Administer a Chair

Financial Administration

• Eligible expenses
• Ineligible expenses

Eligible expenses

Grant funds are administered by the host university and must be used to support the direct and indirect costs of the CERC for which the funds were awarded. For each Chair, Canadian universities will receive up to $10 million over seven years ($1.4 million per year) to:

• provide competitive salaries and benefits for the Chairholder;
• assemble outstanding research teams and cover their salary and benefits;
• fund the direct costs of the research program (consumables, small equipment, travel, knowledge sharing and dissemination, etc); and
• support the indirect costs of the research (up to 25% of the direct costs of research).

Eligible expenses include:

Salary and recruitment

• the incumbent’s salary and non-discretionary benefits (including bonuses or merit increases);
• the salaries and non-discretionary benefits of members of the incumbent’s team (students at all levels, postdoctoral fellows, research associates, technicians, clerks, administrative assistants, research assistants);
• the costs of teaching replacement for the chairholder only, including compensation to a department for one of its faculty members to teach one or more of the chairholder’s courses—this amount cannot exceed the cost of a sessional lecturer appointment;
• recruitment costs, which may be recovered retroactively, but only for funded chairholders and members of their research team;
• relocation expenses, including travel costs up to the value of economy airfare for the chairholder and immediate family, and the cost of transporting the family’s household effects, which can be recovered retroactively, but only for funded chairholders and members of their research team;

Direct costs

• the cost of one return trip between the chairholder’s home institution and the sabbatical location, for the incumbent and members of their research team;
• the cost of travel, workshops, computing, expendables, publications, small equipment, materials and supplies for the chairholder or members of the research team;
• travel and accommodation expenses for speakers invited to research conferences and workshops;
• fees for memberships in scholarly associations related to the chairholder’s field of research;
• the cost of outfitting research and office space for the incumbent and members of their research team;
• costs associated with the use of cellular telephones if, and only if, such use is essential for collecting data;

Indirect costs

• monthly charges for use of the Internet from the institution or from the home for research purposes only, for the incumbent and members of their research team;
• the cost to transport research equipment and material from the chairholder’s home institution to the sabbatical location;
• the cost of operating and maintaining research equipment and other resources required for research;
• administrative costs related to the Chair (for proposal writing, technology transfer, libraries, research services, financial management, human resources); and
• hospitality costs (non-alcoholic refreshments and meals) for networking purposes and other research-related activities.

Ineligible expenses

Ineligible expenses include:

• a research time stipend for a member of the Chair's research team;
• the salary of a faculty member other than the chairholder, or the salary of other researchers who are not members of the chairholder’s research team;
• costs associated with the relocation of the chairholder and family other than those for travel and the transportation of household effects;
• cost of technical services or supplies from a company owned by a faculty member who is eligible to apply for funding from any one of the three federal granting agencies;
• death benefits, and any other discretionary benefit;
• discretionary severance and separation packages;
• passport and immigration fees;
• monthly charges for telephone rental or connection;
• costs associated with answering services and rental or purchase of cellular telephones;
• accommodation and meals while the chairholder is on sabbatical leave;
• the travel costs of a chairholder's family or research team member’s family from the home institution to the sabbatical location;
• cost of a teaching replacement while the chairholder is on leave;
• insurance premiums on equipment and research vehicles;
• Internet installation charges;
• cost of connection or installation of telephone or other lines;
• costs associated with purchase of library books and of computer or other information services that are provided to all members of an institution;
• patenting expenses;
• costs associated with regulatory compliance, including ethical review, biohazard or radiation safety, environmental assessments, or provincial or municipal regulations and bylaws.