NSERC Alliance Awards at the University of Calgary

Research results from Alliance-funded research must be publishable. 

External partners may request a brief review period to identify confidential or proprietary information, such as to pursue provisional patent relief for any patentable subject matter. However,open-ended or overly restrictive publication restrictions are not permitted. That would include broad veto powers by an external partner which could jeopardize the academic integrity of the publication. 

Publications should generally provide proper acknowledgement for the contributions of each party, including co-authorship where appropriate, in accordance with academic standards. See also: Publications

Projects must include meaningful training opportunities for students and postdocs. NSERC will evaluate the quality of the training environment. 

At UCalgary, all students involved in thesis-based work associated with an NSERC Alliance project must be given the opportunity to prepare, disclose, and defend their thesis without delay. External partners may request that thesis examiners take on reasonable confidentiality commitments to the extent they are receiving Confidential Information from the external partner. See also: Student and Sponsored Research

The research must be collaborative in nature, with active involvement from both the UCalgary and external partner teams. Projects must not be structured as contracted research or fee-for-service arrangements.

The research agreement must be subject to the specific Terms of Award which is issued by NSERC to the applicants upon notification that the grant has been approved.

As a condition of participating in NSERC Alliance-funded research, external partners must comply with the applicable Tri-Agency policies and frameworks. These include (as amended from time to time):

• The Administration of Agency Grants and Awards by Research Institutions, which outlines institutional responsibilities for managing Tri-Agency funds;
• The Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans (TCPS2 2022), which governs the ethical conduct of research involving human participants; and
• The Tri-Agency Framework: Responsible Conduct of Research, which sets out standards for research integrity and the responsible use of public funds.

These requirements must be adhered to throughout the lifecycle of the project. UCalgary is committed to upholding these standards and expects the same from external partners and co-applicants.

NSERC does not require that IP be generated or transferred to the partner. IP arrangements must be negotiated between the university and the partner, and must not restrict the ability to publish or train students. 

Under UCalgary’s Intellectual Property Policy, UCalgary is a “Creator-owned” institution where individual researchers have rights towards intellectual property resulting from their UCalgary-related scholarly and creative activities. This means that each individual Creator has some decision-making authority towards their IP, subject to UCalgary’s policies and procedures. For this reason, terms surrounding patent protection and/or commercialization will not appear in research contracts and will be subject to future negotiations once the New IP is created.

UCalgary’s general expectations regarding IP terms in NSERC Alliance projects is:

• Background IP: Each of UCalgary and the external partner will continue to own their respective “Background IP” which they bring to the collaboration, in accordance with their intellectual property policies. They may provide licenses to the other to allow the other party to use that Background IP solely for the purposes of conducting the research project.
• New IP: Each of UCalgary and the external partner will own any new IP which they (or their personnel) solely develop, in accordance with their intellectual property policies. Any IP which is jointly developed by personnel of UCalgary and the external partner will typically be jointly owned by them.
• Licenses to New IP: External partners will grant UCalgary a license to use their new IP (sole or joint) for non-commercial purposes (e.g. educational and public research activities). Similarly, UCalgary will grant external partners a license to use their new IP (sole or joint) for internal purposes, such as research advancement.
• Benefit to Canada: Under NSERC Alliance terms, external partners are expected to make efforts to use their newly developed IP to create economic, social and/or environmental benefit for Canada and Canadians

Beyond the items above, some of the other common legal terms which UCalgary expects to see in NSERC Alliance research contracts between UCalgary and external partners include:

• Payments and Budget: Financial contributions from each partner (and any match funds) must align with the project budget approved by NSERC. Payment schedules, eligible expenses, and financial reporting obligations will be clearly outlined.
• Progress Reports: The research teams will need to submit progress reports and final reports for the project to NSERC, in accordance with the timelines set out in the NSERC Alliance Notice of Award.
• Scope of Work: The scope of the research activities, including roles and responsibilities, deliverables, timelines, and any milestones, must be aligned with the project plan approved by NSERC.
• Confidentiality: The agreement will include provisions to protect confidential information shared during the collaboration. These terms typically allow for reasonable review periods prior to publication to safeguard proprietary data, while still complying with NSERC’s requirement for publishable results. See: Confidentiality and Research
• Indemnity & Insurance: UCalgary typically expects to see market standard indemnification clauses to protect it from claims or damages resulting from the external partner’s actions. Throughout the term of the research agreement, UCalgary and the external partner will each insure their respective operations under contracts of comprehensive general liability insurance. 

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