Research Process

Stage 1 includes all necessary steps to be completed by a faculty or staff principal investigator (PI) before an application for research funding is developed, submitted and approved, and before any legal document leaves BCIT.

If you think you have a viable research idea, you should contact your School Research Committee and your Department Head and/or Dean for approval to develop your research idea further. Once you get approval, you should contact the Applied Research Liaison Office (ARLO) for assistance with processes that lead to the development of a successful research proposal.

Researchers are advised to seek the advice and assistance of ARLO before negotiating research contracts with industry sponsors and/or writing a research grant applications. ARLO can help you to negotiate a contract that represents BCIT’s and the researchers’ interests and complies with BCIT’s research policies. Also, in many cases, a Non-Disclosure Agreement is required.

ARLO can also determine at an early stage whether there is an opportunity to obtain matching government funds. The prospect of a matching grant is often an effective bargaining tool in dealing with an industry sponsors. The ARLO may also assist the industry sponsor with completing the corporate part of the application, and any other documentation that may be required from them.

The writing of a research grant application or proposal is the responsibility of the Principal Investigator (PI). ARLO can provide some assistance with this key task, e.g., executing literature searches, providing examples of other successful proposals, experienced proof-reading, etc.

Stage 2 of the research process begins once the proposal is reviewed by the School Research Committee and approved by the respective Dean. Working with ARLO, the PI applies for ethics approval from the BCIT Research Ethics Board, clarifies ownership of Intellectual Property (IP) and submits the final grant application(s) or industry contract(s) to various funding sources.

Before the application(s) or contract(s) are submitted, the PI is responsible for ensuring the proper signatures have been obtained: Associate Dean, Dean, and for significant research grants or contracts, approval by the Vice President,Academic.

The meaning of signatures:

 For the federal Tri-Council funding agencies – NSERC, SSHRC, CIHR – the signatures of the institutional authorities certify that:

• the institution will abide by the roles and responsibilities as set out in the Memorandum of Understanding with the three Federal Granting Agencies;
• the applicant has met or will meet the eligibility requirements;
• the institution agrees to comply with the agency’s data protection requirements and has adequate safeguards in place to protect sensitive information entrusted to it by the agency for the purpose of administering applications and awards; and
• if the applicant discloses any potential intellectual property arising from the research, he or she and the institution will endeavour to obtain the greatest possible economic benefit to Canada from the resulting commercial

Note: The above requirement for disclosure is not intended to supersede the intellectual property ownership policy that the institution might already have in place. Further information: institutional authorities, applicant’s signatures.

Please coordinate the submission of applications with Stefan Joseph, BCIT’s Research Grants Officer in ARLO. Some government programs require the submission of applications by the Research Grants Officer, not by the PI directly.

In Stage 3 the PI starts working on the research project once award notification is received, all ethical and research policies are addressed, and a research budget is established. When award notification has been received, please contact ARLO so it can be recorded and reported as an Institute research project, and your success can be communicated to the BCIT community.

Once the grant award/contract funding is received, unless other arrangements are made, your School or Department will be responsible for administering grants/contracts. While responsibility for fulfillment of the research requirements resides with the PI, your School will be responsible for reviewing expenditures for compliance and providing financial reporting for research grants/contracts as required.

Upon completion of the project the PI works with ARLO to disclose and manage any IP resulting from the research project.