Calls for Proposals
Petroleum Research Atlantic Canada (PRAC) funds and facilitates collaborative R&D to support the safe and environmentally-sound development of Atlantic Canada’s petroleum resources. PRAC’S overarching research and development goals are to improve regional prospectivity and reduce exploration and production costs for the Atlantic Canadian petroleum industry.
Our membership includes industry producers and explorers, provincial and federal governments, industry associations, suppliers and research-performing institutions across the region. PRAC has issued more than $6M in funding to date, contributing to a total project portfolio valued at over $28M including leveraged sources. We are currently administering 30 active projects worth over $14M.
PRAC seeks proposals for projects that will address the business needs of our members. Projects may range from early phase applied research to full scale technology adaptation or development, but in all cases proponents should clearly address the commercial relevance of their proposals to the offshore petroleum industry, and the distinctiveness of their research or technology development project in an international context (i.e. the relevance of their project to other international work in the same area).
- While business value will be the core selection criterion, other valued project attributes may include:
- High quality Research and Development (R&D) project management processes, with well-defined, focussed objectives and proven approaches, expertise, and proper project controls
- Exportable technologies and capabilities (including intellectual property) developed in Atlantic Canada
- Growth of relevant local and regional R&D/Education and Training (E&T) capacity, including development of partnerships between private-sector suppliers and public-sector researchers and/or international collaboration
Eligibility
Proposals are invited from any university, college, government research institution, supplier or service company, private sector research performers or consortia or alliances of any of these groups with relevant technical capabilities and capacity to perform the work. Applicants able to execute the work in Newfoundland and Labrador or Nova Scotia have the greatest chance of success. Successful applicants will undertake their research project as per the agreed set of time lines, deliverables, and payment schedule of the Grant Agreement.
NSERC Eligible Researchers
A 2003 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and PRAC recognizes joint organizational commitment to fund petroleum related R&D in Atlantic Canada. NSERC has accepted PRAC as an industry partner where PRAC research funds are eligible for NSERC matching funds through the NSERC Collaborative Research & Development (CRD) program.
University researchers who are invited to submit a full proposal under a targeted PRAC Call for Proposals, may jointly apply to NSERC-CRD for matching funds. The program uniquely offers a collaborative and concurrent PRAC/NSERC external peer review process for proposal submissions; significantly improving the overall cycle time toward obtaining funding approval.
The documentation required for a joint PRAC-NSERC-CRD application includes the PRAC Short Form and NSERC Forms 100 and 101, accessible below.
This joint funding program is managed by PRAC and all required documentation must be submitted to PRAC only by the scheduled full proposal application deadline for the particular Call. The NSERC forms must be completed and saved to your own computer and then forwarded to PRAC in both e-copy and hard copy as part of the original full submission. Please do not use the NSERC electronic send button for Forms 100 and 101. Instructions for completing NSERC forms 101 and 100 are located on the NSERC website.
Proposal submissions to the PRAC/NSERC-CRD program must meet all PRAC and NSERC requirements to be considered eligible for funding. Applicants are advised to contact PRAC’s Research Grants Manager at (902) 494-2960 for further assistance and/or information regarding the joint funding program and to confirm eligibility.
Application Forms
Please download, complete and return the appropriate application form. The Full Form is for PRAC-only projects (including Calls, TTUs and JIPs). The Short Form is designed for PRAC-NSERC joint proposals and must be submitted to PRAC with NSERC Forms 100 and 101.
PRAC Full Form [PDF] [MS Word] PRAC Short Form [PDF] [MS Word]
NSERC Form 100 [PDF] NSERC Form 101 [PDF]
