Research activities

The university no longer authorizes work-related travel and strongly advise all members of our community against travelling for any purpose for the foreseeable future.

Regarding research travel — if you have incurred expenses already relating to research travel, note that the federal granting agencies — Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) — will consider the reimbursement of such non-refundable travel fees due to the COVID-19 situation as acceptable. This applies to the travel of both principal investigators and research personnel, when cancellation occurs.

Les Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ) has also announced that they will also consider the reimbursement of such non-refundable travel fees due to the COVID-19 situation as acceptable.

In line with this approach, Concordia will also reimburse such charges on PDA or other Concordia research funds accounts for which such travel related expenses are permitted.

For other externally funded research grants, we plan to treat such charges in alignment with the Tri-Agency’s approach. As needed, if a granting agency announces a position that they will be unable to fund reimbursements for non-refundable travel fees due to COVID-19, Concordia will ensure to provide an alternative source of funding.