NSERC Discovery

For those preparing an NSERC Discovery Grant application this fall (deadline Nov. 1), the Office of Research Administration (ORA) has received further details about the competition. The Program Guide for Professors is posted on the NSERC site at The revised forms and instructions will be posted in the coming days and additional instructions regarding the electronic submission will be transmitted by NSERC’s e-business team.

This is the first year that the program literature is no longer distributed on paper. It is available from NSERC’s Web site only at The Web version allows the reader to link easily to several related documents, e.g., eligibility questions, forms and instructions, policies and guidelines, and funding decisions, etc. The system also allows for different options to facilitate the printing of the guide, either by section or in its entirety.

Very few revisions have been made to this year’s application information. The majority of the changes relate to the e-submission process. A document highlighting the changes that affect applications for grants is available on the NSERC website.

Questions on the programs or application procedures for the 2003-2004 competition, especially the requirements for specific disciplines, should be directed to the appropriate NSERC staff. A list is available on the NSERC website.

ORA has prepared a hard copy information package which includes the documents referred to in this memo. This package is available upon request at ext. 55055.