Allocation of funds and performance objectives

The amount of Waterloo’s Research Support Fund (RSF) is calculated using a formula that is based on the amount of funding awarded in the previous three fiscal years by Federal granting agencies. According to this calculation, in 2023/2024 Waterloo will receive a RSF allocation of $10.4 million. This allocation is divided into five Research Support Fund categories to support Waterloo's research objectives:

Research Support Fund - 2023/2024 pie chart with 5 segments: Facilities 56%, Resources 6%, Management and administration 36%, Regulatory requirements 1%, Intellectual property 1%

A portion of this allocation is retained to support central research administration and core facilities, and the rest of the allocation is distributed to Waterloo faculties, where eligible costs are incurred.

Indirect costs of research are real costs to the University, including but not limited to items such as occupancy cost, building use, central administration, library costs and central computing services costs.

The Research Support Fund is the major source of funding for infrastructure support used to attract and retain high-quality researchers to the professoriate at Waterloo. Attracting the best is an increasingly competitive activity; the flexibility afforded by the Research Support Fund is crucial to our success.

The Research Support Fund has been instrumental in advancing the strategic research initiatives of the University. This has taken a number of forms, but the most notable is the ability to support new research centres and institutes in their efforts to be nationally and globally competitive. The Research Support Fund is the major source of flexible resources that allow the institutes to move quickly to capitalize on opportunities as they arise.

Performance objectives

2022/2023

Pie Chart of RSF 2020/21

2021/2022

Pie Chart of RSF 2020/21

2020/2021

Pie Chart of RSF 2020/21

2019/2020

Pie Chart of RSF

2018/2019

Pie Chart of 2018/19 RSF

2017/2018

Pie Chart of 2017/18 RSF

2016/2017

Pie Chart of 2016/2017

Research support fund pie chart classifications