Institutional Strategic Awards

Simon Fraser University’s Institutional Strategic Awards (ISA) designs strategies and leads initiatives to increase research capacity, income and visibility by supporting SFU faculty members to secure the most prestigious research grants, awards and prizes. The ISA team works closely with a diverse array of stakeholders, including faculty- based research facilitators, other SFU units and university leadership to deliver a coordinated service throughout the research lifecycle

ISA’s work aligns with the priorities of What’s Next: The SFU Strategy, the 2023-2028 Strategic Research Plan and the 2022-2025 Strategic Sustainability and Climate Action Plan. ISA champions equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and research excellence as a trusted partner and central resource for the SFU research community.

Research Development and Management

ISA provides both pre-award proposal development and post-award project management support for initiatives that are large-scale, high risk, led by or awarded to SFU and administratively complex with multiple teams or stakeholders. Major institutional programs managed by ISA include the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) Innovation Fund, Canada First Research Excellence Fund, NFRF Transformation, NSERC CREATE and SSHRC Partnership Grants.

The Development Team provides strategic consultations to principal investigators for project conceptualization, stakeholder engagement and identification of synergies. They offer guidance on crafting proposal narratives to meet evaluation criteria and integrating EDI considerations to foster an equitable research enterprise. The team also prepares institutional letters of support and confirmation of cash and in-kind contributions from SFU.

Additionally, they coordinate the Limited Submission Process and its committee when funders restrict the number of allowable submissions by the university. The team manages the Canada Research Chairs, Canada Excellence Research Chairs and Canada 150 Research Chairs programs.

The Management Team is responsible for the strategic oversight and operational success of the CFI, BCKDF and PacifiCan portfolios. The ISA houses a team of research project managers who support researchers to develop, implement and sustain complex research and research-related projects. The team ensures projects stay in scope, on schedule and
on budget by developing project plans, forecasting and monitoring expenditures, coordinating reporting, navigating institutional and funder processes, identifying and mitigating risk and supporting complex HR, procurement and facilities needs. Some of their initiatives include the Quantum Algorithms Institute, the Civic Innovation Lab and the Canadian Network for Modelling Infectious Disease.

Fostering a Culture of Recognition

The Recognition Team fosters a culture of recognition for research excellence by promoting upcoming award competitions, engaging departments and faculties to identify exceptional candidates, and leading institutional nominations for prestigious awards and fellowships. Additionally, they offer expert guidance to nominators, enhancing SFU’s nomination activity. The team also coordinates the President’s Advisory Committee on Awards, Honours, and Prizes, administers the SFU Excellence in Research Awards, arranges visits from award agency personnel and participates in inclusive excellence initiatives.