Concerted Actions program (AC)

Through this program, the Fonds aims specifically to:

• Meet the need for increased knowledge expressed by partners in various sectors across Québec;
• Support the advancement of knowledge in the social sciences, humanities, arts and literature as it pertains to the issues that impact Québec society;
• Support researcher training and the development of research capacity in current and emerging themes through partnership research;
• Increase the decision-making and innovation capabilities of organizations and contribute to the development and assessment of public policy;
• Encourage knowledge sharing between those who generate knowledge and those who use it.

The attainment of these objectives is conditional upon the participation of partners in different phases in the process, from the definition of knowledge needs to the appropriation of the research results, and also upon the participation of researchers in various fields with diverse approaches and methodologies.

The program hinges on partnerships: Concerted Action partners who determine the needs and fund the research and research partners who collaborate with investigators on a daily basis to carry out the research program or project and implement the knowledge transfer strategy.

• Meets research needs stemming from a single theme;
• Allows for the awarding of several scholarships and grants;
• May provide various funding components;
• May be eligible for several competitions.

• Meets a specific, short-term research need;
• May be an evaluative research initiative to enhance a program or an intervention, synthesize current knowledge, etc;
• Funds a limited number of projects;
• Is generally eligible for only one competition.

SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM:

A scientific program is different from a research project and must be based on a research theme developed through specific thrusts driven by research projects funded through other sources. The scientific program must be designed to evolve over time and foster the significant and collective contribution of members to the team’s work and activities.

In an effort to inform Concerted Action partners of the progress of the research, foster the broad dissemination of findings to stakeholders and support the appropriation of the research results, each funded project will include follow-up meetings and a knowledge-transfer activity.

• Made up of Concerted Action partners, researchers, scholarship and grant recipients and Fonds representatives. If necessary, external resources may also be invited to take part.
• Meets when the research project begins and then again at a frequency jointly established by the scholarship and grant recipients and the Concerted Action partners. Funding recipients are required to participate. Travel expenses inherent to this activity must be provided for in the scholarship or grant budget.

Progress report

• Required for certain Concerted Actions. When required, details are provided in the call for proposals.

• In all cases, funding recipients must produce a research report no later than three months after the end of the scholarship or grant period (Master’s and doctoral students must provide access to their thesis or dissertation). 25% of the last portion of the grant is retained until the research report is submitted (required condition for receiving the final grant instalment). The FRQSC has developed a Guide 1 :4 :20 for the use of funding recipients in preparing their research report. The report includes appendices for any additional information. It may be written in English or French. If written in English, it must be accompanied by a title and abstract in French. The conditions governing the submission of the report are set out in the call for proposals. The report must be submitted no more than 3 months after the end date of the grant, except under exceptional circumstances.

• An administrative final report must be provided 6 to 9 months after submission of the final financial report, to allow the Funds and its partners to document the impact of the grants awarded.

• Organized by the Fonds in collaboration with Concerted Action researchers and partners once the research report has been submitted to the Fonds. Funding recipients are required to participate. Travel expenses inherent to this activity must be provided for in the scholarship or grant budget.

• Scholarship and grant recipients must take part in follow-up meetings and the transfer activity. Refusal to participate in these activities may lead to the suspension of the scholarship or grant.

•  Are the responsibility of the participants.
• Must be provided for in the scholarship or grant budget under “Travel and subsistence costs”.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Details: section 5.6 of the Common General Rules

The Fonds adheres to the ”Plan d’action sur la gestion de la propriété intellectuelle” implemented by the government of Québec and complies with the practices in effect in the research sector. Concerted Action partners must also comply.

The Fonds and its partners:

• Recognize the researchers’ intellectual property rights as they pertain to original raw data, interim research and the results of the funded project.
• Will not divulge the results before the researcher has submitted his/her report.

• May reproduce, translate and/or communicate, through any medium, the original raw data collected by the scholarship or grant recipients—or by others working under their supervision—with the recipients’ prior approval. 
• May use the interim research results communicated during follow-up activities or in progress reports, with the scholarship or grant recipients’ prior approval.

• May reproduce, translate and/or communicate the research report through any medium.
• May use the research results that have been made public by the scholarship or grant recipients.

• Will comply with regular university research citation standards at all times, especially with regards to subsequent work based on the research results.

• If the partners ask for a delay of the results disclosure, an agreement must be made with the researchers as to the date at which the results will be divulged.
• The delay must not exceed one month, except in the case of a major foreseeable event (e.g. parliamentary committee hearings).

• Further to the provisions of Section 7 of the CGR, funding recipients must fully disclose all research results as early as possible through follow-up activities, progress reports, the research report, the transfer activity, publications and any other means.

