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NSERC will be providing a webinar for the new Discovery Horizons program.  (Note: program information and UPEI timelines for the Letter of Intent stage can be found below.)

 
French session: May 26th, 11:00am - 12:30pm (AT)
English session: May 26th, 1:00pm - 2:30pm (AT)

 

A short presentation of the program will precede a Q&A session.
 
NSERC has provided some answers to frequently asked questions:

1.      Can applicants who hold a Discovery Grant or are applying for a Discovery Grant in Fall 2021 submit a LOI to Discovery Horizons?
Yes, researchers holding a Discovery grant or applying for one this year are eligible to apply to Discovery Horizons.

2.      Can co-applicants be from non-NSE disciplines (Economics, Sociology …)
As long as the faculty members meet all eligibility requirements they can be from any departments. However, in the Discovery Horizons proposal, they must work towards advancing knowledge in the NSE.

3.      Is the proposed work under Discovery Horizons expected to be drastically different from the work proposed for Discovery? Is conceptual overlap allowed as long as there is no budgetary overlap?
Discovery Horizons proposals should be different from Discovery Grants (applied for or held) since the Discovery Horizons applications, due to their broad level of interdisciplinarity with the social sciences or health research are not suitable for the DG program. At the full application stage, applications must indicate that the funds requested from the Discovery Horizons program will be for expenses that are distinct from those covered by support from other sources. For funding applied for, you must indicate that there will be no duplication of funding for the same expense(s) and explain how funds will be used if all applications are successful.

4.      Does the application need to have all three components: (1) social sciences and humanities, (2) natural sciences and engineering, and (3) health and wellness?
No, Discovery Horizons applications must be rooted in the NSE and integrate elements from the social sciences and humanities and/or health and wellness. 
 
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Leslie Cudmore <lcudmore@upei.ca>
Date: Wed, May 5, 2021 at 2:42 PM
Subject: NSERC announces new Discovery Horizons grants
 
NSERC is launching a pilot funding opportunity to support investigator-initiated individual and team projects that broadly integrate or transcend disciplines to advance knowledge in the natural sciences and engineering (NSE). Full applications submitted to this NSERC program will be reviewed by a tri-agency interdisciplinary peer review committee.

In partnership with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), NSERC is piloting this new interdisciplinary peer review mechanism.

The Discovery Horizons program provides NSERC’s entry-point to the tri-agency interdisciplinary peer-review mechanism. It supports Discovery research projects that would significantly benefit from being assessed by a tri-agency interdisciplinary peer review committee, and aims to 
  1. answer NSE research questions that are best addressed through interdisciplinary approaches
  2. advance NSE disciplines through cross fertilization and new ways of thinking about research questions, ideas and frameworks; approaches and methods; platforms, tools and infrastructure; people, partners and trainees
  3. provide leading-edge NSE training for highly qualified personnel (HQP) in interdisciplinary research environments
Discovery Horizons grants are expected to be between $50,000 and $100,000 per year.  For this pilot year, NSERC is expecting to award 10 to 20 grants. 
 
A limited number of applicants will be invited to submit a full application based on a relevance review of their LOI.
 
UPEI Application Process for Letter of Intent (LOI) stage:
1) Complete your LOI using the Convergence Portal.  
2) Generate a PDF view of the LOI and submit it for UPEI approval using the Researcher Portal and selecting the "Research Funding Administrative Approvals Form for GRANT Applications (rev Dec 2020)".  Instructions for using the Researcher Portal can be found here.  Applicants are requested to submit by June 8, 2021, ensuring that the application is received by Research Services by June 10, 2021.
3) Upon receipt of UPEI approvals, you will be notified to proceed with the submission of your LOI in the Convergence Portal.  The deadline for submission is June 15, 2021.