Research Software

Our Research Software Program provides funding and support to Canadian researchers so that they have access to world-class software tools that are purpose-built for research. This software could apply to one or multiple stages of the research workflow, from data collection and storage, to processing, and visualization.

Equally important, software funded through this program makes it easier for Canadian researchers across all disciplines to benefit from Canada’s digital research infrastructure, including the National Research and Education Network and high-performance computing resources through, Compute Canada.

And because the functionality of software to support research is often similar, even across different research disciplines the Research Software program advocates for the sharing and re-use of research software throughout all stages of the development lifecycle.

Why share software? Because when you don’t have to start from scratch, you accelerate time to discovery. And less time and funding used for software development means more time and funding for the research itself.

Software developed with CANARIE funding is contributed to the Canadian Research Software Registry and is freely available for use by all researchers. Most software in the registry is open source, so if it doesn’t do exactly what you need, it is easy to modify.

How do you build better software? By promoting software development practices, sharing expertise, and investing in a collaborative community of world-class research software developers.

Through the Canadian Research Software Conference (CRSC) and funding that specifically supports re-use, we’ve invested in the people who develop software, so that it will be sustainable for research in the long term.

Many researchers don’t have the resources to manage software development teams and are unaware of research software that already exists and could be easily adapted to meet their needs. To serve this need, we’re also funding local, expert software teams at institutions to work directly with researchers. These dedicated, full-time research software developers are available to support all researchers at their institutions, regardless of discipline, and provide guidance, training, expertise, and software development specific to advancing research projects.

Since 2007, CANARIE has been funding Canadian research teams with a need for research software platforms. As we learned more about how software is used by research teams, we evolved what was funded:

Transition to New Digital Research Infrastructure Organization (NDRIO)

In 2019, the Government of Canada announced the creation of a new organization, tentatively known as NDRIO, that will fund and support research software in Canada. To maintain a seamless flow of funding and support to Canadian researchers with critical requirements for software, we are working very closely with our colleagues at NDRIO to ensure a smooth transition of the program in 2022.

Currently, we’re delighted to be funding 13 research teams through Funding Call 3, and 6 software development teams at Canadian higher-ed and research institutions, through Local Research Software Support Call 1.

Future funding calls for research software will be announced by NDRIO.

Developing software for scientific research is a team sport. The global research software developer community collaborates on best practices, software re-use, and initiatives that foster career development for developers in academia. We’re proud to have represented and promoted the Canadian research software developer community among these international bodies: