In Ontario, applicants are required to complete the Mitigating Economic and Geopolitical Risk Checklist for Ontario Research Fund Applications checklist, related to research security, for funding programs delivered through the Ministry of Colleges and Universities (MCU). These include the following Ontario Research Fund (ORF) programs.
- Large/Small Research Infrastructure (CFI matching)
- Research Excellence (RE) (research operating grants)
- Early Researcher Awards (ERA).
The required checklist asks researchers to provide context regarding their collaborations with partners.
New: For upcoming 2024 and subsequent Ontario grant calls, researchers will be asked to specifically attest as to whether they have any ‘Active Collaboration’ with entities on the Federal Named Research Organizations (NRO) list, inclusive of co-authorship and co-publication. This is not an eligibility requirement. Researchers can indicate yes (affiliated), contextualize the collaboration in the geopolitical checklist form, and still potentially receive the grant.
The Ontario definition ‘of active collaboration’ is different and includes a wider scope than the Federal definition of ‘affiliation’. An ‘active collaboration’ is defined as the following.
- a material collaboration,
- occurring within two years of the application’s submission (in most cases)
- scientific collaboration, including but not exclusive to co-author, co-publication, joint research, or joint funding recipients
The Provincial government will then assess the checklist for concerns from a research security perspective beyond the NRO list. While the government analyzes all listed partners and individuals on an application, it does not provide a publicly available list of partners of concern. The provincial government’s attestation process normally includes collaborations going back approximately two years to ensure that they are no longer active.
Before making a funding decision, the government will give institutions the opportunity to address identified research security concerns by providing additional context or mitigation strategies. This information is provided through an official attestation document. The Research Security Team (RST) will work with individual researchers and their academic unit/Division to complete these attestations. The Division of the Vice-President, Research & Innovation will submit them to the government for assessment. Attestations will be project- and researcher-specific, and signed by the researcher, the designated Divisional research leader (normally a Vice or Associate Dean/Vice-Principal), and the Vice-President, Research and Innovation, and Strategic Initiatives.
Researchers requiring assistance in completing the risk checklist can reach out to the RST at the contact listed below.
