Read Me First

Summary of Changes – Program Guide for Professors 2005

NSERC has revised its 2005 edition of the Program Guide for Professors. Please note that very few changes have been made this year. A summary appears below.

Programs

Major Facilities Access (MFA) Grants

In the section on Review Procedures and Selection Criteria, the following new text has been added as the first bullet, under Uniqueness of the facility at the regional or national level:

• facility or research resource not commonly available in Canadian universities;

and under Demonstrated need for support through an MFA grant:

• facility or resource of this nature not usually supported by Canadian universities;

Research Tools and Instruments (RTI) Grants

The RTI – Categories 2 and 3 moratorium remains in effect. As was the case last year, NSERC will, for the duration of the moratorium, accept applications under Category 1 for equipment that costs up to $250,000 (before tax, shipping and handling) as long as the applicant(s) is able to secure funding from other sources to bring the amount requested from NSERC to $150,000 or less.

Please note that this moratorium does not apply to applications in subatomic physics as these are evaluated within the subatomic physics envelope; applications in Categories 2 and 3 will still be accepted in this case.

Frequently Asked Questions

This section of the Guide, which can be found under Read Me First on the left-hand tool bar, has been slightly revised. Under What do the signatures on the application mean? the following note has been added in the section The signatures of the co-applicants confirm that they:

Note: In the case of an Industrial Research Chair application, the signatures would be that of the Chair candidate(s) or Chairholder(s).

Eligibility Criteria

This section has been re-formatted to make it clearer and easier to read. For instance, the definitions of applicant, co-applicant and collaborator have been placed immediately up front to enable researchers to verify at the outset whether they are eligible to apply for funding. The criteria that apply equally to both university and college professors have been merged and those that are distinct have been clearly identified as applying either to university or college professors.

During tenure of the award⁴

The second and third bullets have been merged into one bullet and the text now reads:

• if you live abroad or hold a position of any kind outside Canada, you must spend a minimum of six months per year at an eligible Canadian institution;

Footnotes

Three new footnotes have been added at the end of the Eligibility Criteria section:

³ For information regarding the eligible institutions, see the List of Eligible Institutions in the For institutions section.

⁴ Before any funds can be released on an NSERC grant, the applicants must take up the position and complete all degree requirements. For Discovery Grants, this can be no later than September 1 of the year of the award.

⁵ The six months are calculated annually from the date that you take up your award. For questions regarding leave during the tenure of your award, see Sabbatical and Other Leaves in the Financial Administration section of this Guide.

Forms and Instructions

NSERC makes ongoing enhancements to its On-line System to improve the way users interact with the system. For more details on the latest enhancements, please consult the 2005 On-line System Update and Enhancement document.

Financial Administration

The Financial Administration section of the Program Guide for Professors has been revised. The changes are summarized in the following table.