Outline

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(No Transcript)
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• Outline
• 2009 Budget
• 2009 Discovery Grants Competition
• Next Steps Discovery Grants
• Other programs

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Federal Budget 2009 ST expenditures 5.1
billion including

• Investments in Knowledge Infrastructure
• University / College infrastructure - 2 billion
  /2 yrs
• Canada Foundation for Innovation - 750 million
• Institute for Quantum Computing - 50 million /2
  yrs
• Federal laboratories infrastructure - 250
  million / 2 yrs
• Arctic Research Infrastructure - 85 million /2
  yrs
• Canada Health Infoway - 500 million
• Broadband implementation strategy -225 million

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Federal Budget 2009 ST Expenditures

• Further Developing a Highly Skilled Workforce
• Canada Graduate Scholarship Temporary Increase
  87.5 million /3 yrs
• NSERC 35 mil. CIHR - 35 mil. SSHRC
  17.5 mil.
• Industrial RD Internships - 3.5 million /2 yrs
• Helping Small Medium Sized Companies Innovate
• Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP)
  200 million /2 yrs
• A More Sustainable Environment
• Clean Energy Technologies 1 billion / 5 yrs
• Atomic Energy of Canada - 351 million

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What is Strategic Review?

• Annual process each year ¼ of federal
  organizations are involved
• In 2008, 21 federal organizations participated
• Principles
• Need and impact of program on the community it
  serves.
• Federal role and fit to NSERCs mandate.
• Alignment with the governments ST strategy.
• Value for money (efficiency and effectiveness),
  management performance and accountability.
• Results announced in Budget 2009

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Strategic ReviewOutcome for NSERC

• Programs to be terminated
• Centres for Research in Youth, Science Teaching
  and Learning (CRYSTAL)
• University Faculty Awards (UFA)
• Research Capacity Development (RCD) program
• Special Research Opportunity (SRO) program
• Intellectual Property Mobilization (IPM) program
• Programs to be reduced
• Postgraduate Scholarships program Optional 2nd
  year of Masters level support
• Major Resources Support (MRS) program
• Indirect Costs Program

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2009 Discovery Grants Competition Delivering
on NSERCs Commitment to Excellence
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• Why were improvements made?
• Excellence of Discovery Grants Program validated
  in two major independent reviews
• Strong support for existing program criteria to
  measure excellence
• Recommendations for enhancement
• processes that ensure that the peer review system
  responds more dynamically to applicants
  performance
• 2) new committee structure to give all applicants
  a higher quality, more focused, review (in 2010)

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• Discovery Grants 2009 Competition
• Consultations and decisions
• (2008) Extensive consultations with key
  stakeholders to validate the new review process
  and committee structure
• (2008) Changes endorsed by NSERCs Council and
  its Standing Committee on Grants and Scholarships
• (2009) New rating principles and measures
  implemented in the 2009 Discovery Grants
  Competition

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• Discovery Grants 2009 Competition
• Evaluation principles introduced
• Two-step process separating merit review and
  funding recommendations
• Merit assessment based on the same criteria as in
  the past
• Funding recommendations - comparable funding for
  those with similar overall ratings within a
  committee
• Greater consistency in process from committee to
  committee and competition to competition

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Discovery Grants 2009 CompetitionEnhanced
two-step review process
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• Discovery Grants 2009 Competition
• All program strengths retained
• The merit evaluation criteria are unchanged
• Supports a program of research, giving researcher
  freedom to pursue most promising directions
• Continuity of funding for highest performers
• Continued commitment to support meritorious
  early-career researchers
• Overall program budget is stable

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• Discovery Grants 2009 Competition
• Implementation
• The introduction of the new review process went
  smoothly
• Most review committee members liked the new
  rating approach. They said it was fair and
  allowed them to spend more time focusing on the
  scientific content of the applications

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• Discovery Grants 2009 Competition
• Impacts achieved
• A more dynamic system
• Continuity of funding for researchers with strong
  contributions to research and training and a
  strong research proposal
• Opportunity for significant funding increases for
  those with superior contributions and research
  plans, no matter their history in the program

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Comparing 2009 and 2008 Competitions Change in
Grant Amount
No Change
2009
2008
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Overall Comparative Statistics
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Discovery Grants Results 2009 Competition
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• Discovery Grants Program
• Towards the future
• For the 2010 competition, NSERC will introduce
  the second major enhancement the new system of
  Conference Review. It will replace the current
  Grant Selection Committees, while retaining their
  positive features.