Funding recipients:

• Must grant, to the Fonds as well as to each of the Concerted Action partners, a non-exclusive, non-transferable copyright licence on the research report, without territorial limits (worldwide) and for an unlimited period of time, for which the grant constitutes consideration.
• Assure the Fonds and each of the Concerted Action partners that they hold all the rights that entitle them to consent to the assignment of copyright in accordance with this agreement.

• Determine needs with partners;
• Approval from the Fonds Board of Directors to begin the collaboration;
• Development of the call for proposals;
• Signature of Fonds-partners memorandum of understanding.

• Launch of the call for proposals;
• Submission of the letters of intent;
• Relevance assessments;
• Announcement of the results;
• Submission of the applications for funding;
•  Scientific evaluations;
•  Funding recommendations to the Board of Director and partners;
• Announcement of the results.

• Start of the project;
• Follow-up meetings.

• Submission of the research report;
• Transfer meeting.

Master’s Research Scholarship (B1)

Doctoral Research Scholarship (B2)

Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (B3)

Research support for new academics (NP)

Research Team Support (SE)

Principal Investigator

University Researcher, Clinical Researcher or College Researcher status

Co-researchers

Special cases

Practitioners may be co-researchers of action research projects.

Collaborators

In addition to its co-researchers, a team may include collaborators with any of the statuses described in the CGR, Section 2. The CV of the collaborators is not required and the scientific output of the collaborators will not be evaluated.

Before submitting a funding application, the Principal Investigator must create a user account in FRQnet, if this has not already been done. Individuals who already have a personal identification number (PIN) have direct access to a FRQnet account and must update their E-portfolio.

• French or English (Sec. 3.6, CGR).
• Title and abstract must be in French.

Forms are developed for each call for proposals, based on program components.

• Mandatory for all co-researchers and postdoctoral scholarship applicants.

PLEASE NOTE: when submitting a letter of intent, only the Principal Investigator Canadian Common CV is required.

• To assess the relevance of the proposals based on the needs expressed in the call for proposals.
• PLEASE NOTE: The score given by the relevance assessment does not count towards the final score of the scientific evaluation. However, the scientific committee will evaluate whether the researchers considered the comments of the relevance committee. A certain number of points (see the call for proposals) will be awarded for this criterion.

• A relevance committee made up of Concerted Action partner representatives and members of other organizations selected by the partner (and approved by the FRQSC) for their knowledge of the research topic.

• By the deadline specified in the call for proposals.

• Letter of intent e-form.
• Optional: Letters of authorization and support from research partners

• To assess the scientific quality of the proposals.

• Peer committee made up of research experts in fields relevant to the scholarship and grant applications.

• By the deadline specified in the call for proposals.

• The following documents, where required, must be scanned and included after the Detailed Contributions attachment of the Principal Investigator Canadian Common CV, by the competition deadline:

– Editor’s letters attesting to all publications listed as “accepted” or “in print”;

– Letters of acknowledgement for all publications listed as “submitted”;

• Letter for retired university researcher, to be attached in the “Other documents” section. Retired co-investigators must provide a letter from their university indicating that prior to retirement the researcher was a regular professor, and that for the term of the grant, he/she will have access to the facilities and logistical support required to carry out research activities and will continue to train/supervise students, where applicable. An insufficiently documented letter could render the retired researcher ineligible.
• Contracted researcher: University researchers or clinical university researchers who hold a non-tenure track university position must provide a letter from the university indicating that they will retain this position for the term of the grant. An insufficiently documented letter could render the contracted researcher ineligible. This letter must be attached in the “Other documents” section of the application.

The following documents must be attached to the proposal :

– Letters of authorization and support from research partners;

-Two estimates from suppliers for equipment/services costing over $20,000.

• Any other document required in the call for proposals.

Consult the Master’s Research Scholarship program rules

PLEASE NOTE: Use the master’s scholarship forms provided for the Concerted Actions program

Consult the Doctoral Research Scholarship program rules

PLEASE NOTE: Use the doctoral scholarship forms provided for the Concerted Actions program

Consult the Postdoctoral Fellowship program rules

PLEASE NOTE: Use the Postdoctoral Fellowship forms provided forms provided for the Concerted Actions program

• Specified in the call for proposals.

• The list of eligible budgetary items for each program component is detailed in the appendix of the call for proposals.

• Eligible only when stated in the call for proposals.

• Funds will only be paid out once the Fonds has received an ethics certificate, where required.

• Common General Rules
• Scholarship Holder’s Guide (Master’s and Doctoral scholarships)
• Postdoctoral Fellowship Holder’s Guide
• Responsible Conduct of Research Policy

Nathalie Roy
418 643-7582 Ext. 3138
nathalie.roy@frq.gouv.qc.ca

PROGRAM MANAGEMENT