Nomination deadline: April 1, 2021, 8 p.m. (ET)
The Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering will be awarded for both the sustained excellence and overall influence of a body of work conducted in Canada in the natural sciences or engineering.
NSERC is acting on the evidence that achieving a more equitable, diverse and inclusive Canadian research enterprise is essential to creating the excellent, innovative and impactful research necessary to advance knowledge and understanding, and to respond to local, national and global challenges. This principle informs the commitments described in the Tri-agency statement on equity, diversity and inclusion.
Candidates may be nominated by any individual or group; however, the nominators must be Canadian citizens or permanent residents of Canada. Posthumous nominations or self-nominations will not be accepted. Current NSERC council members are not eligible for nomination.
As of the deadline, the nominee must be a scientist or engineer employed at a Canadian university, Canadian federal or provincial government lab or private firm active in Canada whose research is primarily based in the fields of the natural sciences and/or engineering. NSERC reserves the right to rule on the eligibility of nominees.
NSERC strongly encourages nominators and university officials to consider equity, diversity and inclusion in their nomination processes. An individual may win the NSERC Herzberg Medal only once. An individual may be nominated for the NSERC Herzberg Medal and other NSERC prizes (Brockhouse, Polanyi, McDonald, Synergy or Strickland) in the same year, but can only win one prize in a given year.
The nominee's work must demonstrate a high degree of expertise, creativity, imagination, leadership, perseverance and dedication. The nominations will be reviewed on the basis of contributions to the areas of the natural sciences or engineering served by NSERC.
A selection committee of distinguished academic, government and industry research representatives, from a variety of disciplines, will review the nominations and recommend the successful candidates to NSERC. Members are selected according to NSERC’s Guidelines governing membership of selection committees. Since the selection committee is multidisciplinary, the nomination material should be written for non-specialists.
The committee may recommend not to award the prize in a given year if there is no outstanding nomination.
Nominations must include
For nominations in engineering or the applied sciences, nominators should consult NSERC's Guidelines for the preparation and review of applications in engineering and the applied sciences and prepare the nominations accordingly.
The nominators are responsible for assembling the required documentation, which must adhere to the General presentation guidelines. Documents that do not meet the presentation standards may be rejected or at a disadvantage in comparison with those that meet the presentation standards. Only the documents requested by NSERC will be made available to the selection committee.
For re-nominations, nominators are asked to submit a complete and updated nomination package. The list of suggested referees should also be updated to include new individuals.
Nominations must be submitted electronically via NSERC’s Innovative Collaborations and Science Promotion (ICSP) Programs Secure Submissions Site. Documents must be submitted in portable document format (PDF) as a single document.
The program collects self-identification data from all nominees. Self-identification data provides information on the diversity of the population applying for and receiving agency funds. This data is important for monitoring the fairness of our programs and informing future measures to increase equity, diversity and inclusion among all those involved in the research enterprise. The questionnaire covers age, gender, Indigenous identity and/or identity as a member of a visible minority group and/or as a person with a disability. Completion of the questionnaire is mandatory, but each question includes the option “prefer not to answer.” Self-identification data will not be seen or used by NSERC peer reviewers.
Nominees
Before you, as a nominee, can submit your documents to the nominator, you must read and agree to the terms and conditions form for nominees. It is your responsibility to retain a copy of the agreed terms and conditions for your records.
Nominators
Before you, as a nominator, can submit your documents to NSERC, you must read and agree to the terms and conditions form for nominators. It is your responsibility to retain a copy of the agreed terms and conditions for your records.
The NSERC Herzberg Medal winner will be asked to confirm, by email or letter, acceptance of the prize and ability to use the full value of the accompanying research grant.
The winning individual will be asked to report on the impact that the award has had on their research activities.
The name of the winner will be officially announced at a public ceremony in 2022.