Tri-Agency Grant Amendments

If you wish to change your grant after it is awarded, you may do so after receiving permission from the agency.

Amendments may include one or more of the following:

  • Extension of the grant itself
  • Deferral of annual transfers
  • Changes in personnel, including adding new personnel, or altering roles of existing personnel
  • Changes to the administering institution
  • Changes in eligibility of the grant holder
  • Parental Leaves
  • Termination of a Grant

Background

As of April 1, 2020, Canadian Federal Agencies CIHR, NSERC, and SSHRC, commenced use of a new form for processing amendments to existing grants which required procedural changes at the institutional level, the most significant being institutional submission of the amendment form. Grant holders nor departments are no longer permitted to submit amendment forms directly; they must receive institutional validation prior to agency approval:

"This form is to be completed and submitted by the relevant institutional representative: research grants officer, business or financial officers, as applicable."

For relevant sections of the Tri-Agency Guide on Financial Administration, see https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/InterAgency-Interorganismes/TAFA-AFTO/guide-guide_eng.asp#25 

Research Initiatives and Services (RIS)

Memorial University's Research Initiatives and Services (RIS) office submits Tri-Agency amendments on behalf of grant holders. RIS requests that researchers use an RIS Amendment Event on the existing file in the Memorial Researcher Portal. In addition to completing the Researcher Portal questions, grant holders must:

HSS Faculty Procedure

As of February 12, 2024, and until further notice, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences procedure for Tri-Agency grant amendments is as follows:

  1. Applicants should discuss the amendment type and requirements with their department heads and an HSS Grant Facilitation Officer (GFO).
    • Heads may require additional documentation, if applicable.
  2. Applicants prepare required materials, including:
    • If applicable, approvals of changes or extensions to existing commitments (space, course release use, extension of cash contribution availability, etc.).
    • A complete draft of the Tri-Agency Grant Amendment Form (https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/_doc/Tri-Agency/TAFAG/Grant_Amendment_Form_e.pdf) version 996 (04-2023)
      • Note: At Memorial, the "Institutional Representative" or "Authorized Official" in Tri-Agency forms indicates an officer designated by Research Initiatives and Services, usually the Director. Signature areas should remain unfilled.
  3. Applicants email the completed draft form and any commitment or contribution change documents to a GFO for review. The GFO may request revisions.
    • Any supporting documentation, for example, for workload, HR matters, leaves, etc. should remain in the department and not be forwarded to the GFO. 
  4. Once the Amendment Form is reviewed and prepared, the GFO emails the Department Head and the Associate Dean (Research) (or designates) to seek their approval, attaching the completed form and relevant supporting research commitments / contribution documentation.
    • The Head confirms continued academic appointment status of the researcher. Extensions can only be permitted if an academic appointment meets the requirements of the Agency. Heads should confer with the GFO if there are any concerns (in particular, for Postdoctoral Fellows, Adjuncts, Honorary Research Professors, or Contract / Term Appointments). 
  5. The GFO drafts an RIS Amendment Event, attaches the form, any required supporting documentation, and a PDF of the email approvals to the associated file in the Researcher Portal.
  6. The applicant reviews the draft Amendment Event, and submits if they concur, or revises as required in discussion with the GFO.
  7. RIS will review and forward to the external agency.

Other Resources & Details

For assistance on launching events in the Memorial Researcher Portal, see https://rpresources.mun.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/24.11.2017-Creating-and-Managing-Events.pdf

Frequently Asked Questions

Your amendment may have 'knock on' effects, which can include:

  • Re-issuing or updating transfers to co-applicants
  • Extensions or amendments to existing agreements
  • Changes to payments such as stipends to students
  • Updates or extensions to ethics or other clearances

Each of these must be handled as required, and may include additional events in the Researcher Portal.

No. Amendments must be made by the Principal Investigator. This includes extension of availability of funds sent to other institutions (including Memorial) for co-applicants. Overall extension of a grant timeline does not guarantee continued access to sub-granted or transferred funds. Transfers to other researchers or agreements themselves must also be updated once the main grant is amended, if applicable.

A deferral is a pause in annual transfers from the Agency to Memorial when annual transfers yet remain for the grant. In single-year grants (Connection and Partnership Engage for SSHRC), deferrals are not possible; nor are deferrals possible for year 1 of a SSHRC grant.

An extension changes the project end date, allowing continued use of funds once the last transfer has occurred. For SSHRC these are only entertained once the grant has entered the automatic 1 year extension period.

For SSHRC, the extensions are only permitted normally for a maximum of 1 year.

Not without seeking an appointment as an Adjunct or Honorary Research Professor.

Not without seeking an appointment as an Adjunct or Honorary Research Professor.

In order to hold your funds, you must maintain an academic appointment. If you are remaining at Memorial, you should seek reappointment in some form - be it a continuation of your current appointment or another eligible appointment. Appointments must be continguous - ie there can be no gap between them, even for a day.