FAQ for research activities and processes
Our top priority is the health and safety of our entire community. Aligned with universities across Canada, we are closely following the directives of public health agencies and the government.
Staff and faculty have been actively responding to the needs of our researchers and will continue to respond moving forward in these extraordinary circumstances.
Below are answers to frequently asked questions for researchers. We will continue to update this page as new information becomes available. Information for graduate students can be found on the School of Graduate Studies website.
For other general questions on Concordia’s COVID-19 response, please visit Concordia's COVID-19 website.
Last updated: August 3, 2020, 10:09 a.m.
Research labs and activities
Research with human participants or essential field research
Procedures are now in place to support the resumption of in-person research with human participants or to continue essential field research.
We are working with the Government of Quebec, public health authorities and the City of Montreal as well as public transit commissions to use an approach centered on the respect of social distancing norms and on the protection of all.
As we have done throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we will adhere scrupulously to all public health directives and carefully consider the sanitization and subsequent use of shared spaces such as stairs, elevators and eating areas.
To ensure the health and safety of the community, research labs are being opened in phases. Security, safety and cleaning procedures are evaluated in accordance with Commission des normes, de l'équité (CNESST) protocols.
The pilot phase of opening a small group of labs commenced on May 25. Each week since, the university has continued to open labs and research spaces in both campuses.
Although a lab is open, individuals wishing to return are required to first contact the professor in charge of the lab to follow an approval process. Professors with labs that do not appear on the list may request opening by contacting the Associate Dean, Research, of their Faculty.
An internal communication will be sent to department chairs about which labs will open each week.
The VPRGS set the number of labs to open in the first week at 10, to assess the processes needed to accompany re-opening. As per government directives, the first phase of openings was only targeted at health, natural science, engineering, seasonal and COVID-19-related research. Research involving close contact with human subjects was not targeted in the first wave because of uncertainty in the availability of Personal Protective Equipment and safe working protocols.
Departments, the faculties and VPRGS cooperated to effectively determine labs to include in the re-opening first phase. General criteria that the faculties were asked to consider were: need to come on campus to do research; ability to respect guidelines for health and security of students, faculty and personnel; readiness to start up research; priority for graduate students with limited time left in their funding/studies and for researchers to fulfill existing contractual obligations; informed consent of individuals to go back to work. Critical timing issues related to research involving live organisms and contract deliverables were also considered.
Faculties consulted with departments, which in turn consulted with researchers about their wish to come back to work in the first wave, their plans and their priorities. Department chairs were asked to comment on the submissions of their faculty members, and the faculties gathered the information and recommended who to start first, recognizing the hard choices to be made with hundreds of researchers wanting come back to work, and the availability of a very limited number of places in the first wave.
An effort was made to spread activities between departments. However, given the parameters of the first call, only one — and in some cases two — labs per department were all that could be allotted.
To inquire about re-opening your lab, please contact your research supervisor or Faculty Associate Dean, Research. General questions or concerns may be directed to the Office of Vice-President, Research and Graduate Studies.
The university is following recommendations and guidelines of the CNESST and will have enhanced cleaning and sanitization for areas that will be frequented by faculty, staff and students. Additional hand sanitizing stations will be added. In addition, those accessing campus will be required to use hand sanitizer upon arrival. Training will also be implemented for all individuals accessing campus to ensure a common understanding of expected behaviours for the health and safety of our community. More information about this will be available shortly.
Funding updates
This tri-agency message from March 16 provides updates regarding postponed travel and submission of publications or grant and scholarship applications. For the most up-to-date information, please refer to each agency’s website.
Prise en compte des impacts de la pandémie de COVID-19 dans l’évaluation des demandes de financement aux Fonds de recherche du Québec (French only): http://www.scientifique-en-chef.gouv.qc.ca/wp-content/uploads/Impact_COVID_lignes_directrices.pdf
For up-to-date information on Quebec agencies, please refer to the agency's website.
- FRQNT: http://www.frqnt.gouv.qc.ca/en/covid-19-mesures-et-programmes (French only)
- FRQS: http://www.frqs.gouv.qc.ca/en/covid-19-mesures-et-programmes (French only)
- FRQSC: http://www.frqsc.gouv.qc.ca/en/covid-19-mesures-et-programmes (French only)
SHHRC, NSERC and the FRQ have announced that they will extend the deadline for annual electronic financial reporting from June 30, 2020, to September 30, 2020.
SHHRC and NSERC have announced that academic institutions can automatically approve time extensions for grants ending between February 1, 2020, and March 31, 2021, inclusively, in order to allow grantees to continue spending grant funds. This includes grants already in their automatic/additional extension year.
