Proposal Development Support

The Faculty of Arts & Science Research Services Office provides guidance and resources to support researchers through the external grant submission process. Services include:

  • Application development, including consultation on project ideas and grant program fit, whether a proposal for a research operating grant, conference, workshop, research project, community outreach or a partnered large or small-scale research collaboration.
  • Review and feedback on proposal drafts, focused primarily on the strength of the proposal in meeting the specific program objectives and on overall rhetorical effectiveness including organizational structure, grammar, word choice and the use of non-specialist language. 
  • Consultation on budgets and sources for matching funds. 
  • Clarification and further information on the U of T application and approval processes.
  • Recommendations for additional grant support services and referrals to relevant policies and other resources available on campus.

For application development support, please contact your designated Funded Research Officer.

Preparing a Competitive Grant Application

The following resources are available to help in the preparation of grant applications.

Grant Review Deadlines

A&S Research Services SharePoint

Additional Research Resources

Steps to Apply for an External Research Grant

Step 1: Begin creating the grant application following funding agency guidelines. 

Step 2: MRA Approval: Follow Arts & Science and U of T deadlines (generally one week or more before sponsor deadline), to submit a final or near-to-final draft and final budget of the application onto the MRA (My Research Applications) system for review and approval. This step is necessary to secure the required institutional approval(s) before submitting the completed application to the funding agency.

Step 3: Submit final completed application to the funding agency, according to the agency and institutional deadlines. Most tri-agency and other federal grants are submitted by the applicant through the funding agency’s online application system. In some cases, this is a two-step process and a final institutional approval is required before the application is released to the funding agency by the U of T Research Services Office. For other grant applications, follow the agency and U of T institutional submission guidelines, as outlined in the relevant Research Alert or Funding Opportunity Database information page.