News

The Office of Research Services is inviting all eligible Faculty in the Natural Sciences and Engineering to participate in NSERC’s Discovery Grant program. CUE members have been successful in the last two competitions of this program. Dr. Ha Tran obtained CUE’s first NSERC DG in 2019, followed by Dr. Baidya Saha in 2020. Let’s continue to success streak! We encourage eligible faculty members to continue to expand our impact in the Natural Sciences and Engineering field, and become our most recent successful applicant.

If you are interested in applying, please contact the Office of Research Services at research@concordia.ab.ca as soon as possible, to make use of the internal resources available to you

As a reminder, the deadline for NSERC Discovery Grant applications is November 1st. However, a Notification of Intent to Apply must be submitted by August 1st. A valid Canadian Common CV must be provided with the application. For tips on how to prepare it, contact the Office of Research Services at research@concordia.ab.ca.

Institutional Requirements

As usual, any application for external funding must be accompanied by an External Grant Institutional Signature Page, which must be supplied in electronic version with a copy of the full application at least seven working days prior to the sponsor deadline. Important note: this document is not required at the NOI stage; however, it is a requirement for submission of applications on November 1st. A list of deadlines can be found here.

NSERC Subject Matter Eligibility

Research funded under NSERC must abide by their mandate, which is “…to promote and assist research in the natural sciences and engineering, other than health. The objectives of the research program must be to advance knowledge in the natural sciences or in engineering.” For further information on eligible topics for applications, please consult NSERC’s website, or contact the Office of Research Services at research@concordia.ab.ca.

Discovery Grants

Discovery Grants are personal awards from NSERC that last up to five years. These grants are awarded on a merit basis through a competitive process. To submit an application, consult their guidelines and instructions here.

From the NSERC website: “…The Discovery Grants Program supports ongoing programs of research with long-term goals rather than a single short-term project or collection of projects. These grants recognize the creativity and innovation that are at the heart of all research advances. Discovery Grants are considered “grants in aid” of research, as they provide long term operating funds and can facilitate access to funding from other programs, but are not meant to support the full costs of a research program.”

Remember that there is enhanced focus by reviewers in the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion part of the Highly Qualified Personnel training section of the application. For useful tips, please consult the following document, made available by the University of Alberta ERA.

For information on the Discovery Grant Program, please see this Presentation, made available by NSERC and the University of Alberta, There are also videos on the submission of a NOI or a full application, and other resources available on NSERC’s website.

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