The FRQ has announced that researchers may request an additional year to spend funds already awarded (this includes grants in an additional extension year).
Please submit the grant extension request form to the Office of Research to request an extension.
As a follow up to the notice on June 4, 2020, that announced additional funding to support trainees (students and postdoctoral fellows) and research support personnel, please find below additional information on the supplements.
On July 22, 2020, NSERC and SSHRC began contacting eligible grant holders directly to offer a supplement for each eligible grant that they hold. To accept a supplement, the recipient will need to confirm the following for each grant:
- the research and work of trainees and research support personnel was disrupted by COVID-19 from April 1 to June 30, 2020, and
- the grant was used to pay the salaries and stipends of trainees and research support personnel during this period of disruption.
Note that the value of the supplement will be commensurate with the average level of support provided to trainees and research support personnel (e.g., for NSERC 64% and for SSHRC 63.5% of the yearly installment) over a three-month period.
Grant holders have until August 13, 2020, to respond to NSERC and SSHRC offer of a supplement.
Once the deadline has passed and the final list of supplements has been approved, Grant holders will receive documentation confirming the details of each supplement they will receive.
To prepare for the receipt and administration of these funds, research and/or finance offices may find the following information helpful:
- the supplements will be incorporated into the existing grant as a separate payment, which will be transferred separately from the regular grants payments to the institution (for ease of tracking).
- supplemental funds may only be spent on salaries and stipends for research personnel, according to the relevant employment/compensation sections of the financial administration guide for the associated grant (e.g. Tri-Agency Guide on Financial Administration, the CCI Financial Administration Guide, and/or funding opportunity literature or funding agreements).
- trainees and research support personnel supported by the supplement will need to ensure they did not benefit from compensation under the Canada Emergency Student Benefit or the Canada Emergency Response Benefit between April 1 and June 30, 2020. They also cannot have benefited from other Government of Canada income supports related to COVID-19, including the extensions of tri-agency scholarships and fellowships during this same period.
- the supplement cannot be used for the remuneration for work directly associated with a program of study, as opposed to research, for trainees who graduated in the spring of 2020.
- a separate statement of account (Form 300 or Form 301) will be required for the supplement funds.
- any unspent (residual) funds from the supplement must be returned to the agency by March 31, 2021.
- supplement funds can be spent on eligible expenditures for the period 1 April – 31 December 2020.
- in instances where a grant has co-investigators from other institutions, the supplement will be administered in the same manner as the grant to which it is associated.
For more information on the supplements, please visit the following webpages:
Please contact Supplements@nserc-crsng.gc.ca (NSERC) or Supplements@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca (SSHRC) if you have any questions not addressed by the information on the webpage or the FAQs.
NSERC and SSHRC Supplements Teams
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
Partnerships & innovation
Yes, with the understanding that any planned research activities and associated timelines must take into consideration the limitations on access to lab spaces and in-person work. Please contact a member of the Research Partnerships and Innovation team to discuss the opportunity and establish next steps.
Requests of this nature must be handled on a case-by-case basis, as every sponsor will differ in its approach. Please contact a member of our team to discuss the specifics and we will be happy to work with you, in conjunction with the sponsor, to determine what accommodations can be made through an amendment to the existing agreement.
Yes, you can still declare a new technology to the Office of Research. Please contact us for guidance on the process.
Ethics & compliance
The current suspension applies only to research involving human participants which requires in-person/close proximity interactions.
You may proceed with remote/online research as long as you receive proper ethics approval for this type of work. Please contact the Ethics Unit to determine the requirements for your specific situation.
You are required to submit an amendment request to your existing protocol. Since you may wish to return to in-person data collection once the current suspension is lifted, please do not remove any methodologies already approved under the protocol; rather simply request the addition of remote/online recruitment and data collection.
The amendment request must contain:
- A cover email requesting an amendment to an approved protocol
- A separate document in PDF outlining any modifications with a clear, detailed explanation as to why the change is being made; list where each document has been modified (SPF and/or supporting documents)
- Copies of the revised SPF and supporting documents with all changes clearly highlighted; do not resend all your appendices – send only those that pertain to the amendment request
- Any new appendices; these must be provided as separate documents saved in PDF
All amendment requests should be submitted by email to oor.ethics@concordia.ca.
Priority review of COVID-19-related projects, as well as rush review of amendments requesting the transition to remote/online research, have been implemented.
The committee continues to meet as per its usual schedule, and the review of regular protocols is not disrupted.
