New Target Areas Announced for Strategic Project Grants Program

After extensive consultations with Canada’s research community, NSERC is pleased to announce the areas of research it will support through the next funding cycle of the Strategic Project Grants (SPG) program. Each year from 2006 to 2010, NSERC will direct approximately $15 million of SPG funds to research and training in:

• Advanced Communications and Management of Information
• Biomedical Technologies
• Competitive Manufacturing and Value-Added Products and Processes
• Healthy Environment and Ecosystems
• Quality Foods and Novel Bioproducts
• Safety and Security
• Sustainable Energy Systems (Production, Distribution and Utilization)

NSERC also worked closely with the research community to identify, within each target area, specific research topics with the greatest potential for impact on Canada’s economy and quality of life.

In their proposals, researchers must explain why their research is strategic and how it addresses a given target area. Highest priority will be given to those applications that align closest to the specified research topics. However, NSERC will also consider, under the label of “exceptional opportunities,” a limited number of proposals that fall within the targeted area but that address other topics.

How NSERC Establishes New Target Areas and Research Topics