$340M awarded to 3,800 researchers across Canada

Oshawa, ON – Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) has awarded more than 3, 800 researchers at over 70 Canadian universities a total of $340 million in funding. The announcement was made this week at an advanced big data laboratory at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.

The awards are the results of the 2015 competition for NSERC’s Discovery Grants, Discovery Accelerator Supplements, Discovery Development Grants, Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarships, Postgraduate Scholarships, Postdoctoral Fellowships and Research Tools and Instruments Grants.

Along with the scientists and engineers receiving Discovery Grants, nearly 60 researchers have been offered grants of $20,000 each over two years by NSERC as part of a new pilot Discovery Development Grant Program. This new initiative is targeted at researchers working at small universities, enabling them to contribute to a diversified and competitive research base across Canada.

A foundation of the government’s efforts to support researchers at Canadian universities, the NSERC Discovery Grants program funds discovery in a variety of disciplines, including chemistry, physics, life sciences, mathematics, computer science, earth sciences, and the many branches of engineering. The grants typically last for five years.

“NSERC’s Discovery Grants Program is our flagship. It invests in the full range of science and engineering disciplines and thus builds the strong foundation that is a necessary prerequisite for innovation,” said B. Mario Pinto, President, NSERC. “We’re building on its success with our Discovery Development Grants, because we want to take advantage of the full diversity of insights and ideas across Canada. Complementing our support for discovery research, NSERC’s scholarships and fellowships invest in a new generation of talent and give these brilliant students and fellows the skills and experience to meet the challenges of the future.”

The list of recipients can be found here.