Overview

In 2008, the Government of Canada created a new permanent program to establish 20 prestigious research chairs–Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC)–in universities across the country. The CERC program invests $28 million a year to attract and retain the world's most accomplished and promising minds and help 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 communication technologies.

How are chairs awarded?

Canada Excellence Research Chairs will be identified through a highly competitive two-stage process. In Phase 1, Canadian universities will compete for the opportunity to establish chairs at their institution. In Phase 2, a short list of successful universities will nominate world leaders to a limited number of CERC positions. The selection will be based on the highest standards of research excellence. Canadian universities will administer the funds.

Canada Excellence Research Chairs are tenable for seven years and are not renewable. They are targeted at the world's top researchers to develop ambitious research programs in the four priority research areas in the Government of Canada's science and technology (S&T) strategy. For each chair, the university receives up to $1.4 million annually for seven years.

Program details

The Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) program was created to recognize that Canada's future prosperity depends on its ability to attract the highest calibre of researchers and scholars to this country. To help Canada's universities compete in the global market for research talent, the Government of Canada designed the CERC program to attract Canadian and international leaders who can positively contribute to this country's global competitiveness, future prosperity and well-being, as well as provide a deeper understanding of the human dimension of technological change.

This prestigious program will award up to 20 chairholders and their research teams with up to $10 million over seven years to conduct research in areas of strategic importance to Canada. The chairs will be identified through a highly competitive peer-reviewed process. Proposals are invited from a broad range of disciplines in the social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and engineering, and health and related sciences.

Canada's prosperity as a nation is increasingly based on science and technology and the highly skilled and creative individuals whose talents bring innovations to life. Their ideas build understanding and spark the creation of new products, services and policies that support Canada's economic competitiveness, strengthen social foundations, sustain the environment and improve the quality of life. These concepts are central to the Government of Canada's science and technology (S&T) strategy, announced in
May 2007, which set out a multi-year framework to improve Canada's long-term competitiveness. This includes a commitment to: attracting and retaining talent; supporting world-class research; and creating a business, regulatory and social environment that facilitates entrepreneurship and creativity.

The key program objectives are 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 social and economic benefits for Canadians;
• help Canada build a critical mass of expertise in the priority areas of the S&T strategy including: environmental sciences and technologies, natural resources and energy, health and related life sciences and technologies and information and communications technologies;
• create a competitive environment to help Canadian universities attract a cadre of world leading researchers in their pursuit of excellence in their research; and
• brand Canada as a location of choice for world-leading research, science and technology development.