NFRF Exploration Program Updates

October 13, 2023

Please check this page regularly for any changes to NFRF deadlines, NFRF webinar dates/times and SPARC support deadlines.

NFRF Exploration 2023 Competition Update: 

The 2023 Exploration Competition has been launched. The NOI deadline has now passed. The Full Application deadline is December 12.

This competition funds high risk, high reward, interdisciplinary research. The maximum funding available is $125,000/year for 2 years (maximum of $100,000/year in direct research costs and $25,000/year in indirect costs).

For 2023 NFRF has removed the external review stage and consequently there is no longer an anonymization requirement for the NOI summary or full application.

NFRF hosted NOI and Full Application webinars. They can be accessed through the NFRF Exploration competition page.

  • NOI stage webinar: This was held on Tuesday, 12 September; slides and recording are available through the SPARC NFRF Resources page (CWL required).
  • Full Application stage webinar: This was held on Tuesday 31 October; fslides, recording, and Q&A are available through the SPARC's NFRF Resources page (CWL required).

SPARC Update: Available 2023 Resources and Support Services

  • Templates for the Full Application Research sections, a quick guide to the EDI-RP sections and the SPARC-annotated NFRF EDI Best Practices in Research guide are available through the SPARC NFRF Resources page (CWL required).
  • Information session: SPARC held an information session on June 15, 2022. This session contains useful information for the 2023 competition with the exceptions that the external review component has now been removed and applications are no longer required to be anonymized. Section requirements and scoring matrices are still relevant. Slides, recordings, and Q&A are available through the SPARC's NFRF Resources page (CWL required).
  • Sample grants: SPARC's sample grant library contains examples of successful past NFRF Exploration proposals (CWL required).
  • Full Application support: SPARC will review the Full Application documents. For feedback, please submit Word documents to Sharon Marsh from Monday November 27 until Monday December 4 at 10:00am.

For additional information, please visit SPARC's NFRF Exploration Support Services page.

UBC’s Office of Research Services (ORS) manages internal NFRF Exploration application deadlines and procedures: ORS Vancouver and ORS Okanagan.

SPARC Contact: Sharon Marsh



UBC Crest The official logo of the University of British Columbia. Urgent Message An exclamation mark in a speech bubble. Caret An arrowhead indicating direction. Arrow An arrow indicating direction. Arrow in Circle An arrow indicating direction. Arrow in Circle An arrow indicating direction. Chats Two speech clouds. Facebook The logo for the Facebook social media service. Information The letter 'i' in a circle. Instagram The logo for the Instagram social media service. External Link An arrow entering a square. Linkedin The logo for the LinkedIn social media service. Location Pin A map location pin. Mail An envelope. Menu Three horizontal lines indicating a menu. Minus A minus sign. Telephone An antique telephone. Plus A plus symbol indicating more or the ability to add. Search A magnifying glass. Twitter The logo for the Twitter social media service. Youtube The logo for the YouTube video sharing service.