The Canadian Water Network’s research programs are designed in response to the expressed needs of those involved in the real-world challenges of water management. In addition, they support development of communities of practice among groups of end users with common interests in applying research outcomes.

In July 2011, CWN issued to the national research community a call for expressions of interest (EOIs) in developing research teams within its Secure Source Waters Consortium. The purpose of the call was to identify and build upon strong existing relationships between research groups and relevant end-user communities.

CWN is interested in identifying through this process those components of the overarching challenge of managing the security of source water supplies for which there is both significant end-user interest regionally or nationally and strong researcher capacity to respond.

For example, the EOI responses to this call might include research focused on, but not limited to, the following kinds of components —

1. Advancing the capacity to effectively manage and mitigate the risk of pathogen impacts on public groundwater supplies
2. Implementing improved governance, management or monitoring strategies to protect public water supplies (surface and/or aquifer)
3. Minimizing impacts of agricultural practices on the quality of water supplies
4. Balancing water allocations to ensure maintenance of in-stream flow needs and habitat integrity
5. Strategies to deal with fluctuating access to reliable water supplies because of increasing variability of source conditions

Through the secure source waters call process, CWN will select a shortlist of teams to move forward to develop full research proposals for those areas in which both user need and research capacity are clear. This matching process will assist CWN in building a strong user base for these topic areas at an early stage.

What is CWN’s partner-to-research matching process?

CWN is seeking input from organizations working to ensure the security of source water supplies (including the public and private policy, practice, industry and NGO sectors) by identifying the key challenges they face.

Organizations are also encouraged to register their interest in becoming involved and co-investing in research opportunities identified through this call for EOIs. By registering their interest at this early stage, organizations will be provided with an opportunity to be matched with research groups and other organizations working on similar challenges and toward similar outcomes.

Becoming a partner with CWN —

• provides organizations with the ability to leverage research funds and share costs with other partners, and with CWN
• ensures that research funds are invested in projects that directly address your needs by fully integrating you into the research process
• provides organizations with practical and implementable research outcomes that better inform investment strategies, policy decisions, best practices, procedures, and technology and service development

From November 1 to 14, 2011, organizations that have registered their interest will be able to access the matching forum to view project executive summaries of the shortlist of EOIs selected to move forward to full proposals through CWN’s review process.

Registrants will have the opportunity to discuss potential shared interests in project summaries with other organizations participating in the forum, and to identify the projects on which they have an interest in becoming a partner.

All EOIs submitted to CWN will be pre-screened to ensure that proposed approaches represent an opportunity to apply appropriate scientific excellence and that the focus and scope fit with the challenges identified by the Secure Source Waters Consortium.

How do I register my organization’s interest and view the opportunities to become a partner?

To access and view the project descriptions, interested organizations must register with CWN. Once registered, you will be granted access to a secure online forum that will be open from November 1 to 14, during which time the project summaries will be available for viewing.

Registration for the partner-to-research matching forum does not require any commitment to co-invest on a project; however, only those EOIs that have received sufficient interest from relevant user communities, indicating a strong likelihood of generating matching cash, cash-equivalent and in-kind support, will be considered to receive CWN funding.

What is the role and requirement for partner support in CWN funding?

For projects to be eligible for CWN funding, research teams must secure, by the end of the full proposal stage due on December 15, 2011, commitment from partners for resources that in total account for ≥50% of the total project budget. At least half of that support (≥25% of total project budget) must be comprised of cash or cash-equivalent contributions from partners identified through the partner-to-research matching forum or through other avenues. CWN is willing to co-invest up to $200,000 a year per project.

Conditions of the matching forum

UPDATE: The CWN partner-to-research matching forum is now closed to new registrants; however, existing users are encouraged to use the forum to continue the dialogue.

To log in to the forum, please click the blue button.

Academic researchers and students are not eligible to register for, or access, the partner forum.

All individuals and organizations registered for the forum will be required to agree to uphold confidentiality to protect the intellectual property contained in the project summaries.

CWN reserves the right to select the research proposals in which it will co-invest. Registrants and self-identified partners should be aware that research teams that achieve the required co-investment, and are invited to submit full proposals, are not guaranteed to receive CWN funding. Proposals will be reviewed by an independent expert panel against specific CWN research criteria.

Important dates

	Deadline
Registration open for partner-to-research matching forum	now to November 14, 2011
Partner-to-research matching forum open	November 1 to 14, 2011
Full proposals due to CWN	December 15, 2011
Funding decision notification	February 29, 2012
Project duration	April 2012 to March 2015