Applying for a Grant

• A description of each expense, with itemized estimates for individual costs and purchases (e.g., registration fees, hospitality, hourly rate for research assistant).
• A brief rationale for every expenditure, explaining how it supports the project’s goals and inquiry, and student partnership where relevant. Please include information on how any equipment, material, or hardware purchases will be used after the project’s completion.

• Hiring a student research assistant as partners in the project (see below for recommendations).
• Indigenous honoraria, protocols, and gifts.
• Travel and conference registration fees to share project findings (see below for stipulations). 
• Travel and associated costs for community-engaged work.
• Paying open-access publication fees (see below for stipulations).
• Fees to complete relevant training, workshops, or professional development.
• Research participant incentives (e.g., gift cards). Please consult with the appropriate University of Calgary Research Ethics Board.
• Hiring a transcriptionist, communications consultant, artist, videographer, or other consultants essential to completion of the project (see list of UCalgary approved transcription services at https://libguides.ucalgary.ca/c.php?g=709222&p=5052798).
• Purchase or rental of materials, supplies, printing, communications, hardware, equipment, or software licenses required for completion of the project. Please provide a justification for why equipment or hardware is needed and how non-expendable materials will be used after the completion of the project.
• Supplying hospitality, catering, or renting a venue for a gathering or event.

Projects start April 1^st of the award year, and spending must be complete before June 30^th of the project’s final year.

Full budget funding will be released after your project has undergone ethics review and you have completed the required paperwork to set-up a project with the Research Services Office. Early release of funds can be available for projects prior to research ethics approval. These funds can be used to support expenses related to the project that do not require research ethics approval (e.g., hiring a student to support with project design and the research ethics application process). 

Project creation and funds transfer typically takes 6 weeks, but can take longer. We recommend beginning this process as soon as awards are announced. You can begin recruitment for student hires as soon as awards are announced, but will not be able to pay students until the project is created and funds transferred.

We recommend that applicants include in-kind contributions in support of work proposed in the application that will be supported through other sources (as a request of $0 in the grant budget). For example, if you are proposing to share work at conferences, you can include in your budget that you plan to cover some or all of the expenses through Professional Expense Reimbursement (https://www.ucalgary.ca/hr/work-compensation/working-ucalgary/expenses-reimbursement/professional-expense-reimbursement). Including these in-kind contributions can help adjudicators assess the feasibility of your proposed project, and the alignment of project goals with the proposed budget. Funding from your department, academic unit, or other sources can also be included in the budget as in-kind. 

The following are ineligible for funding through the University of Calgary Teaching and Learning Grants:

• Costs normally budgeted by University of Calgary units or services offered by the university (e.g., office space, departmental administrative support).
• Costs associated with student course fees (e.g., student costs with field trips, tuition reimbursement, etc.).
• Salaries, wages, or compensation for full-time employees of the University of Calgary.
• Employing Teaching Assistants for timetabled courses.
• Principal Grant Holders may not pay themselves.
• Journal subscriptions or professional memberships. 
• Creation of sub-grants.
• Purchasing equipment or supplies normally supplied by the University.

We strongly recommend (but don’t require) hiring a student research assistant to assist with the project. To support students’ development as teachers and researchers and to inform how we conduct research into teaching and learning, we encourage involving student research assistants (Ras) not just as support but as co-inquirers or fellow members of the research team (i.e., more fully understanding the teaching and learning context, providing a student’s perspective throughout the project, planning and designing the project, gathering and analyzing evidence, disseminating findings by co-authoring and/or co-presenting).

In the budget justification, please specify the RA’s types of activities, wages, and the number of hours. We recommend including an additional 20% to the hourly rate to account for mandatory employment-related costs. We recommend a minimum rate of $25/hour for undergraduates, $30/hour for graduate students, and $35 for PhD students. Please contact Uservice or your HR partners for information on student hiring processes.

A maximum of 30% of the budget may cover conference travel and registration fees to learn about teaching and learning or to present a project’s findings. Travel costs must be approved by the university. Requests for travel-related budget items should be accompanied by a strong rationale for their relevance to the project. If students as partners are involved in your project, we recommend including them in plans for sharing knowledge.

A maximum of 30% of the budget may be allocated to disseminate findings, such as open-access publication fees or page charges.

Requests for course releases must have the explicit written approval of the relevant leadership in your academic unit (e.g., Department Head and/or Dean). If a teaching release is included in your application, you must: 

• attach written leadership approval;
• include and justify the cost of the release in the budget.