The Government of Canada's Research Support Fund assists post-secondary institutions and affiliated research hospitals and institutes with the expenses (also known as indirect costs) associated with managing the research funded by the three federal research granting agencies:
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)
Waterloo has benefited from this fund to support expenses incurred in managing research at Waterloo including:
- Renovation and maintenance of research facilities (e.g., a more centralized location for research and collaboration with members of the Waterloo Climate Institute (formerly, Interdisciplinary Centre on Climate Change (IC3)) and the Canadian Cryospheric Information Network (CCIN) research groups to be housed in the Faculty of Environment)
- Upgrade and maintenance of equipment (e.g., creation of infrastructure for a safe delivery location for argon gas that required installation of a concrete pad and security fence with access for refilling of the tank for a truck; research support funds contributed to enhancing the capabilities of work stations for graduate students with CPU, memory, disk, video resolution, and display size enhancements providing a platform that allows users to be more agile as their research presents new opportunities)
- Operating costs (e.g., contributing to telephone services, supplies, custodial, security, water, and electricity that are directly attributable to federally funded research activity)
- Technical support for laboratories, offices, and other facilities (e.g., support for positions such as an analytical technician and research mechanical technician; IT personnel that provide significant support for research design in both hardware and software; as well specialized staff support in the form of a glassblower, mass spectrometry facility manager, x-ray crystallographer, NMR technician, field hydrogeologist, and greenhouse technician.)