The University of Winnipeg has received almost one million dollars from the federal government’s Research Support Fund for 2016-2017.
“UWinnipeg is grateful for the Research Support Fund grant, which helps to support the work of our faculty members in many important ways, from strengthening our library to using cloud-based software, invaluable resources for our researchers,” said Dr. Jino Distasio, Vice-President, Research and Innovation. Approximately 50% of UWinnipeg’s total research costs are covered by this grant.
The Research Support Fund assists Canadian post-secondary institutions and their affiliated research hospitals and institutes with the expenses associated with managing the research funded by the three federal research granting agencies: the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR); the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC); and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
Last year, UWinnipeg utilized the Research Support Fund dollars to support the following:
Library: Due to the rising cost of academic journals, the Library has focused on sustaining resources responsibly through assessment and increased dialogue with faculty about their needs in the short and long term. This past year the Library continued to seek opportunities to shift some acquisition expenditures to supporting Open Access initiatives like Erudit and Scoap3. These investments benefit the UW community by promoting trustworthy and respected open access resources to our faculty and students, and also in defining an institutional role in the shifts in scholarly communication occurring in the global academic landscape.
Financial Services Upgrades: During the past fiscal year, the University began its transition to a new financial system, Microsoft Dynamics NAV and new reporting software, Prophix. Award functionality will include multi-year reporting with enhanced non-financial information attached. Over the next year, training sessions, enhanced researcher access, and other “go live” stages will bring about faster, more accurate, and more efficient services for researchers and research administration staff.
Research Support: A full time Program Officer position was added to the University of Winnipeg Research Office to maintain and develop research partnerships and facilitate knowledge mobilization and potential commercialization of research. As the University’s research funding in the past decade has nearly tripled, the University of Winnipeg is striving to build support for researchers.
