Information for Faculty

**** All grant applications are to be submitted under our legal name – The University of Western Ontario ****

All applications for funding, grant proposals and/or research contracts require a completed ROLA proposal. The ROLA proposal must be submitted by the lead applicant at Western (i.e., may officially be a co-applicant on a grant submitted by another institution) and be approved by the applicant’s chair/director, Associate Dean Research, and Western Research, regardless of the sponsor’s application requirements.

ROLA

Engineering ROLA Requirements

In addition to the standard requirements for a ROLA proposal, all Western Engineering ROLA proposals will include the following:

1. A copy of your application with budget and ROLA proposal ID must be sent to rolahelp@uwo.ca. ROLA Help will attach your application to your ROLA proposal. You can expect your application to be reviewed by the WE Research Office, Chair, ADR, and Western Research. This process takes time. Your application and ROLA proposal must be submitted a minimum of 7-14 days prior to the application deadline.

2. On the General Info tab, in the Lay Description/Abstract box, all Engineering proposals must include the following questions and answers:

Alternative Workload: Y or N
(Some programs require an alternative workload, e.g., CRC, IRC, certain fellowships, etc. If so, please discuss with your chair and identify here.)
Staff Resources: Y or N
(If your budget includes any individuals other than MESc or PhD, please identify here. For example, PDF, Research Assistant, Research Engineer, Admin Assistant, Admin Officer, etc. If so, please consult the Dean’s Office and ensure that you have budgeted appropriately.)
Matching Funds: Y or N
(if Yes, how much?) Please identify the source of matching funds here (both cash and in-kind.) For example, is it the department, faculty or an external partner (organization's name). Perhaps the project is matched via another program, e.g., CFI and ORF or NSERC and OCI. Please identify all of the connections here.)
Conferred with Dept. Chair on space: Y or N or N/A
(Have you discussed your space requirements with your department chair (e.g., extra staff or research space)? If renovations are required, has it been discussed with the Associate Director of Facilities (Mike Gaylard)?
Does your application involve the purchase of equipment or renovations? Y or N. If yes, have you conferred with Director of Facilities on equipment and renovations? Y or N. (Have you discussed your equipment purchase and/or renovation requirements with the Associate Director of Facilities? The Associate Director of Facilities needs to be consulted to ensure that the budget accurately reflects any additional costs associated with the equipment (e.g., upgrades in: lab space, electrical outlets, cooling requirements, etc.))
IT Resources: Y or N or N/A
(Have you discussed IT resources being requested, e.g., computer purchases and IT staff resources, with the Associate Director of ITG (Ron Farren)?

If there is any additional information that would be helpful to understand during the review, please also include in this box.

3. To allow Western Engineering to track proposals by research theme, please use a key word field within the Key Words tab to indicate the acronym associated with the most relevant theme:

-SERAS (for Sustainability, Environment, Resiliency and Adaptive Systems)
-BETHM (for Biomedical Engineering, Technology in Health and Medicine)
-IMB (for Innovative Materials and Biomaterials)
-UIC (for Ubiquitous Information and Communication)

Institutional Signature Process

All grant and contract applications must be reviewed by RD&S prior to submission to the funding sponsor.

Regardless of the signatory listed on the sponsor form, Western Research must ALWAYS be assumed the signatory on ANY proposal or application for research funding. Western Research will determine if alternate/additional signature requirements exist (in other words, if the form asks only for the Chair signature, it still must be reviewed, approved and signed by Western Research).

Similarly, all contracts (research, technical service, confidential disclosure agreements, material transfer, etc.) must be vetted through the Contracts Research Team and can only be signed by Western Research. Faculty members, department chairs, associate deans, the dean are not able to sign contracts on behalf of Western. They must go to Western Research for review and signature.

Given the large volume of applications flowing through Western Research, review and approval takes time. Complete applications (a copy of the application AND a fully approved ROLA) are required 7-14 days prior to the external deadline. Please note that for major competitions, specialized programs or where there is a large volume of applications expected, alternate internal deadlines may be set. If you are preparing an application, please consult with the WE Research Office and/or Western Research to ensure that you are aware of the internal deadlines.

If a copy of the application requires signature, please note that all other signatures should be in place prior to forwarding to Western Research.

In Engineering, the dean’s signature is provided by Associate Dean, Research. The ADR will review before providing a signature. Please allow sufficient time for review. If there are issues or changes required, ADR signature will be provided once the changes are made and/or issues addressed.

Internal Review

Our Research Office is available to provide guidance to all researchers in the Faculty of Engineering, with the development of proposals and will provide feedback on draft applications. We are happy to provide internal review and feedback, however, this process occurs well before the above signature deadlines, and is not part of the signature process.

Funding Opportunities

Pivot Funding Database

Western University subscribes to Pivot Funding Opportunities for all of our faculty and staff.

Pivot Funding Opportunities is the single most comprehensive source of funding information available on the web, with over 400,000 funding opportunities. Sponsors include private foundations, public agencies, national and local governments, corporations, and more. It is updated daily, and includes funding for many purposes such as research, collaborations, travel, curriculum development, conferences, equipment, training and more.