Overview

In 2008, the Government of Canada created the Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) Program to establish up to 20 prestigious research chairs in universities across the country.

By investing $28 million a year to attract and retain the world's most accomplished and promising minds, the CERC program is helping Canada build a critical mass of expertise in the priority research areas of environmental sciences and technologies; natural resources and energy; health and related life sciences and technologies; and information and communications technologies.

The CERC program
How are Chairs awarded?
The chairholders

The CERC program

The ability to attract the highest calibre of researchers and scholars is a critical factor to Canada’s future prosperity. As a result, the Government of Canada designed the CERC program to attract Canadian and international leading scientists and scholars who can positively contribute to Canada's global competitiveness and well-being, and to help Canadian universities compete in the global market for research talent. Their work will spark the creation of new services and policies that support Canada's economic competitiveness, help sustain the environment and improve quality of life.

Key objectives of the program:

• to strengthen Canada's ability to attract the world's top researchers in order to be at the leading edge of breakthroughs in priority research areas expected to generate benefits for Canadians;
• to help Canada build a critical mass of expertise in the priority areas outlined in the Government of Canada’s S&T strategy, including: environmental sciences and technologies, natural resources and energy, health and related life sciences and technologies, and information and communications technologies;
• to create a competitive environment to help Canadian universities attract a cadre of world-leading researchers in their pursuit of excellence in their research; and
• to establish Canada as a location of choice for leading research in science and technology development.

The CERC program is a tri-agency initiative of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). It is administered by the Canada Research Chairs Secretariat, which is housed within SSHRC.

How are Chairs awarded?

Canada Excellence Research Chairs are selected through a highly competitive and rigorous two-stage process.

Canada Excellence Research Chairs are tenable for seven years and are not renewable. The Chair positions are targeted at the world's top researchers to develop ambitious research programs within the four priority research areas outlined in the Government of Canada’s science and technology strategy, introduced in 2007. Canadian universities administer the funds. For each chair, the university receives up to $1.4 million annually for seven years.

The chairholders

In May 2010, the first group of Canada Excellence Research Chairs was announced. These researchers were chosen through a rigorous selection process that included a review of some 130 research proposals submitted by Canadian universities, followed by the selection of 19 chairholders from a short list of 40 proposals from 17 different universities. The 19 winning researchers will each receive up to $10 million of federal funding over seven years as they work towards confirming Canada’s role as a world leader in research and innovation.