For more than 20 years, Mitacs has worked with over 100 universities and academic institutions, thousands of companies, not-for-profits, and federal, provincial, and territorial governments to build partnerships that support industrial and social innovation in Canada.

Scotiabank and Mitacs have partnered to create the Scotiabank Economic Resilience Research Fund (SERRF). This $300,000 partnership over three years will support research to advance economic resilience in communities across Canada, based on the principles of:

• Inclusion: Broad access to, and participation in, economic opportunities
• Stability: The ability to maintain financial well-being through uncertainty and challenge
• Mobility: The ability to improve economic and financial circumstances  

The objective of SERRF is to: 

• Support the next generation of problem solvers to ensure that students are actively engaged in innovative, useful, and relevant community research
• Enable Canadian NFP organizations and charitable organizations to access talent from academic institutions in order to provide insights related to the economic resilience of Canadian communities
• Narrow the gap between the need for academic research and community impact
• Strengthen relationships between Canadian NFPs and academia through collaboration and knowledge sharing
• Reduce financial barriers for Canadian NFPs to access research expertise
• Increase the number of researchers representing the Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC) community 
• Continue to inform Scotiabank’s social impact strategy to ensure that it invests for impact 

SERRF Research Themes 

Through this initiative, the partnership will solicit research applications that support the three key themes below:  

• Accelerate newcomer integration  
  • Successful and rapid newcomer integration enables financial self-reliance and contribution to society. Canada’s prosperity and economic resilience are closely tied to the number and success of its immigrants.
  • Proposed research projects will target newcomers to Canada (in past three years) including immigrants, refugees, and temporary foreign workers to help fast track meaningful employment for newcomers to the country. Integration essentials might include language, culture and life skills, training help qualifying for and finding employment, and support networks.
• Increase high school graduation and post-secondary participation 
  • Secondary and post-secondary education increases employment prospects, life opportunities and the likelihood of financial success. 
  • Proposed research projects will target disadvantaged populations, including Canadian Indigenous communities and at-risk youth to ultimately facilitate a higher rate of high school graduation and post-secondary participation. Post-secondary education is defined broadly, to include university, college, and trades programs.
• Remove barriers to career advancement for marginalized groups 
  • Disadvantaged people and groups experience barriers to career entry and advancement more frequently than others. This is both unjust and unproductive. 
  • Proposed research projects will be targeted to support women, BIPOC, and other equity seeking groups to determine how to remove barriers to meaningful employment, reduce the gaps in leadership representation, and find solutions to career entry and advancement. 

Deadline for submission of EOIs: February 11, 2021 

Learn more and apply