Application deadline: before 8:00 p.m. (ET) on September 15. If the deadline falls on a weekend or federal holiday, your application must reach NSERC before 8:00 p.m. (ET) the following working day.
NSERC invites applications for initiatives that promote the natural sciences and engineering (NSE) to Canada’s young people, particularly to under-represented groups in NSE careers, including girls and Indigenous peoples.* Taking equity and diversity into account, NSERC may support additional meritorious applications that focus on under-represented groups if sufficient funds become available. PromoScience supports activities and content designed for youth in elementary school and high school (including those in the equivalent first year of college in Quebec), and their teachers, and activities that will encourage Indigenous undergraduate students to pursue graduate studies in the NSE.
Furthermore, NSERC encourages organizations to consider the needs of official language minority communities in their area while developing the activities to be proposed in the application and to strive to have official documentation and promotional material in both official languages.
* “Indigenous peoples” is a collective name for the original peoples of North America and their descendants. “Aboriginal peoples” is also often used as a synonym. For the purposes of this program, NSERC uses the Canadian Constitution Act, 1982 definition of Aboriginal peoples as including the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada.
Read the PromoScience program description before completing the
PromoScience application summary form. Accessibility notice: If you cannot access the content, contact the online services helpdesk by email at webapp@nserc-crsng.gc.ca
or by telephone at 613-995-4273. Indicate the email address and telephone number where you can be reached.
In addition to the PromoScience application summary form
, your submission (up to five pages maximum) must include
Divide your application into three sections; use the selection criteria as headings and use the indicators as subheadings.
Your PromoScience application must also include the financial information listed below. This information is not counted in the five-page limit and must also conform to the general presentation guidelines.
Note: NSERC will not fund 100% of the costs of a proposed activity. NSERC’s contribution is generally up to one-third of a program’s funding, but NSERC will allow more flexibility if justified for competition 2022 given the circumstances surrounding COVID-19. If your request deviates significantly from the one-third guideline, demonstrate your efforts to secure other sources of funding in the budget section of your application. The maximum allowable request is $200,000/year for three years.
The Impact assessment form (appendix A)
may be required. For more information, consult NSERC’s guidelines on impact assessment.
Your organization may provide up to six letters to support your application. Your organization should choose which letters make the most convincing case for support of your application. Applications without letters of reference may be at a disadvantage in the competition. There are two types of letters:
For applicants
Before you, as an applicant, can submit your application to NSERC, you must read and agree to the terms and conditions listed on the
Terms and conditions of applying form. It is your responsibility to retain a copy of the agreed terms and conditions for your records. Note: This form must be signed by the applicant identified on the PromoScience application summary form, not the contact person.
For post-secondary institutions
The signatures of the institutional authorities certify that the institution will abide by the roles and responsibilities as set out in the Agreement on the administration of agency grants and awards by research institutions with the three federal granting agencies including the
Tri-agency framework: Responsible conduct of research.
You are responsible for submitting a complete application that conforms to the presentation standards established by NSERC. A checklist to help you ensure that your application is complete is part of the PromoScience application summary form. Incomplete applications and applications that do not meet the presentation standards may be rejected or be at a disadvantage in comparison with those that are complete and respect the presentation standards. Where page limits are stated, pages in excess of the number permitted will be removed. Only the documents requested by NSERC will be made available to the selection committee. For more information, read the general presentation guidelines.
Links to websites may not be included in application documents, including letters of support. Committee members will ignore any links in documents received.
Your application must be submitted to NSERC before 8:00 p.m. (ET) on September 15. If the deadline falls on a weekend or federal holiday, your application must reach NSERC before 8:00 p.m. (ET) the following working day. Late applications will not be accepted.
Applications must be submitted electronically using NSERC’s ICSP secure submission site.
All the parts of your application must be combined into a single document in portable document format (PDF). Zip files and PDF portfolios will not be accepted.
Material or updates to your application received separately (before or after the deadline date) will not be accepted.
NSERC will inform all applicants electronically of the results of the annual PromoScience competition in mid- to late-January. NSERC will not provide results by telephone. Grantees can expect to receive their first instalment in February. A list of the successful grantees will also be posted on the PromoScience website once the new grants are made public.