Major Science Initiatives Fund
The Major Science Initiatives Fund (MSIF) provides support for the ongoing operating and maintenance needs of research facilities of national importance. It promotes responsible stewardship by ensuring these facilities adopt best practices for their management and governance.
The 2023 competition is now closed. The next competition is expected to launch in 2027.
Consult our oversight framework for currently funded facilities
Learn about the 2025 workshop in Ottawa, February 5 to 6
The CFI currently supports 19 research facilities across Canada that tackle some of the most important issues facing society by bringing together researchers from Canada and around the world. As science becomes more complex, facilities like these become crucial for exploring the frontiers of research.
For details of the 2023 competition, consult the:
The next competition for this funding program is expected to launch in 2027. Check back here for details.
What is this funding program meant to do?
- Enable pan-Canadian research communities to undertake world-class research and technology development that lead to social, health, economic or environmental benefits for Canadians
- Enable facilities to operate at an optimal level to ensure the best use of their specialized equipment, services, resources, and technical and scientific personnel
- Promote responsible stewardship through the adoption of best practices in governance and management.
What institutions are eligible to apply to this fund?
Canadian universities, colleges, research hospitals and non-profit research institutions recognized as CFI-eligible can apply to this fund on behalf of a facility. Check our list of CFI-eligible institutions.
How does the CFI define a research facility in the context of this fund?
A research facility funded through the MSIF addresses the needs of a community of researchers representing a critical mass of users distributed across the country.
This is done by providing shared access to substantial and advanced specialized equipment, services, resources, and scientific and technical personnel.
Whether single-sited, distributed, or virtual, the research facility:
- Supports leading-edge research and technology development, and promotes the mobilization of knowledge and transfer of technology to society
- Requires resource commitments well beyond the capacity of any one institution
- Is specifically identified or recognized as serving pan-Canadian needs and its governance and management structures reflect this mandate.
With each new competition, we set a list of specific criteria that facilities must meet to be eligible for funding.
We accept proposals for this funding program through competitions that run every six years. The next competition is expected to launch in 2027.
What does an institution need to do before applying?
To participate in any of our funding competitions, you must first make sure your institution is eligible to apply for funding, has signed an institutional agreement and has an account on our CFI Awards Management System (CAMS).
Find out how to prepare to apply
What is the process to apply?
The application process typically consists of three steps.
Step 1: Expressions of interest
Administrative institutions submit expressions of interest before submitting notices of intent. These include basic information like:
- Name of the facility
- Website address of the facility, if there is one
- Brief description of the facility (maximum 200 words)
- Annual operating budget of the facility (based on costs and revenues eligible through this fund)
- Best estimate of the total amount to be requested from the CFI for the funding period of the competition.
We use expressions of interest as a first step toward planning the competition.
Step 2: Notices of intent
Sometime after we receive the expressions of intent, administrative institutions are asked to submit notices of intent. We use these to plan the review process and to start recruiting reviewers. We also use the notices of intent to determine whether facilities meet the eligibility criteria for the competition. Based on the notices of intent, the CFI will invite facilities to submit proposals.
Step 3: Proposals
Administrative institutions that are invited to submit proposals should consult the call for proposals for the competition for details on how to do so.
Step 4: The review process begins
After the deadline to submit proposals, the review process begins. This is how we assess which proposals receive funding.
How does the review process work?
The review process for proposals typically includes three stages:
Step 1: Administrative review
We review each proposal to make sure it’s complete and adheres to our guidelines.
Step 2: Expert Committee
Expert Committees assess each proposal against the assessment criteria for the competition. For each proposal that meets the standard of excellence for the competition, they recommend to the Multidisciplinary Assessment Committee (MAC) the amount to be awarded to the project.
Step 3: Multidisciplinary Assessment Committee
From the proposals recommended by the Expert Committees, the Multidisciplinary Assessment Committee:
- Identifies the ones that best meet the competition objectives relative to other competing requests
- Establishes the amount that should be awarded to each proposal, within the competition budget
- Reviews requests for transitional funding from facilities that were previously funded but which are not successful in the current competition at either the Expert Committee or Multidisciplinary Assessment Committee stage
- Provides the final funding recommendations and funding amounts to the CFI Board of Directors.
Who makes the final funding decisions?
Funding decisions are made by the CFI Board of Directors, typically at one of their three annual Board meetings.
Want to grow your network, build your reputation and contribute to research?
1,524 jobs supported
33,000* research outputs generated
65,000* users worldwide
*Numbers have been rounded up. Research outputs generated include peer-reviewed publications, conference proceedings and others.
Discover past fund recipients and funded project details through our funded projects dashboard
Research facilities in a class of their own
Discover the 19 complex and highly specialized research facilities funded through the 2023 competition
2010: The Government of Canada mandates the CFI to design a systematic approach to evaluate and address the operating and maintenance needs and scientific performance of research facilities of national importance.
2011: We create the Major Science Initiatives (MSI) Fund and launch the first competition. The inaugural competition sets out to support large-scale research facilities that had previously received a one-time contribution of at least $25 million in infrastructure funding from the CFI.
2014: We launch a special competition through the MSI Fund, expanding the eligibility to include a greater range of research facilities of national importance, both in size and complexity and across all research disciplines.
2016: We launched the 2017 competition to contribute to the ongoing operating and maintenance needs of research facilities of national importance for which the loss or absence of support would represent a serious setback for Canada. The 2017–23 MSI Fund competition currently supports 16 research facilities.
2019: After the 2018 federal budget awards permanent funding to the CFI, it allows us to extend the funding cycle for the MSI Fund from five to six years, providing for a longer planning horizon for facilities and greater stability to help retain highly qualified personnel.
Acting upon a recommendation made in Canada’s Fundamental Science Review report, we increase our share of funding from 40 percent to 60 percent of a facility’s operating and maintenance costs for facilities the report identifies as major in scale.
2021: We launch the 2023 competition.
Stories of research facilities supported through the Major Science Initiatives Fund
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Ontario
Summoning the storm, at the Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment Research Facility
By simulating intense winds and weather, a research facility at Western University tests how buildings will hold up under catastrophic conditions
article
Saskatchewan,Ontario
Mounting an early warning system for Canada’s looming water crisis, through the Global Water Futures Observatories
A network of observation systems across the country’s freshwater basins provides urgently needed data to help ward off the devastating impacts of floods, droughts and other water crises plaguing Canada
article
Alberta,Quebec,Ontario,British Columbia
Tweaking biology for health and biotech solutions, at GlycoNet Integrated Services
A pan-Canadian network of over 170 researchers brings together the country’s expertise in the field of glycomics to create solutions in medicine and other bio-based industries