The Research Support Fund (RSF) is a tri-agency initiative of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Every year, the federal government invests in research excellence in the areas of health sciences, engineering, natural sciences, social sciences and humanities through its three granting agencies. The RSF reinforces this research investment by helping institutions ensure that their federally funded research projects are conducted in world-class facilities with the best equipment and administrative support available. Eligible institutions receive an annual grant through the fund to help pay for a portion of the central and departmental administrative costs related to federally funded research.
About the program.
Definition of Indirect costs: : the operational costs that underpin an institution’s research activities (i.e., heating, lighting, ethics reviews, facilities for animals used in research, management of intellectual property, environmental assessment and safety compliance). The services that give rise to indirect costs are institutionally based and are not specific to individual research grants.
Institutions have flexibility in deciding how to use their RSF grant, provided that the funds are used for the payment of current expenditures of indirect costs attributed to federally sponsored research that falls within the following five categories:
The expenditures must always adhere to the general principles of the RSF program.
In 2025-2026 Bow Valley College allocated $25,596 RSF funding for: Management and administration of the institution's research enterprise
1. Institutional support for the completion of grant and award applications/research proposals and in support of the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships including:
2. Training of faculty and research personnel, including:
Total amount of the RSF grant received by Bow ValleyCollege for the previous five years:
Bow Valley College’s RSF Communication plan
In 2025, Bow Valley College (BVC) established a knowledge mobilization framework through collaboration among the Applied Research, Communication, and Marketing teams. This multi-disciplinary team is committed to supporting innovation by fostering a culture of collaboration, advancing the communication of research impact, and promoting knowledge mobilization best practices. The strategic plan is designed to engage BVC’s faculty, students, leadership internally; and inspire diverse external stakeholders – industry partners, government, policy makers, public and others. We are aiming at enhancing BVC’s reputation as one of Canada’s Top 50 Research Colleges by consistently communicating research impact.
Goal #1: Share our stories: optimize communication & dissemination of research results. Inspire and engage BVC research community, industry partners and public.
Strategic goals and key activities
Activities
Indicators
Goal #2: Build partnership/collaboration with key industries and community. Engage, recruit and retain partners throughout research. Implement a partnership engagement strategy, aligning with re-search goals.
Activities
Indicators
Public Acknowledgment
Bow Valley College is committed to publicly acknowledging the support of the Research Support Fund and will communicate research results as per the above plan. The College will continue to support its research community and collaborate with partners to enhance impact.