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The view from NSERC At NSERC, we fuel the
advancement of knowledge in science and
engineering and ensure that Canadian scientists
and engineers are leaders and key players in a
global knowledge community. Suzanne Fortier,
President, NSERC
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Next Steps Discovery Grants
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New Evaluation Groups

• Gene, Cell Molecules
• Biological Systems and Functions
• Evolution Ecology
• Chemistry
• Physics
• Geosciences
• Computer Science
• Mathematics Statistics
• Civil, Industrial Systems Engineering
• Electrical Computer Engineering
• Material and Chemical Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering

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How does the Conference Model work?
GROUP A Group Chair 30 members 4 Section Chairs
GROUP B Group Chair 35 members 4 Section Chairs
GROUP C Group Chair 25 members 3 Section Chairs
Section C1-1 Research Topics C1 and B5
Section B1-1 Research Topic B1
Section C3-1 Research Topic C4
Section A1-1 Research Topic A1
Section A3-1 Research Topic A5
Section A4-1 Research Topics A7 and A8
Section B3-1 Research Topic B4
Section B4-1 Research Topics B2 and B6
Section B2 Research Topic B3
Section C2 Research Topic C3
Section A2 Research Topic A3
Section C1-2 Research Topic C2
Section A1-2 Research Topics A2 and A4
Section C3-2 Research Topics C5 and A5
Section A3-2 Research Topic A6
Section A4-2 Research Topics A9 and B5
Section B3-2 Research Topics B1 and B5
Section B4-2 Research Topics B7 and C6
Section B1-2 Research Topics B2 and A10
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Other Programs Collaborative Research And
Training Experience (CREATE) Vanier Canada
Graduate Scholarships Michael Smith Foreign Study
Stipends
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CREATE

• Supports the training of teams of HQP through
  innovative training programs that
• encourage collaborative and integrative
  approaches that address significant scientific
  challenges
• facilitate the transition of new researchers from
  trainees to productive employees in the Canadian
  workforce
• CREATE will encourage
• The acquisition and development of important
  professional skills
• Student mobility between universities (even
  internationally) or to industry/government
  settings to gain valuable experience
• Interdisciplinary research
• Job readiness

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CREATEFocus on priorities

• 60 of CREATE funding will be directed to 4
  priority areas
• Environmental science and technologies
• Natural resources and energy
• Health and related life sciences and technologies
• Information and communications technologies
• In fact 19 out of the 20 funded proposals were in
  the priority areas in 2009

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CREATESignificant Funding

• Year 1 up to 150,000
• Years 2 6 up to 300,000 per year
• Total max 1,650,000
• A minimum of 80 of funds to be spent on
  stipends
• 30 may go to non-NSE trainees
• Undergrads (4500 for 16 weeks supplement 25)
• Masters (17,300 per year)
• Doctoral (21,000 per year)
• Postdoctoral (40,000 per year)
• Up to 20 to
• training program structure (eg. salary of program
  coordinator first 2 years only)
• books, equipment, advertising, travel
• dissemination of training materials and research
  results
• miscellaneous

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CREATESelection Criteria

• Letter of Intent (May 15)
• Merit of proposed training program (50)
• Excellence of the research team (50)
• Full Application (September 22, if invited)
• Excellence of the research team
• Merit of proposed training program
• Program management and long-term sustainability

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Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships

• To attract and retain world-class doctoral
  students by supporting students who demonstrate a
  high standard of scholarly achievement in
  graduate studies as well as leadership skills
• Both Canadian and international students are
  eligible to be nominated for a Vanier Canada
  Graduate Scholarship

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Vanier CGSWhats new in 2009

• To be delivered as one national program
• Universities receive a 3-year allocation of
  nominations
• Timeline under review

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Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplements

• For those holding an active CGS (M or D) award
• To spend a research period abroad (3-6 mo.)
• Up to 6,000 to offset the costs, including
  travel and accommodation
• NSERCs share 80 (out of 250)
• Universities to be allocated a set number of
  supplements
• 2 application deadlines per year
• June 10 and October 10

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Questions?