Research application budgets

Salaries & Employment Costs

Salaries

Suggested hourly rates (research assistants/students)

Suggested rates are based on current UVic CUPE 4163 – Component 1 rates as a guideline.

Your RA’s salary is not the only cost to your grant account. In addition to the salary, you must also pay the Mandatory Employment Related Costs (MERCs):

1. Roughly 11% in employer costs (Employer portion of CPP premiums, Employer portion of EI premiums, WorkSafeBC premiums, and BC’s Emploer Health Tax)
2. Either paid vacation days, or 4% in vacation pay in lieu (for RAs paid hourly, part time, or for a term less than 6 months we advise paying 4%)

The total estimated cost to your budget would be:

Level	Sept.  2023 Salary	Sept. 2023 total cost incl. MERCs	Sept.  2024 Salary	Sept. 2024 total cost incl. MERCs
Undergraduate	$19.27/hour	$22.16/hour	$19.85/hour	$22.83/hour
Graduate	$30.87/hour	$35.50/hour	$31.80/hour	$36.57/hour

Calculating salary from an hourly rate 

UVic uses 152 as the average number of hours in each month.

UVic’s Pay periods are from the 1-15^th and the 16^th-end of each month. Because each pay period contains a different number of workdays, an average of 76 hours per pay period, or 152 hours per month is used.

• Monthly salary = 152 hours * hourly rate
• Annual salary = monthly salary * 12

Determine the Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) rate if your employee is working less than 35 hours/week.

• 35 hrs/week is a full-time appointment (1.0 FTE)
• If the employee is working less than 35 hours/week, divide the number of hours/week by 35
  • e.g., 28 hours a week / 35 = 0.8 FTE
  • annual salary * 0.8 = part-time annual salary

Calculating hourly rate from annual salary 

Depending on your benefits and vacation decisions the cost to your grant can change.

Example: $60,000 in funding is available. What is the salary? Hourly rate? 

• $60,000/1.15 = $52,173.91 annual employee salary (excluding the Mandatory Employment Related costs (MERCs))
• $52,173.91/12 = $4,347.83 monthly employee salary
  • $4,347.83/152 hours = $28.60/hour (excluding the Mandatory Employment Related costs (MERCs))

Example: $60,000 salary excluding employer costs. What is the hourly rate?

• $60,000/12 = $5,000 monthly salary (excluding the Mandatory Employment Related costs (MERCs))
  • $5,000/152 hours = $32.89/hour (excluding the Mandatory Employment Related costs (MERCs))

Extended benefits for grant funded employees

• Extended benefits (such as health, dental, life and pension) are discretionary and some funding agencies, including Tri-Council, do not consider them an eligible expense.
• If you wish to pay extended benefits, please consult the Benefits Summary for Externally Funded (Grant) Employees for cost estimates and further details

• You can also use the Grant funded benefit cost estimator to calculate the approximate costs of hiring an employee, but please note that this tool provides an estimate only and may not represent the exact rates for each scenario.

Post-doctoral rates

Post-doctoral fellows (PDF) can be paid via fellowship or through payroll as employment. The determination of this depends on:

1. The rules of the funding,
2. Employee Benefits coverage, and
3. The working relationship with the supervisor.

If you are interested in supervising a PDF, contact UVic’s PDF coordinator.

Examples of post-doctoral fellow amounts per annum

• CIHR Fellowship: $40,000
• NSERC Post-doctoral Fellowship: $45,000
• SSHRC Post-doctoral Fellowship: $45,000
• Banting Post-doctoral Fellowship: $70,000

Calculating faculty rates 

Faculty salaries and rates of pay can be complex and may include various stipends and adjustments that may or may not be applicable to an hourly rate. If you need to know a faculty member’s salary, for example to include as an in-kind contribution to a project, contact your faculty’s Director of Administration regarding the appropriate rates.

Applicant, co-applicant & collaborator compensation 

Be aware of funding guidelines. In most cases, applicants, co-applicants and collaborators listed on a grant cannot draw a salary or any sort of compensation from the grant.

Further, anyone eligible to apply for the funding themselves (whether or not listed as a participant on the grant) can usually not draw a salary from the grant.

Some exceptions apply. For example:

• CIHR will permit trainees to be listed on a grant as co-applicant and draw a salary from the account.

Types of costs & typical expenses

Travel & subsistence
UVic per diem: $60/day: breakfast $14, lunch $16, dinner $30 (CDN or US dollars if outside Canada)
Incidentals: $20/day, meant to cover small expenses for which you have no receipt, such as parking, bus fare, tips, etc (CDN or US dollars if outside Canada)
Private vehicle usage as per the Canada Revenue Agency prescribed rate. 2024 rates: $0.70 per km  an additional $0.04 per km is allowed in the Northwest Territories, the Yukon and Nunavut
Airfare and accommodation estimates consult your travel agency or use current online (e.g., Air Canada, Expedia.ca or similar) rates make sure to include the date the price was checked in your budget justification
Hotel
Public transportation (e.g., bus, taxi, ferry)
Parking
Travel cancellation insurance and travel health insurance
Childcare expenses (under specific circumstances only)

• UVic Policy on Travel & Business Expenses
• UVic Travel Program (preferred service providers)
• Bank of Canada currency converter

Tip: If travelling in Canada, you can access preferred rates for car rentals, hotels, the Toronto Union Pearson Express and VIA Rail through UVic’s membership in CAUBO. For travel in BC, you are eligible for BC Provincial Government room rates (these can also be used for hosting research team members or visiting scholars if the booking is made via UVic). 

Materials, supplies & services
Expendables
Equipment under $2K (e.g., laptops)
Hospitality
Book purchase
Courses/training
Animal orders
UVic animal care per diem rates

Equipment or facility
Purchase or rental
Operation and maintenance costs
User fees
Space rental for community use of on-campus meeting and/or classrooms
UVic AV rental rates

• books purchased with Tri-Council funds should not duplicate those available through the library
  • If they do, an explanation must be provided
• the costs of items including, but not limited to, office supplies, furniture, insurance for building and equipment, memberships, alcohol and entertainment are ineligible for Tri-Council funding
• the current BC tax rates are 7% PST and 5% GST, with UVic eligible for a 67% GST rebate
  • more information on UVic net tax rates

Knowledge mobilization/dissemination
Open Access Journal Publication
Publication costs
Website design and maintenance
Translation costs
Workshop costs (including room, food)

Technology transfer activities
Field trials
Building prototypes
Scale-up costs
Demonstration projects
Workshops

Work with your ORS research partnerships and innovation manager to explore costs.