Once you’ve found a Funding Opportunity that matches your research interests, follow the steps below to ensure that you’re on track to submit a strong application.
1. Inform the Research office of your intention to apply
To help us plan to support your application, please email research@nipissingu.ca as soon as you decide to apply for an external award. Early notice is particularly important if your application involves any financial commitments or Letters of Support from Nipissing.
2. Complete a Notice/Expression of Intent or Registration step, if required
Some funding opportunities require a pre-application step, such as submitting a Notice of Intent through their portal. Be sure to plan for this deadline as well as the application deadline.
3. Draft your application and seek out a reviewer
Review the agency’s application guidelines and other useful resources to help guide your writing and budget preparation.
If you think you could benefit from an objective perspective on your proposal, try reaching out to your faculty for peers who might be able to review your work, or contact the Research office for a list of professional grant writers/consultants.
4. Submit a draft of the full application for internal review
All applications for external funding must be submitted to Research for review and approved by the Provost and VP, Academic & Research (PVPAR) before submission to a funding agency. Since this process takes time, the internal deadline to submit application drafts to Research for review is always 3 weeks prior to the external deadline.
To submit your application for internal review, download a pdf of your completed application and attach it to the Romeo form called “External Research Funding Applications.” (Not familiar with Romeo? See our training page here.) We will review the content and budget for compliance with agency and institutional requirements and make suggestions for strengthening your application.
5. Submit the approved application to the funding agency
Once you have incorporated any required changes to your application, you must submit the final application through the agency portal at least two business days prior to the external deadline and then inform the Research office. (If the agency does not have a portal, email the final version of the application to research@nipissingu.ca to obtain the required signatures.)
The Research office will then submit the application on your behalf.