New Frontiers in 91ÒùĸÊÓƵ Fund (NFRF) - Exploration

Program Summary - Objective

  • To inspire high risk/ high reward research that extends beyond traditional or common interdisciplinary approaches.
  • To explore new projects that may fail but have the potential for significant impact.

Award Amount and Duration

  • Up to $100,000 for direct costs per year plus 25% in indirect costs funding for up to 2 years.
  • 25% must be added to the budget in addition to the direct costs.

Who can help me?

If you are interested in the competition, please contact:

Feiyue Akishyn | 91ÒùĸÊÓƵ Partner
feiyue.akishyn@ualberta.ca

How to Apply

Consult 91ÒùĸÊÓƵ Services guidelines »

The 2025 competition is now open.

Application Stages

Two mandatory stages, using the :

1.

  • Institutional deadline (submission to 91ÒùĸÊÓƵer Home Page): Your NOI needs to be received by the 91ÒùĸÊÓƵ Administrative Services (RAS) via 91ÒùĸÊÓƵer Home Page by Aug 7, 2025 during core business hours. For the institutional deadline, DO NOT submit your NOI in the Convergence Portal. Instead, please download a PDF of your NOI and submit it via the 91ÒùĸÊÓƵer Home Page. IMPORTANT: RAS must confirm that all participants meet the NFRF eligibility criteria and the definition of ECR (if applicable). Written approval from all other institutions with participating Co-PIs and/or Co-applicants must be obtained using the . The signed eligibility forms must be combined as one single PDF and submitted to the 91ÒùĸÊÓƵer Home Page along with the NOI before the institutional deadline. The list of participants cannot be modified between this date and the Agency deadline for NOI.
  • Agency deadline: Submit your final NOI in the Convergence Portal by 10 am MT on Aug 18, 2025; RAS will forward your NOI to the Agency by Aug 19, 2025.

2.

  • Institutional deadline (submission to 91ÒùĸÊÓƵer Home Page): Your full application needs to be received by RAS via 91ÒùĸÊÓƵer Home Page by Oct 8, 2025 during core business hours. For the institutional deadline, DO NOT submit your application in the Convergence Portal. Instead, please download a PDF of your application and submit it via the 91ÒùĸÊÓƵer Home Page. IMPORTANT: Written approval from all other institutions with participating Co-PIs and/or Co-applicants that are added after the NOI must be obtained using the . The signed eligibility forms for newly added co-PI/co-applicants must be combined as one single PDF and submitted to the 91ÒùĸÊÓƵer Home Page along with the full application before the institutional deadline. The list of participants and budget cannot be modified after this date.
  • Agency deadline: Submit your final full application in the Convergence Portal by 10 am MT on Oct 20, 2025; RAS will forward your full application to the Agency by Oct 21, 2025.

Webinar Recordings

  • Watch the 2024 NFRF-E NOI webinar recorded by NFRF ( & )
  • Watch the 2024 NFRF-E