At the meeting of the board of directors on June 17, members approved a series of proposed amendments to the rules of several scholarship and grant programs. Below is a brief summary of the changes.
ALL PROGRAMS
- Apply the revised version of the FRQ’s open access policy, the Politique de diffusion en libre accès (new requirements in connection with the Plan S)
- Simplify and remove the information that already appears in the FRQ’s Common General Rules
PROJECT-RELATED COLLEGE PROGRAMS
- Add the option to pay the indirect costs of research (frais indirects de recherche, FIR) to the college institutions
SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS
All
- Align the rules of the three Fonds de recherche (FRQSC, FRQS, FRQNT). Key changes for the FRQS:
- Adjust evaluation criteria
- Remove the number of hours related to employment
- Remove the conditions for the 11th and 12th payments in year 4 of the doctoral program
- Extend the duration of the supplement for parental leave (8 months)
- Adopt the rules established by the FRQNT and FRQSC to provide awardees with more options to hold concurrent scholarships. The following scholarships may now be held concurrently with another award:
- Awards from federal and provincial government agencies in addition to those previously mentioned (NSERC, SSHRC CIHR, FRQS, FRQSC, FRQNT)
- Awards to support international mobility through co-supervised projects or internships outside Québec
- Private-sector awards, internal awards handed out by universities and affiliated centres and award supplements from research directors
- The list of organizations recognized by the FRQS to manage funding will no longer be used.
- Add the option to hold a concurrent award from a federal or provincial funding agency if the awardee attends a teaching institution outside Québec at which the tuition fees are higher than the amount of the scholarship
- Add a supplement of $1,500 based on merit to awardees studying outside Québec
- Add the option to be enrolled on part-time basis for students with a medical condition
- Add the option to extend the eligibility period for students with a serious illness
- Make parenthood equivalent to a leave for a major family obligation
- Remove the letter of support from the director for family caregivers and students with a disability
- Add the option to fund training of the same level as previously followed in a discipline other than the field of study if no scholarship was awarded for the training
- Remove the criteria related to follow-ups based on the value of the internship (more or less than $5,000)
Master’s training scholarships (regular and applicants with a professional degree) and doctoral training scholarships (regular and applicants with a professional degree)
- Add the component related to re-entry into the research community for regular master’s training, master’s training for applicants with a professional degree, regular doctoral training and doctoral training for applicants with a professional degree programs
Master’s and doctoral scholarships for medical students
- Remove the requirement related to academic transcripts from the evaluation sub-criteria and required documents
GRANT PROGRAMS
- Give managing institutions until 24 hours after the competition deadline to approve applications
- Replace the terms letter and notice of intent with pre-application
College research – support for team projects
- Add status 4 to the list of eligible statuses for second co-investigator
The minimum requirements for team composition are as follows:
Status 3 investigator
AND
Status 1, 2 or 3 co-investigator
Status 1, 2, 3 or 4 co-investigators may also join the team.