Canada Excellence Research Chairs
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Application and Nomination Process: 2012 Competition
Introduction
Forms and Submission of Phase 1 Applications
Deadlines
Value and Duration
Eligibility
University Application Limits
Evaluation Criteria
Allocation of Chairs
Review Process
Introduction
The Canada Excellence Research Chairs Program offers eligible Canadian degree-granting institutions the opportunity to establish highly funded research chairs in research areas that are of strategic importance to Canada.
The Canada Excellence Research Chairs are identified through a highly competitive two-stage process:
Phase 1: Each eligible institution is allowed to submit a limited number of applications. Universities compete for the opportunity to establish chairs by submitting documentation that addresses the evaluation criteria described below. Only shortlisted applications are invited to Phase 2 of the competition.
Phase 2: Universities that submitted successful Phase 1 applications are invited to nominate world-class researchers for the available chair positions. Nominations must demonstrate excellence in the evaluation criteria, which include the world-class excellence of the nominee and of his/her proposed research.
All CERC program recruitment and nomination processes at universities must be transparent, open and equitable. In particular, these processes must include open advertising, with a statement of commitment to equity in the nomination process. Universities are asked to demonstrate exemplary recruitment and selection processes to ensure an inclusive and comprehensive candidate search and equitable selection process. The recruitment and outreach strategy of the nominating institution will be assessed in both phases of the competition.
Forms and Submission of Phase 2 Applications
| Phase 1 | |
| Phase 2 |
(By invitation only)
|
| Discipline codes (PDF document, 35 KB) | |
Completed forms may be submitted by email at information@cerc.gc.ca or by mail at:
Canada Excellence Research Chairs
Chairs Secretariat
350 Albert Street, 16th Floor
P.O. Box 1610
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
K1P 6G4
Deadlines
| Phase 1 | May 28, 2012 |
| Phase 2 | Anytime prior to February 28, 2014 |
Response Time
The Secretariat, in collaboration with universities, aims to provide a response in approximately two months after the submission of the Phase 2 nomination.
Value and Duration
Canada Excellence Research Chairs awards are tenable for seven years and are not renewable.
For each Chair awarded in the 2012 competition, the university receives from the CERC program an amount up to $10 million over seven years, and must ensure 100 per cent in matching funds over the same period (excluding tri-agency and CFI funds). Institutions may request less than $10 million over the seven years. Awards will be paid out in equal parts per year over the seven years.
New sources of support, either cash or in-kind, that are related to the Canada Excellence Research Chair can be counted as part of the matching funds. The only exception to this is support received from the three federal granting agencies and the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Support received from other Canadian government sources is eligible towards the matching funds requirement. It is important to ensure not only that the matching requirement is met, but that the proposed budget is appropriate for the research being proposed.
Universities may include a request for infrastructure support from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) with their CERC program nomination. CFI is an independent corporation established by the Government of Canada to strengthen national research capability through investments in research infrastructure in Canadian universities, colleges, hospitals and eligible not-for-profit organizations.
This request is a distinct funding request separate from the budget for the chair. Through its Leaders Opportunity Fund, CFI will contribute 40 per cent of the total cost of the infrastructure project and the institution and its partners are responsible for securing the remaining funding.
CFI's board of directors is responsible for the review of requests for infrastructure support for successful chair nominations, including foreign nominations. Following the review process, CFI will communicate the decisions directly to the universities.
Information on the CFI Leaders Opportunity Fund is found at www.innovation.ca. Applications must be submitted through CFI-Online.
Chairs must be taken up on a full-time basis.
Eligibility
Eligibility of institutions
Canadian degree-granting universities are eligible to participate in the CERC program only if they have received, annually, an average of $100,000 or more from the three federal granting agencies: the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
To be considered degree-granting, an institution must meet both of the following criteria:
- It must be authorized by a provincial or territorial government to grant its own university degrees. A postsecondary educational institution affiliated or federated with another degree-granting institution will be accorded its own independent eligibility if it receives its operating budget directly from the provincial government (ministry of education or higher education or equivalent) and has its own board of directors.
- It must have conferred degrees during the two calendar years prior to submitting applications to the CERC program, or have students enrolled who will receive degrees during the calendar year of application or within the three succeeding years. The institution must provide evidence of its authority to confer degrees and evidence that degrees were, or are expected to be, granted within the required time period.
Eligibility of nominees
Nominees must be full professors or associate professors who are expected to be promoted to the full professor level within one or two years of the nomination. Alternatively, if they come from outside the academic sector, nominees must possess the necessary qualifications to be appointed at these levels.
