of March 15, 2020 to August 29, 2020.
• support to universities and health research institutes to maintain essential research-related activities during the crisis, and to ramp back up towards full research operations. The Fund is covering up to 75 per cent of total eligible costs incurred between March 15, 2020 and November 15, 2020, and will support activities such as the safe storage of dangerous substances, equipment maintenance and recalibration, and restarting data sets that were interrupted during the pandemic.
   

All funding has to be fully expended by 31 March, 2021

The University is working with academic divisions on the allocation of these resources.

NSERC is offering a one-year funded extension to all active Discovery Grants including: Discovery Grants, Discovery Grants – Subatomic Physics (Individual, Project and Major Resources), Discovery Grants – Northern Research Supplements and Discovery Development Grants. By “active”, NSERC means that the grant receives an instalment for April 1st in the final funded year of your grant. For example, grants that were in their automatic unfunded extension year as of April 1st, 2020 were not offered a funded extension).

NSERC contacts all holders of eligible and active Discovery Grants directly during the final funded year of the grant to describe the extension option, and provide a timeline by which you must accept or decline the funded extension. You do not need to reach out to NSERC or request this extension through Research Services.

The one-year funded amount is equal to the one-year amount of your annual funding level. Finally, NSERC is contacting active eligible grant holders in the order of the final funded year : for example, those who are in their final funded year starting April 1st, 2021 will be contacted by NSERC after April 1st 2021 to offer the extension. Those whose final funded year begins on April 1st, 2022 will be contacted in 2022, and so on.

NSERC will confirm who has accepted funded extensions with Research Services once they have received responses from eligible grant holders and confirmed the funded extension amount. In turn, Research Services will add the additional budget year to your fund.

Additional details are available on NSERC's website.

As of September 20, 2021 ONRamp is open to ONRamp members only. Guidelines and procedures for the ONRamp spaces have been implemented to ensure the health and safety of our entrepreneurship community and to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Please refer to the ONRamp Reopening Guidelines. For further details please contact entrepreneurs@utoronto.ca.  

Yes, the Toronto RDC is open for a limited number of researchers with approved projects in keeping with safety measures put in place including maintaining physical distancing and wearing a mask in RDC and Robarts Library. Bookings are available on a weekly basis. If there is capacity, additional researchers will be prioritized according to their research needs.

Researchers are asked to contact their analyst for all project-related questions. For general RDC enquiries, you can email rdc.info@utoronto.ca.

We encourage continued international collaborations using virtual tools; we recognize that international collaboration is crucial for addressing significant global issues including our response to COVID-19.

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If you have additional questions after reviewing these FAQs please email international@utoronto.ca.

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As restrictions on international travel begin to loosen, there may be consideration of resuming travel deemed essential for research or other University business purposes. Given that Global Affairs Canada has lifted the world-wide “avoid non-essential” travel advisory, as of November 3, 2021 university sanctioned activities abroad can now resume for U of T students for countries and regions that are listed at “exercise normal security precautions” and “exercise a high degree of caution.” Students must follow the instructions and steps as indicated on the Safety Abroad Student’s page.

The Centre for Research & Innovation Support (CRIS) helps faculty to find tools, training and expertise across our three campuses. This fall, faculty can register for a new webinar series, Making & Sustaining the Pivot, to engage with colleagues on how to adapt your research program during the pandemic and beyond. CRIS also offers a full calendar of workshops and training, Spotlight pages on hot topics, and a searchable resource hub. To sign up to receive future email communications from CRIS, please click here.

All of the University’s entrepreneurship programs remain active and are providing support to entrepreneurs remotely. The latest resources and updates can be found here.

Please visit the UTL Research Support page and the COVID-19 Research Resources page.

Feel free to reach out to your liaison librarian if you have in-depth research needs.

Researchers who wish to conduct research at an off-campus site or conduct on-site field research (e.g. Koffler Scientific Reserve, Hart House Farm, Gull Lake) that does not involve any human participant face-to-face (F2F) research components are encouraged to review the University’s Guidance on Research and Travel During the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Off-Campus Safety Planning Record. It is the researcher’s responsibility to follow all local public health and third-party location requirements. Local public health requirements may differ from Toronto/Peel/Ontario requirements.

Given that Global Affairs Canada has lifted the world-wide “avoid non-essential” travel advisory, as of November 3, 2021 university sanctioned activities abroad can now resume for U of T students for countries and regions that are listed at “exercise normal security precautions” and “exercise a high degree of caution.” Please follow the instructions and steps as indicated on the Safety Abroad Student’s page and review the COVID-19 Planning page well in advance of student travel. General questions on off-campus research can be directed to OHS at ehs.office@utoronto.ca.

For on- or off-campus research involving Face to Face (F2F) human participant research, please see FAQ 3.1, above.

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Visitors must provide the vaccination passport (or other applicable proof of vaccination verification from their international country of origin) and complete the COVID-19 Screening for Visitors and Volunteers paper form.