University of Ottawa Wednesday, October 25, 2012 Dave Bowen – Team Leader NSERC

1. NSERC Update University of Ottawa Wednesday, October 25, 2012 Dave Bowen – Team Leader NSERC

2. Outline • NSERC News • NSERC Frontiers • Climate and Atmospheric Research (CCAR) • Northern Research Supplements (NRS) • Federal budget 2012 • 2012 Discovery Grants Competition Results • Geosciences (EG 1506) • Questions

3. Discovery Frontiers • First project (Northern Earth Systems): • Arctic Development and Adaptation to Permafrost in Transition (ADAPT) brings together 15 laboratories to tackle broad problems defined with the input of the northern community • Led by Warwick Vincent, Centre d’études nordiques, Université Laval • $4 million over a four-year period • Theme for next call for proposals: • to be determined in fall 2012

4. Climate Change and Atmospheric Research (CCAR) New federal research initiative will improve understanding of the climate and the atmosphere $35 million over five years Large, integrated projects involving university researchers, Canadian government scientists, and partner organizations Research proposals for CCAR funding must cover one of the following three themes: Understanding Earth system processes and their representation in weather, climate and atmospheric chemistry models; Advancing weather, climate and environmental prediction; and/or Understanding recent changes in the Arctic and cold region environments Fifty-eight letters of intent received, 24 invited to apply Decisions by January

5. Northern Research Supplements (NRS) Objective: • Provide extra support to Discovery Grant (DG) holders conducting research in Canada’s North, in recognition of the extra logistical costs • NSERC is consolidating existing Northern funding to strengthen the Northern Research Supplements Program • $1.5 million annual budget • 92 researchers currently supported • Value between $10-25K • Awards at the upper end of the range recognizing researchers whose programs have higher logistical costs and make outstanding contributions to outreach and interactions with northerners

6. Impact of Federal Budget 2012 on NSERC Investment of $15M per year for our Strategy on Partnerships and Innovation Discovery, Scholarships and Innovation programs fully protected “programming in support of basic research, student scholarships, and industry-related research initiatives and collaborations are preserved. 6

7. Budget 2012: Planned Reductions in Departmental Spending “The granting councils will be pursuing operational efficiencies and reallocation of funding from lower-priority programs to generate savings.The Government will fully reinvest 2012–13 savings in priority areas of the granting councils, particularly in industry-academic partnerships.” (p. 73)

8. NSERC’s Budget (millions of dollars) 5

9. Impact to Discovery Suite of Programs • Major Resources Program • Program will no longer be accepting new applications at this time. • Commitments for existing instalments will be honoured. • Program is currently under moratorium.

10. Impact to Discovery Suite of Programs • Research Tools & Instruments • Community consulted on options for limited competitions in future, given impact from budget 2012 • Next step will be to seek input from the Committee on Grants and Scholarships on the implementation of the program for the 2014 competition • The research community is encouraged to explore other avenues for funding research tools and instruments, including NSERC’s many programs that allow for the purchase of equipment, among other expenses. • Additionally, requests for smaller scale equipment can be incorporated into larger scale funding requests to the Canada Foundation for Innovation, where appropriate. 

11. Discovery Grants 2012Geosciences Results and Statistics

12. Overall Statistics (All EGs)2012 Discovery Grants Competition • NSERC continued to put a strong emphasis on giving Early-Career Researchers (ECRs) a chance to demonstrate their potential and exceeded the minimum target success rate of 50% recommended in the International Review of the NSERC Discovery Grants Program. • In Budget 2011, NSERC was allocated additional funding "to support outstanding research in the natural sciences and engineering fields, such as the Strategy for Partnerships and Innovation (SPI)." NSERC is devoting half of this money to enhance the Discovery Grants of ECRs in the form of supplements to their grants. • These supplements of a value of up to $5,000 per year are included in the awarded amounts and reflected in the statistics presented in these slides.

13. Discovery Grants Overall Results – 2012 Competition

14. Statistics by University Size – 2012 Competition

15. DG Competition Results – Geosciences

16. Geosciences DG Results Competition 2012

17. Results and Statistics – Geosciences2012 Discovery Grants Competition

18. Results and Statistics – Geosciences 2012 Discovery Grants Competition

19. Geosciences RTI ResultsCompetition 2012 * For the purposes of this table, this category includes only those applicants who were identified as Early-Career Researchers with their 2012 application for a Discovery Grant.

20. Discovery Accelerator Supplements (DAS) results • 125 DAS were awarded among all EGs • Geosciences EG reviewed all applications and recommended 25 applicants for a DAS supplement • List provided to Executive Committee of EG, who conducted final analysis of DAS nominees to reduce to the given quota of 14 awards. • Nominees who best met the objectives of the program recommended to NSERC President for a DAS award • The Geosciences Evaluation Group recommended its full quota of fourteen awards