The program imposes no restrictions on nominees with regard to nationality or country of residence. Procedures to allow non-Canadian chairholders to work in Canada have been established by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada and Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Members of the chair's team may also be eligible for an expedited work permit. For further information on the process, universities should contact their local Temporary Foreign Worker Unit. Other procedures have been established by the government of Quebec for foreign researchers taking up a chair in this province.
Researchers who hold a tenured or tenure-track position at a Canadian university are eligible to be nominated; however, they may not be nominated by the university at which they hold the tenured or tenure-track position as of the Phase 2 deadline. They may take up a position at the nominating institution once the nomination is submitted.
If a university nominates a researcher for the chair who is currently at a Canadian institution, the university must demonstrate the net benefit to the country in moving the researcher from one Canadian institution to another.
University Application Limits
Applications to the CERC program have to be submitted through an eligible institution. Eligible institution may submit a limited number of applications to the Phase 1 of the 2012 competition. Applications to the Phase 2 competition can only be submitted upon invitation.
Evaluation Criteria
Phase 1
The program is exclusively excellence-based. No special consideration is given to applications based on region, size of applying university, or factors other than those noted in the following criteria:
- the institution's research strengths in the proposed field, assessed against global standards of excellence;
- the promise of the proposed field of research for the chair, measured in the context of leading global research in the proposed field, and the likelihood that the work associated with the proposed chair will be recognized as globally relevant and will advance the frontiers of research in the field on a global scale;
- the extent to which the proposal fits in one or more of the priority and sub-priority areas identified or addresses other issues of benefit to Canada;
- the ability of the university to sustain the research advantage created by the proposed chair after the seven-year term of the chair expires;
- the ability of the institution to leverage additional resources that, together with the CERC program, will enable the university to adequately support the direct and indirect costs associated with a world class program of research; and
- the potential to apply the research results from the chair to advance public policy and/or the potential to commercialize research discoveries from the chair.
Phase 2
Universities invited to participate in Phase 2 have the opportunity to nominate world-class researchers. The selection is based on the highest standards of research excellence, and nominations are assessed based on the following criteria:
1. Quality of the nomineeThe nominee should demonstrate that he/she:
- is an outstanding and innovative researcher whose accomplishments have made groundbreaking impacts in his/her field, including the application of research findings for social and economic benefit;
- is internationally recognized as a world leader in his/her field or is a rising star who has already shown exceptional potential to lead research in his/her field; and
- has a superior record of attracting and supervising graduate students and postdoctoral fellows (taking into account practices in the relevant field or discipline).
The nominee should be proposing a program of research that:
- demonstrates excellence, originality and innovation and is of the highest quality; and
- will attract excellent trainees, students and future researchers.
The university is required to demonstrate a strong fit between the nominee and its application in Phase 1. When deciding whether to recommend a given nominee for an award, reviewers consider:
- the institutional research environment and the institutional commitment to the nominee;
- the fit with the vision and commitments outlined in the Phase 1 application;
- the benefits to Canada of the proposed research and the proposed researcher; and
- the extent to which any concerns raised in the evaluation of the Phase 1 application have been addressed.
The university should demonstrate exemplary recruitment and selection processes. For a better understanding of exemplary recruitment and selection processes, please consult the Recruitment Best Practices report prepared by the Phase 1 review panel.
Factors that will be assessed include:
- inclusiveness and comprehensiveness of candidate search;
- proactive measures taken to attract and encourage the participation of a broad and diverse pool of potential candidates;
- strategies to engage researchers at a wide range of career stages;
- diversity of pool of candidates considered; and
- other outreach and inclusion strategies.
Allocation of Chairs
Chairs are awarded in the four priority research areas outlined in the Government of Canada's science and technology strategy, as well as in other key areas of benefit to Canadians. Proposals are invited from a broad range of disciplines in the social sciences and humanities; natural sciences and engineering; and health and related sciences.
For the 2012 competition, the 11 new chairs will be allocated as follows:
- At least three of the Chair awards will be made in fields relevant to the digital economy.
The "digital economy" is the term used to describe the network of suppliers and users of digital content and technologies that enable everyday life. Digital content and technologies are ubiquitous and critical to almost every activity in our economy and society. These applications enable businesses to be innovative and productive; help governments to provide services; and allow citizens to interact, to transmit and to share information and knowledge. There are six themes for this sub-priority area:
- capacity to innovate using digital technologies;
- building a world-class digital infrastructure;
- growing the information and communications technology industry;
- digital media-creating Canada's digital content advantage;
- building digital skills for tomorrow; and
- research in the digital era.
