For Professors – Overview – Grants Programs – Discovery Grants

Important Notice From NSERC – Your Intent to Apply for a Discovery Grant (Form 180)

It is time to start preparing for your application for a Discovery Grant. A Notification of Intent to Apply for a Discovery Grant (Form 180) and the required appendices must be submitted by the new deadline date of August 1, 2006.

We would also like to remind you that the new deadline date for the receipt of Research Tools and Instruments Grant applications is October 25, 2006.

Notification of Intent to Apply for a Discovery Grant (Form 180) Submission

Note that Form 180 is an important part of the review process. Failure to submit it will prevent the selection of external referees, and may thus have an adverse impact on the review of your application.

If you do not intend to apply this year, please let us know by sending an e-mail before August 1, 2006 to coord@nserc.ca indicating that you will not apply.

If you do intend to apply, we are offering you two different options for preparing and submitting your Form 180.

Before you start, you must read or consult the following documents:

• the instructions on how to complete Form 180;
• NSERC’s eligibility criteria;
• the results of Reallocations Exercise.
  If you are applying to the Inorganic/Organic Chemistry, Analytical/Physical Chemistry, Condensed Matter Physics, General Physics or Mechanical Engineering GSC, also consult the information located below.

The 2006 version of our literature and forms will be available on NSERC Web site as of August 8, 2006; however, you may start preparing your application now using the current version of the forms.

Option 1: Electronic Submission of Your Form 180

If you are planning to complete and submit your Form 180 electronically, you should access the form through the On-line Services.

Note: When you submit the form electronically, NSERC will send you an acknowledgement of receipt via e-mail. The status of the form on your My Portfolio page will also change to Received within three business days. Do not send a paper version of your completed form by mail – we will use only the electronic version.

Option 2: Submission by Mail

There are two ways of preparing your Form 180 if you are submitting it by mail:

1. Completing Form 180 on line: You will have to access the form through the On-line Services.
2. Completing the PDF version of Form 180: You will have to access the PDF version of Form 180, print a blank Form 180 (from the File menu bar at the top of the page, select File, then Print), and complete the form using a typewriter.

Then, mail the appropriate number of copies of the form, along with the required appendices to:

NSERC
350 Albert Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 1H5

In September, your university Research Grants Office will be provided with a list of all completed Form 180 submissions. They, in turn, will advise your department.

Please send your advance material to NSERC as soon as possible (but no later than August 1, 2006). This information allows NSERC to start planning some aspects of the review process, including preliminary GSC assignments and the selection of appropriate external referees.

Important Change to the Personal Data Form (Form 100)

As part of Form 100, NSERC applicants are required to describe their contributions to the training of highly qualified personnel (HQP) by providing certain details about the individuals they have trained or supervised. Due to federal Privacy Act rules governing the collection of personal information, applicants are now required to obtain consent from these individuals before providing personal data about them to NSERC.

To help the applicant obtain this consent, NSERC has created a form called Appendix D (Form 100) – Consent to Provide Limited Personal Information About Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) to NSERC. We are making this form available in advance of the Discovery Grants application deadline to give you extra time to collect the required signatures.

When using this form to seek consent, you will need to assure the individual that the information collected will only be used by NSERC for the purpose of assessing your contribution to HQP training. You must keep these signed consent forms on file and, if requested, make them available to NSERC.

In cases where it proves difficult or impossible to obtain consent, you will still be able to list contributions to training using generic data and descriptions that do not identify those supervised.

If you would like to find out more about the Discovery Grants program, visit the NSERC Web site or send an e-mail to resgrant@nserc.ca. Questions regarding the On-line Services can be directed to the NSERC Helpdesk, Monday to Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (EDT). The Helpdesk can be reached by telephone at (613) 995-4273 or by e-mail at webapp@nserc.ca.

The Discovery Grants Reallocations Exercise

NSERC completed its third Reallocations Exercise in July 2002. These results will be in effect for the 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 competitions.

All disciplines were reallocated funds to support some of the proposals put forward in their submissions. As you prepare your application for a Discovery Grant, you should be aware of the specific purposes for which funds were reallocated to your discipline. You will find this information in Annexes A and B of the NSERC Report on the 2002 Reallocations Exercise. A detailed description of the proposals supported can then be found in the text of the Reallocations Submissions for your discipline.

If the proposals supported are relevant to you (e.g., if your research is in an area for which funds were specifically reallocated), or if you incur research expenses for which your discipline received reallocated funds, mention this in your application. This will help the GSC decide if you should receive some of the reallocated funds.

For applicants in chemistry, condensed matter physics and general physics, in addition to the funds reallocated to your respective disciplines, funds were also specifically reallocated for interdisciplinary materials research. Consult the joint proposal Interdisciplinary Materials Research. If you are planning, or are currently involved in, a chemist-physicist collaboration in an area pertinent to this initiative and incur additional costs as a result, include these in your budget. In the additional pages provided to describe your budget request in detail, use the heading “Interdisciplinary Materials Research” and, in one or two short paragraphs, list your collaborator(s), and describe briefly the nature of your collaboration and the costs for which support from Reallocations funds are being sought.

The Reallocations Exercise and Mechanical Engineering (GSC 13)

In the recent Reallocations Exercise, GSC 13 received funds to support two specific proposals. (See the Reallocations Exercise for more details.)

In reviewing Discovery Grant applications, the Mechanical Engineering GSC used the following principles to assess whether an application merited consideration under each of the proposals:

Proposal 1 (Biomechanical Engineering)

While biomedical engineering is the most frequently used term to denote the applications of all engineering disciplines in the biological sciences, biomechanical engineering limits the area to those associated with the more traditional mechanical engineering topics. This means that the problems most often involve solid mechanics, fluid mechanics, dynamics, thermodynamics and heat transfer. Examples of applications of each of these topics include:

• Solid Mechanics – fundamental and applied studies of the properties and behaviour of the hard and soft tissues at both macro- and microscopic levels.
• Fluid Mechanics – understanding and assisting the flow of bodily fluids and gases including blood, urine and respiration.
• Dynamics – monitoring and predicting the kinematics and kinetics of motion for injury and disease causation, surgical approaches, rehabilitation and athletics.
• Thermodynamic and Heat Transfer – thermodynamics of interfaces, as well as heat and mass transfer and energy transfer considerations inside and outside the body.

In all the above areas, numerical modeling and the simulation and analytical evaluations of the processes and functions are often combined with both in vitro and in vivo studies that may also involve animal models. Development of novel experimental techniques and devices to advance measurement and investigation of biomechanical systems are also included. In addition, development of rehabilitation systems and aids for the mechanically handicapped are also included.

Proposal 2 (Alternative Energy Systems)

The research effort will be focused on systems or subsystems that:

• are based on new or emerging technologies, or on technologies that are not in widespread use;
• have the potential to replace conventional energy sources in ways that are more efficient and more environmentally friendly, or can make important contributions to sustainable development;
• have the potential for significant impact in their fields of application; and
• will address significant issues relevant to technologies such as, but not limited to:
• polymer fuel cells;
• solid oxide fuel cells;
• wind turbines;
• solar photovoltaic;
• micro turbines;
• other emerging energy systems; and
• day lighting and passive solar heating in buildings.

If you have questions about the implementation of the Reallocations decisions, contact the Program Officer responsible for your GSC.