Research applications may focus on practical or academic career-related research in Canada and/or its application.
Learning applications may focus on the development and/or implementation of career development-related learning in Canada. Method of delivery may be: short training courses, webinars, full program courses, training workbooks or manuals.
At the moment of filling out the online Application form, you will be able to select the type of project you are applying for, either Research or Learning.
After the submission deadline indicated, proposals are reviewed internally by CERIC staff and may include additional feedback from one or more of CERIC’s Advisory Committees. If deemed acceptable, the project partnership proposal is recommended to the CERIC Board for consideration. Board decisions are final. In some cases, depending on review and feedback provided, the Board may offer conditional acceptance of a project proposal, which the applicant will need to confirm and approve before starting the project development.
The review process will take up to several weeks with specific timeframes indicated on our website, along with the submission deadlines and results announcement dates. Email notification about the status of your application is provided at each step of the process.
Every year, CERIC will have two application periods when you can submit a project partnership application. The dates will be announced in advance, usually with a spring submission window with projects expected to start in early summer (June) and a summer submission window with projects expected to start late fall (November). During submission windows, the online funding portal will be open, and applicants can fill out the project application form. Always check CERIC’s website for information on upcoming submission deadlines, results announcements and all other information regarding our funding opportunities.
Project Partnership Applications may be submitted in English or French.
You will be notified via a system generated email that your Project Partnership Application has been successfully submitted. The email will be sent to the PRINCIPAL CONTACT indicated in your submission.
Once you have completed your Project Partnership Application, and hit SUBMIT, you will be notified via a system-generated email that your submission has been successfully received. You will be contacted via email should further clarification to your application be required.
After review, you will be informed whether your application has been accepted or declined. If your application is approved, you will also receive a formal letter with next steps. There is a Legal Agreement that needs to be negotiated and signed before formally moving forward with the project. An announcement will also be published on our website, newsletters and social media accounts to inform the public about the upcoming projects CERIC will be supporting.
We do not release or make public in any way Project Partnership Applications that were not approved for support. CERIC keeps these applications on file for two years and then destroys them. Applicants are also encouraged to work on their applications and re-submit for the next/later application window.
Both individuals and organizations can apply for CERIC support. Applicants can be non-profit organization(s) which need not be charitable organization(s), an educational institution, an individual or group of individuals, a private company, or a combination or collaboration of any of the above. CERIC’s mandate is within Canada, and funded projects must involve a Canadian partner and show impact within Canada. International collaborations are welcome with a significant Canadian component.
Yes, we have a set of guidelines that highlight our parameters for reasonable expectations for the purposes of a CERIC Project Partnership when working with individuals or for-profit organizations.
Yes, we have created a set of to support you in successfully publicizing the outcomes and promoting the resources produced through the project. We encourage you to carefully read through the guidelines before starting your project application, as it contains valuable insight into types of deliverables, how to capture deliverables in the project’s timelines and budget, determine future implications and impacts, etc.
Project Partner Marketing and Knowledge Dissemination Guidelines
CERIC only publishes original research/learning from projects that we fund. If the project’s deliverable is a manuscript, we will work with our partners to co-ordinate the publication process. Please make sure to consult our Marketing and Knowledge Dissemination Guidelines for more information about this process.
Each Project Partnership Application is reviewed based upon its own merit. Therefore, there are no preset guidelines around support levels. We encourage you to be innovative and collaborative and build the project’s budget based on the needs, activities and milestones, as well as the expertise required to successfully complete the project. You can consult past CERIC annual reports and review the financial statement line for Partnership grants, noting that the amount is dedicated to supporting multiple projects. For the entirety of 2025 we will be allocating a total of $200,000 to support different research and learning projects. Note some projects are multi-year, drawing funding across two or more calendar years.
From time to time, topical or thematic areas may be identified. However, we encourage applicants to submit their Project Partnership Application based on need and impact.
The following priority areas have been identified:
- Career practitioning with social and economic impact
- Impact of career services on policy and programs
- New emerging career development theories and career service models
- Shifting career mindsets and the role of career development professionals in evolving times
Funding will not necessarily be limited to our identified interest areas. If you have a career-related project that promises innovation in the area of career counselling and development, please submit a Project Partnership Application.
CERIC recognizes that there are no simple guidelines that can manage an approach when considering project participation and of parties’ legal obligations with respect to the IP of projects. In most general cases, CERIC need not share nor own either jointly or wholly IP arising from a project. Our preferred approach to jointly leveraging IP rights is through a licensing mechanism, with our project partner retaining ownership of the IP; this applies both during the term of the partnership and to any intended use of the IP after the partnership dissolves. Please refer to our guidelines for working with individuals or for-profit organizations which elaborates further.
Yes, we do. You can download them below as well as a sample consent statement form.
We normally ask project partners to submit periodic reports over the project lifecycle (usually an update via email). In addition, for larger or longer projects, we may ask for interim, milestone or phase reports. For all project partnerships there is a public facing project Final report – this is a report about the “doing” of the project which consists of a) Final report of the project proceedings connecting the project intent, as specified in the proposal, with the project outcome(s); b) Evaluation of the project outcomes, and c) Financial reporting. We publish the Final report (not the Financial report) on the project’s page, as a useful learning tool for prospective applicants. Previous Final reports have served as guidelines in setting timelines, anticipating potential challenges and proposing risk mitigation strategies based on how previous partners have developed their projects and dealt with similar changes.
Through our online system, project partners are notified when a report is due. Reports are submitted online.
All costs must be detailed in the Project Application budget, including administrative and in-kind costs. In-kind contributions are encouraged. Projects will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Researchers are encouraged to be collaborative. The budget should also include costs related to deliverables, translations, production and knowledge dissemination costs (for example conference registration fees, etc.).
We look at this on a case-by-case basis. Models we have used in the past include: cost recovery, revenue sharing, royalty basis. We normally connect this discussion with that of intellectual property and licensing where appropriate. You are encouraged to be innovative and open to options. Please refer to our Guidelines for Working with For-profit Organizations which presents some options for your consideration.
We want to see clarity around how the need you have identified was determined. Do a thorough literature review around your project topic. We have some initial literature searches around our funding priorities as a starting point, and some projects as well as the Canadian Career Development Researcher Database, which explores who is doing what research in the country. We suggest you try to find similar projects or products. Is your project sufficiently unique? Are you building on existing research or other work? Who are key interestholders in the space you are interested in? Who may be potential collaborators or partners in your project?
Our Project Partnership Application requires the submission of three (3) Letters of Support from interestholders who validate the need for the project and would be impacted by your project. It is advisable to start to look at such interestholders early in the process.
Yes. You can contact Alexandra Manoliu, Senior Manager, Research Initiatives who can assist you with your queries. She can be reached at alexandra@ceric.ca.