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At least one chair will be awarded in each of the following priority research areas. The minister of Industry, upon the advice of the Science, Technology and Innovation Council, has identified sub-priorities to the priority areas. Proposals in the priority areas that address one or more of the following sub-priority areas receive higher ranking in the assessment and selection process.
Environmental Sciences and Technologies:
- water (health, energy, security); and
- cleaner methods of extracting, processing and utilizing hydrocarbon fuels, including reduced consumption of these fuels.
Natural Resources and Energy:
- energy production in the oil sands;
- the Arctic (resource production, climate change adaptation, monitoring); and
- biofuels, fuel cells and nuclear energy.
Health and Related Life Science and Technologies:
- regenerative medicine;
- neuroscience;
- health in an aging population; and
- biomedical engineering and medical technologies.
- The four remaining Chair awards will be open to all areas of inquiry, with the onus on the applicant to demonstrate the importance of the research and the benefits to Canada. Note that this open category could include Chairs in fields relevant to the digital economy, to any of the science and technology priority areas or sub-priorities, as well as to any other areas of benefit to Canada.
Review Process
Phase 1 applications and Phase 2 nominations to the program undergo a multilevel peer review. The selection is based on the highest standards of research excellence.
Phase 1
Expert reviews
If appropriate, national and international experts will be asked to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the Phase 1 applications in relation to the evaluation criteria. The evaluations are provided to the review panel, along with all nomination materials, for further evaluation.
Review panel
Appropriate experts, selected both nationally and internationally, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the proposals in relation to the selection criteria. The panel may also conduct interviews with university delegations as part of the evaluation. The evaluations are provided to the selection board, along with all proposal materials, for further evaluation.
Selection board
A prestigious and distinguished arms-length selection board assesses the proposals to determine which ones represent the best strategic investment that can be made through the program. In the context of the CERC program, an investment is strategic when it:
- supports excellence in research;
- builds critical mass in the identified priority or sub-priority research areas or in other areas of benefit to Canada;
- increases focus in areas of a demonstrated Canadian strength or advantage or enables Canada to lead global research in the proposed field; and
- increases capacity to advance public policy and/or strengthen the competitive advantage of Canadian businesses.
The majority of the selection board members are world-renowned international and Canadian experts. The chair and co-chair of the selection board are distinguished Canadians. Other members include the vice-chair of CIHR's governing council, the vice-president of NSERC's council, the vice-president of SSHRC's governing council, and the deputy minister of Industry Canada as an observer.
In Phase 1, the selection board recommends the approval of up to 11 applications. These recommendations are provided to the tri-agency steering committee, which approves the successful Phase 1 applications.
Tri-agency steering committee
The steering committee is composed of the presidents of CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (as an observer), and the deputy ministers of Industry and Health Canada. The committee reviews the evaluation process to ensure that it was rigorous, objective, transparent and consistent with the objectives of the program. The steering committee approves Phase 1 applications based on the recommendations from the selection board.
Universities that submit successful Phase 1 applications are invited to submit Phase 2 nominations. If more than 11 applications meet the expectations of excellence set out for the program, the selection board will rank an additional slate of Phase 1 applications beyond the top 11. In the event that a university fails to recruit a researcher to their CERC position, one of the Phase 1 applications on the ranked reversion list will be invited to submit a Phase 2 nomination.
Phase 2
Expert reviews
Appropriate experts, selected both nationally and internationally, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the Phase 2 nominations in relation to the selection criteria. The evaluations are provided to the review panel, along with all nomination materials, for further evaluation.
Expert reviewers review criteria one, two and three. The quality of institutional recruitment process (criterion four) is evaluated separately by a distinct set of reviewers.
Review panel
Members of the Phase 2 review panel are national and international experts, and may include members from the Phase 1 review panel. The Phase 2 review panel evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of the nominations in relation to the selection criteria 1,2 and 3. The evaluations are provided to the selection board, along with all proposal materials, for further evaluation.
Selection board
The selection board reviews the quality of institutional recrutment process, ensures that the standards of excellence established for the program are respected and that the proposals under evaluation reflect the strategic priorities set out by the government. The board provides recommendations for support to the tri-agency steering committee, which approves the successful Phase 2 nominations.
Tri-agency steering committee
The steering committee reviews the evaluation process to ensure that it was rigorous, objective, transparent and consistent with the objectives of the CERC program. The committee approves up to 11 successful nominees based on the recommendations of the selection board.