The Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance requests proposals that address OMAFRA’s research priorities. Proposals must address a research question in one of the following research priority areas: 

• Protection and Risk Resilience 
  • Food Safety 
  • Animal Health & Welfare 
  • Plant Health & Protection 
• Environmental Stewardship  
  • Soil Health 
  • Water Quality & Quantity 
  • Sustainable Production Systems 
  • Productive Land Capacity 
• Productivity and Growth 
  • Competitive Production Systems 
  • Innovative Products & Product Improvement 
  • Trade, Market & Targeted Sector Growth Opportunities 
  • Strong Rural Communities 

For further information about this call, please visit the Alliance website [1] and consult the OMAFRA Priorities document and the Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance Tier 1 Program Guide.

A town hall information session will take place Thursday, September 14, 2023, at 2:00 pm in ANNU room 141 (Animal Science and Nutrition building). The meeting can also be attended via Microsoft Teams at the link below. No registration is required. The presentation will be posted to the Alliance website after the meeting.   

• Join the town hall on your computer or mobile app: Click here to join the meeting [2]
• Or call in (audio only): +1 647-484-5755.  Phone Conference ID: 872 176 603#

For more details on OMAFRA research priorities and research questions please reach out to the appropriate Research Analyst identified in the OMAFRA Research Priorities document accessible on the Tier 1 Research Program web page [3].

The Alliance Tier 1 Research Program involves a single-stage call. Full Proposals are due by 1:00 pm on Tuesday, November 7, 2023.  Intent information must be complete by Friday, October 13, 2023 (General and Peer Review tabs complete in the RMS).

University of Guelph faculty members are eligible to be the Lead Applicant and/or a Co-Applicant on any Ontario Agri-Food Innovation Alliance Research Program project. Adjunct faculty members may also apply if they are eligible to hold research funding at the University of Guelph and are not employed by or have a financial interest in any of the collaborating organizations or co-funders. Consult the program guide for more details. 

Applicants must be fully compliant with all reporting requirements prior to a new proposal being reviewed under any Alliance Research Program. The Lead Applicant and the Co-Applicant will have 30 days from the submission deadline to complete any outstanding compliance requirements, including reporting, data management plans and financial obligations such as recovery of Research Centre fees. If applicants are not compliant at that time the submitted proposal will be withdrawn from the review process and declined.

Proposal Compliance Checks (optional) 

Office of Research, Agri-Food Partnership staff are offering to complete a compliance check of proposals in advance of the submission deadline. The compliance check does not assess overall quality or scientific merit but will review the proposal for issues that are not caught during the system validation checks in the RMS (e.g., congruence between team/HQP tables and the budget, eligibility of budget items etc.). Please email rescoord@uoguelph.ca [4] on or before the intent deadline (October 13) if you want program staff to complete a compliance check of your proposal. The proposal should be at or near completion.