Research Support Fund (RSF)

This page provides SFU researchers, staff and faculty with an overview of how the Research Support Fund (RSF) program is administered at SFU, and explains key internal processes like funding allocation and reporting requirements. For general information about the RSF, visit the Research Support Fund web page.

About the RSF

The Research Support Fund assists Canadian post-secondary institutions with the expenses of managing their research enterprise. RSF currently has a budget of nearly $400 million and serves more than 150 post-secondary institutions across the country. Eligible institutions like SFU 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 (i.e. research funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research [CIHR], the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council [NSERC] and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council [SSHRC]).

Institutions have flexibility in deciding how to use their grant, provided that the funds are used for current expenditures of indirect costs attributed to federally sponsored research, in the following five categories:

research facilities
research resources
management and administration of the institution’s research enterprise
regulatory requirements and accreditation
intellectual property and knowledge mobilization

Please see a list of eligible and ineligible expenditures within each category. The source of this RSF information can be found on the RSF website.

SFU’s RSF Allocation

The amount that flows to SFU in any given year is related to the overall RSF program budget and the number of grants the university receives from CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC, as well as the amounts spent by the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE). The more Tri-Agency grants SFU applies for and receives, the more funds SFU will receive from the RSF program.

The RSF program administration uses a funding formula to determine the actual value of an institution’s RSF allocation.

The funding formula is based on funding received over a three year period. The RSF rate (excluding IPG and Research Security) varies, but ~19% is the most recent rate for SFU.
Each year, a Tri-Agency committee determines which granting agency programs should be included in the credit base, as well as how credits are to be allocated to participating institutions.
The committee also determines how credits will be divided for multi-institutional grants. Typically, credits for multi-institutional grants are divided proportionally among the participating institutions based on the number of researchers from each institution, not by the amount of money sub-awarded or spent (though there are exceptions).
RSF credits are also generated by research activity conducted at affiliated research institutes, hospitals, and other affiliates. The list of SFU’s current affiliates can be found on our main SFU RSF webpage.

See more information about RSF grant calculations.

How SFU Allocates the RSF Funding it Receives

At SFU, funds from the RSF are allocated as follows:

45% - VP Academic (VPA): all funds go to the Faculties
45% - VP Research and International (VPRI): Research Operations and Administration
10% - VP Finance and Administration (VPFA): IT Services and Research Accounting

NOTE: RSF received for affiliates is removed from SFU's RSF total before the 45 / 45 / 10 split is applied.

Fiscal Year 2024-2025

The RSF estimate at SFU for 2024-2025 is $7,057,940.

$358,214.10 will be put aside for affiliates and partners
$6,699,725.90 will be divided 45/45/10 as per above
- VPA: $3,014,876.65
- VPRI: $3,014,876.65
- VPFA: $669,972.59

Faculty allocation amounts for 2024-2025

Total Amount: $3,014,876.65

Numbers listed are in millions and are based on a three-year average of RSF awarded amounts from 2020-2021, 2021-2022, and 2022-2023.

	FAS	FASS	Beedie	FCAT	EDUC	FENV	FHS	SCI	TOT
3-yr Avg % distribution	17.0%	11.0%	1.8%	5.5%	2.8%	4.2%	17.0%	40.7%	100%
Distribution of Ref. Pt.	$0.51	$0.33	$0.06	$0.16	$0.08	$0.13	$0.51	$1.23	$3.01
Specific Amount	$512,529.03	$331,636.43	$54,267.78	$165,818.22	$84,416.55	$126,624.82	$512,529.03	$1,227,054.80	$3,014,876.65

Fiscal Year 2023-2024

The RSF estimate at SFU for 2023-2024 is $7,258,000.

$261,000 will be put aside for affiliates and partners
$6,997,000 will be divided 45/45/10 as per above
- VPA: $3,148,650
- VPRI: $3,148,650
- VPFA: $699,700

Faculty allocation amounts for 2023-2024

Total Amount: $3,148,650

Numbers listed are in millions and are based on a three-year average of RSF awarded amounts from 2019-2020, 2020-2021, and 2021-2022.

	FAS	FASS	Beedie	FCAT	EDUC	FENV	FHS	SCI	TOT
3-yr Avg % distribution	18.7%	10.4%	2.1%	5.8%	2.7%	4.3%	18.5%	37.6%	100%
Distribution of Ref. Pt.	$0.59	$0.33	$0.07	$0.18	$0.08	$0.14	$0.58	$1.18	$3.15
Specific Amount	$588,797.55	$327,459.60	$64,547.33	$182,621.70	$83,439.23	$135,391.95	$582,500.25	$1,183,892.40	$3,148,650.00

RSF Responsibility and Accountability

Faculties can determine how to allocate the RSF they receive in compliance with Tri-Agency eligibility rules. For instance, a faculty can decide to allocate their RSF to a small number of large expenses. See the guidelines describing eligible RSF expenses.

Once a year, SFU faculties are required to report to the VPRI Office on how the RSF funds for the previous year were spent.

The VPRI Office is responsible for:

Submitting the RSF application (includes RSF spending plans for coming year), statement of account and outcomes report; and
Fulfilling the accountability and public acknowledgement requirements via our main SFU RSF webpage.

FAQs

How are RSF funds distributed when an awarded proposal has researchers across a number of faculties at SFU?

If an awarded proposal contains applicants/co-applicants from multiple SFU faculties, our internal RSF allocation goes to all the faculties involved provided their applicants/co-applicants are given funding from that award. It does not matter which faculty houses the lead vs. co-applicant—what matters is who gets funds from the award.

If an awarded proposal is led by another institution but includes SFU researchers as co-applicants, does SFU receive any RSF for the award?

Yes, in most cases SFU does receive some RSF for awarded proposals led by other institutions. In such cases, the SFU faculty receives RSF from our internal RSF allocation, provided that the SFU researcher is sub-granted funds on the award.

How is a Faculty’s RSF allocation determined?

Faculty RSF allocations are based on each Faculty's percentage of Tri-Agency funding received during a three-year period. More specifically, the VPRI's Research Intelligence Office (RIO) pulls a list of all the Tri-Agency grants received by the Faculties at SFU during the target three years. This list is given to the SFU Institutional Research and Planning office, which essentially does a pivot table to determine the total Tri-Agency funding per Faculty for those three years. They average the three years and then convert the totals into a percentage per Faculty. The percentages are then applied to the total VPA RSF amount for the year to determine the specific amount allocated per Faculty.

Researcher Resources