Canada Excellence Research Chairs: 2022 Competition

The Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) program aims to support world-renowned researchers and their teams to establish ambitious research programs at Canadian universities.

This competition is capped institutionally, with each institution limited to a total dollar value of NOI submissions.  An internal selection process has been developed with assistance from the Associate Deans, Research on both campuses and is outlined here

There have been significant changes to the CERC program based on a program review, engagement sessions and discussions with current chairholders. The most substantive changes are:

  • streamlining the application process into a one-phase approach, in which the research program and nominee are presented together, to help institutions with their recruitment process;
  • establishing two award values ($0.5m and $1m per year for 8 years), to allow participation from a greater range of research disciplines and continue to support core teams that include students, highly qualified personnel, and early- and mid-career researchers;
  • strengthening equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) requirements by ensuring EDI is incorporated in the research design, research teams and recruitment processes; and
  • removing the one-to-one funds-matching requirement, instead focusing on the quality of research environments, emphasizing sustainability plans, and focusing on the institution’s ability to leverage funds.

2022 CERC PROGRAM WEBSITE

2022 CERC PROGRAM RESULTS

CERC PROGRAM DATES AND DEADLINES

CERC registration deadline: September 15, 2022

CERC institutional full application deadline: October 13, 2022

PROGRAM OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the program remain to:

  • strengthen Canada’s ability to attract the world’s top researchers, in order to be at the leading edge of breakthroughs in ST&I priority areas expected to generate social and economic benefits for Canadians;
  • help Canada build a critical mass of expertise in ST&I priority areas identified by the Government of Canada;
  • create a competitive environment to help Canadian institutions, in their pursuit of excellence in their research, attract a cadre of world-leading researchers; and
  • contribute to branding Canada as a location of choice for world-leading research, science and technology development, alongside other federal programs with similar objectives.

Additional program considerations: (full details on CERC website)

  • Equity, diversity and inclusion excellence
  • Equity, diversity and inclusion in research design
  • Equity, diversity and inclusion, and early career researchers in research teams
  • Indigenous research
  • Knowledge mobilization and translation
  • Leveraged funds and sustainability
  • Research security

PRIORITY AREAS

(Full details on CERC website)

Chairs will be awarded in alignment with the Government of Canada’s ST&I priority areas for the CERC and CFREF programs. Applications are invited from a broad range of disciplines in the social sciences and humanities, creative and performing arts, natural sciences and engineering, and health and related sciences.

ST&I priorities for the CERC and CFREF programs.

ELIGIBILITY OF NOMINEES

(Full details on CERC website)

Nominees must be full professors or associate professors expected to be promoted to full professor within one or two years of the nomination. Alternatively, if they come from outside the academic sector, nominees must possess the qualifications necessary to be appointed at these levels.

The nominee must hold a full-time academic appointment at the nominating institution as of the start date of the Chair award. Awardees will have up to 12 months to take up the award after the notice of award and acceptance has been signed by all parties.

CERC SELECTION CRITERIA

CERC outlines the following main areas of its evaluation criteria. Full details are available on the CERC website.

  • Research/academic merit and leadership skills of the nominee
  • Quality of the institutional support
  • Quality of the research program
  • Potential contribution to the excellence of the Canadian and international research ecosystem

UBC CERC Recruitment Opportunities for the 2022 Competition 

Canada Excellence Research Chair in Innovative Synthetic Methods for Medicinal Chemistry
Canada Excellence Research Chair in Environmental Geochemistry
Canada Excellence Research Chair in Evolutionary Dynamics of Host-Pathogen Interactions
Canada Excellence Research Chair in Disaster Resiliency
Canada Excellence Research Chair in the Sociology of Climate Change
Canada Excellence Research Chair in Neuroprosthetics
Canada Excellence Research Chair in Global Change Ecology of Northern Ecosystems