Setting up your Discovery grant budget can be daunting. What is eligible? What isn’t? How to begin? For the first time applicant, it is important to talk to your colleagues to determine what they spend on common items in your field. Getting this set of “rules of thumb” helps to determine what a reasonable budget request might be. Watch for future posts on discipline-specific budget rules of thumb.

Recently, NSERC announced that they will be instituting a minimum Discovery grant award in this competition. This minimum funding amount is $15k per annum.

There are several ways to approach setting a budget. My preferred strategy is to ask for what you NEED to do the research you have outlined in your proposal. Of course, the request must be in context with the stage of development of the lab, the applicant’s demonstrated research management skills, and the field of study. A biomedical researcher can get away with a materials and supplies request in the tens of thousands range, whereas a theoretical physicist probably will not. Generating a reasonable budget that is linked to the research is an important means of demonstrating the need for funds and science management skill of the researcher. Grants are now scored for relative research cost as low, medium or high for the particular topic area.

I’ll be posting more budget relevant information over the next few days.