Competition

The Ocean Frontier Institute’s (OFI) Community Climate Adaptation Fund is designed to support innovative researcher-community engagement at the intersection of ocean, community, and climate adaptation. This new funding initiative will support the co-creation of research, programs, and climate adaptation solutions with communities, and help ensure that research, commercial ventures, and social innovations are grounded in local needs, traditional knowledge, and lived experiences. By providing initial funding support, OFI’s Community Climate Adaptation Fund is intended to help participants explore innovative climate adaptation ideas and create pathways for the work to continue beyond the initial funding.

The fund is guided by four key objectives:

Community-centered solutions: The inclusion of community knowledge systems and lived experiences—obtained through engagement with a diversity of coastal communities, including rural communities, Northern Canadian communities, and Indigenous communities—will help ensure the development of projects that meaningfully advance climate adaptation goals.

Inclusive innovation: Create opportunities for graduate students to serve in a leadership role in the research and project development, while community co-leads will ensure projects align with local realities.

Support for climate-vulnerable communities: Projects will address the needs of communities that are most vulnerable to climate change, empowering collaborative solutions that are scalable and sustainable.

Advancing social and commercial innovation: Projects should be positioned to advance future research, social enterprises, commercial ventures or policy initiatives.

The Community Climate Adaption Fund will support up to five projects each year with individual project awards of $10,000 - $30,000.

• The projects are intended to be started and completed within a 12-month timeframe.  

• The most successful projects will be eligible to receive an extension grant of up to $50,000 to continue to build and deliver on their preliminary work.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis with the following review periods:

• January 15, 2026

• June 15, 2026

In addition to the external funding agency’s submission procedures, this opportunity must also be submitted for Departmental, HSS Faculty, and Research Initiatives and Services (RIS) institutional reviews and approvals via Memorial's Researcher Portal (RP). In order to facilitate the HSS Faculty’s administrative review, please ensure "Heather C. O'Brien (Grants Facilitator)" and “Matthew Milner (Grants Facilitator)” are added as "Team Members" on your RP file. Allow at least 10 business days for these reviews to be completed.

In accordance with University-wide approval protocols, all tabs of the RP file must be completed, the completed application must be uploaded to the “Attachments” tab, all supporting documentation including support for cash and in-kind commitments and/or letters of support must also be uploaded, and “Submit” must be pressed prior to the HSS internal deadline listed below. HSS cannot guarantee completion of an administrative review for application files that are incomplete and/or are submitted after the HSS deadline. For more detailed RP submission instructions and information, please consult the "How Do I...?" page of HSS Research Support Services website.

If you plan to apply to this competition or other research funding opportunities (as either PI or CI), contact an HSS Grants Facilitation Officer (GFO), Heather C. O’Brien (HSSResearchAdmin@mun.ca, 864-8603) or Matthew Milner (HSSResearchGrants@mun.ca, 864-8050), to notify the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) of your intent to apply. Informing HSS of youir intent to apply early, may make it possible for you to avail of HSS's proposal development supports and will help facilitate an efficient final review. A GFO can also answer any questions you may have about internal or external submission procedures.