Sponsor

Mitacs

Description

Due to changes in the federal funding landscape and unique situations across several provinces, institutions based in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario are being impacted by Mitacs funding constraints. In Ontario, there will be a significant reduction of available funding in 2024- 2025 for the Accelerate [1]program, which includes the joint Mitacs applications with Tri-Agency programs.
 

University of Guelph Accelerate Allowance

Taking into account the level of federal funding to Mitacs, provincial considerations, and the average use of the Accelerate program by each institution, Mitacs has determined a maximum number of Accelerate Internship Units for each university.

The University of Guelph has received a limit of 120 Accelerate Internship Units allowable within the current fiscal year (April 1, 2024 through to March 31, 2025). This limit equates to just over half of the average annual activity relative to prior years. Effective immediately, requirements will need to be met to access part of this allowance.

For researchers with existing projects, please note:

• Projects submitted as of June 26 are already accounted for and will be honoured within our institutional allowance.
• Projects previously approved by Mitacs will continue to be honoured. These include NSERC-Mitacs joint projects, all streams of the Accelerate program and multi-year Accelerate projects.
• Projects which are not impacted by these restrictions are:
  • Accelerate projects in quantum research
  • Indigenous Pathways [2] program
  • Elevate program
  • Business Strategic Internship (BSI) program

The University’s remaining allotment of internship units for the current fiscal year will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis in accordance with the following process and requirements.  

For new projects, the process is as follows:

• If you have any Mitacs Accelerate projects at draft stage, please contact Mitacs Senior Advisor, Emily Gordon (egordon@mitacs.ca [3] | egordo05@uoguelph.ca [4]), to understand if there is an opportunity to transfer either the full project or a portion of it to the Elevate [5] or Business Strategy Internship [6] (BSI) programs.
• Please liaise with Emily Gordon as a next step before initiating any new Accelerate application.
• If, after discussion with Emily Gordon, the Accelerate program is the best fit for your project and there is sufficient allowance remaining to proceed with a submission, the following requirements must be met:
  • Interns must be named at the time of application
  • Project start date must be before December 31, 2024
  • Project duration must be ≤2 years

The requirement to name interns at the time of application will apply to all Mitacs programs for this fiscal year. The process outlined above is intended to be in effect for this fiscal year only as a temporary strategy to manage the short-term restrictions.

The Research Services Office is on hand to provide support as we move forward during this period. For questions, please first reach out to Emily Gordon, Mitacs Senior Advisor, or Carolyn Osborn, Director – Research Support Services.

You may also wish to join one of the upcoming weekly RSO drop-in sessions to discuss further: Join “Ask Anything” Drop-In Teams meeting [7] (Wednesdays, 12-1pm).