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MRU Research and Scholarship Plan 2024-2030
The 2024-2030 Research and Scholarship Plan sets Mount Royal University’s research and scholarship direction to 2030.
The Research and Scholarship Plan is a blueprint for building a scholarly community that is actively engaged in reimagining the learning experience, innovating beyond the classroom, nurturing a culture of curiosity, and celebrating success through knowledge mobilization.
Guidelines and Procedures
Committee Information
| Name | Department | |
|---|---|---|
| Melissa Deane (Chair) | Director, Office of Research, Scholarship and Community Engagement | mdeane1@mtroyal.ca |
| Reza Chowdhury | Faculty of Business, Communication Studies & Aviation | rchowdhury@mtroyal.ca |
| Sara Sharun | Library | ssharun@mtroyal.ca |
| Michelle Yeo | Teaching and Learning | myeo@mtroyal.ca |
| Name | Department | |
|---|---|---|
| Connie Van der Byl (Chair) | Associate Vice-President, Research, Scholarship and Community Engagement | cvanderbyl@mtroyal.ca |
| Melissa Deane (Vice-Chair) | Director, Office of Research, Scholarship and Community Engagement | mdeane1@mtroyal.ca |
| Travis Hay | Arts | thay@mtroyal.ca |
| Melissa Pullara | Arts | mpullara@mtroyal.ca |
| Rebecca Gilmour | Arts | rgilmour@mtroyal.ca |
| Carolyn Willekes | Arts | cwillekes@mtroyal.ca |
| Paul Varella | Business and Communication Studies | pvarella@mtroyal.ca |
| Ran Ju | Business and Communication Studies | rju@mtroyal.ca |
| Sean Simoes | Business and Communication Studies | ssimoes@mtroyal.ca |
| Eunah Kim | Business and Communication Studies | ekim@mtroyal.ca |
| Elaine Ori | Health, Community and Education | eori@mtroyal.ca |
| Christy Lane | Health, Community and Education | clane@mtroyal.ca |
| Trevor King | Health. Community and Education | tking@mtroyal.lca |
| Alysia Wright | Health, Community and Education | acwright@mtroyal.ca |
| Francine May | Riddell Library and Learning Centre | fmay@mtroyal.ca |
| Alexis Morris | Science and Technology | amorris@mtroyal.ca |
| Lynn Moorman | Science and Technology | lmoorman@mtroyal.ca |
| Jenni Scott | Science and Technology | jescott@mtroyal.ca |
Ethics Committees
All information regarding research ethics processess and requirements can be found under Research Ethics.
Human Research Ethics Board (HREB)
Student Human Research Ethics Committee (SHREC)
Animal Care Committee (ACC)
Research Support Fund
The Research Support Fund (RSF) program assists Canadian post-secondary institutions and their affiliated research hospitals and Institutes with the expenses associated with managing the research funded by the three federal research granting agencies. The RSF program, formerly known as the Indirect Costs Program, is a Tri-agency initiative of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). The RSF program helps post-secondary institutions to manage the financial demands of the indirect costs of research. Indirect costs are defined as the central, faculty, departmental and/or institute costs that MRU incurs to support research but that are not attributable to specific research projects. Some examples of the costs supported by the RSF program are:
- Salaries for staff or students who provide administrative support for researchers and their projects;
- Training costs for workplace health and safety;
- Costs related to the maintenance of libraries and laboratories; and
- Administrative costs associated with getting a patent for an invention.
Mount Royal University applies annually to receive a grant through the RSF program to help pay for a portion of the administrative costs related to federally funded research. The amount of the grant is based on the average Tri-agency funding received by Mount Royal University in the previous three years.
Mount Royal allocation for 2026-2027 is $617,051. For transparency and to demonstrate the importance of the RSF program to our researchers, staff, students, community members and elected officials, this report is prepared and made public annually. 2026-27 funds are allocated as follows:
- Research Facilities: $20,000
- Research Resources: $75,000
- Management and Administration of the institution's research enterprise: $472,051
- Regulatory Requirement and Accreditation: $20,000
- Intellectual Property and Knowledge Mobilization: $30,000
Institutional Performance Objectives
RSF Historical Reporting
In 2025-2026, Mount Royal University received $589,589 in Research Support Funds and allocated these funds to the following categories:
- Research Resources: $57,345
- Management and Administration of the institution's research enterprise: $504,855
- Regulatory Requirement and Accreditation: $12,389
- Intellectual Property and Knowledge Mobilization: $15,000
RSF Investment Stories 2025-2026
RSF allocation to knowledge mobilization has enabled Mount Royal University to access a wide audience with research that is timely, relevant, applied and impactful. RSF funds enabled membership with The Conversation Canada. Since becoming a member in June of 2023, 66 articles have been published by 36 Mount Royal University authors. Those articles have received over 900,000 reads from across the globe in virtually every continent. In the past year alone, 19 articles were published by 15 authors with more than 250,000 reads. Membership has provided access to resources, workshops and email calls for submissions. Mount Royal University is committed to research that advances knowledge, informs teaching and promotes community engagement. Membership and publication in The Conversation enables all these objectives while addressing broader goals for academic impact.
RSF funding in 2025/26 supported the acquisition of the 2026 Canadian scholarly monograph collection to Mount Royal University’s Library. This enabled the purchase of current-year titles from the Association of Canadian University Presses (ACUP). The value of this acquisition is in accessing Canadian, peer-reviewed scholarly monographs across disciplines, with many titles focused on community-engaged, Indigenous, and social-impact research. This strengthens access to high-quality Canadian scholarship that directly supports faculty research.
In 2024-2025, Mount Royal University received $583,988 in Research Support Funds and allocated these funds to the following categories:
- Research Facilities: $10,159
- Research Resources: $36,565
- Management and Administration of the institution's research enterprise: $512,897
- Regulatory Requirement and Accreditation: $5,809
- Intellectual Property and Knowledge Mobilization: $18,558
In 2023-2024, Mount Royal University received $537,685.00 in Research Support Funds and allocated these funds to the following categories:
- Research Resources: $37,246.36
- Management and Administration of the institution's research enterprise: $480,703.87
- Regulatory Requirement and Accreditation: $4,734.77
- Intellectual Property and Knowledge Mobilization: $15,000.00
In 2022-2023, Mount Royal University received $429,348.00 in Research Support Funds and allocated these funds to the following categories:
- Research Resources: $28,975.02
- Management and Administration of the institution's research enterprise: $399,165.74
- Regulatory Requirement and Accreditation: $1,207.24
In 2021-2022, Mount Royal University received $331,732.00 in Research Support Funds and allocated these funds to the following categories:
- Research Resources: $31,258.47
- Management and Administration of the institution's research enterprise: $297,801.16
- Regulatory Requirement and Accreditation: $2,672.37
In 2020-2021, Mount Royal University received $264,422.00 in Research Support Funds and allocated these funds to the following categories:
- Research Resources: $27,599.00
- Management and Administration of the institution's research enterprise: $231,905.00
- Regulatory Requirement and Accreditation: $4,918.00
In 2019-2020, Mount Royal University received $213,289.00 in Research Support Funds and allocated these funds to the following categories:
- Research Resources: $21,056.07
- Management and Administration of the institution's research enterprise: $191,678.51
- Regulatory Requirement and Accreditation: $554.42
For more information about research and scholarship governance, please contact Connie Van der Byl, the Associate Vice President of Research, Scholarship, and Community and Engagement, at cvanderbyl@mtroyal.ca.