Guidelines for the Evaluation of Subject Matter Eligibility of Discovery Grant Applications Related to the Health Sciences

Principles:

• The primary objective of any research supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) must be to advance knowledge and training in the natural sciences or engineering (NSE).
• The questions to be asked when reviewing a proposal is Where does the research challenge lie? Is it within the NSE? Proposals that include the use of methodologies, tools, techniques and knowledge from the NSE are not automatically considered eligible by NSERC.
• For Discovery Grant (DG) applications, the proposal must be in support of a long-term program of research in the NSE. If the overall program is in the health sciences and the DG application represents only a subset of projects and activities within that broader, health-related program, it is not eligible for DG support.
• DG renewal applications that are a continuation of research previously funded by NSERC but whose research foci and challenges have become more health related may be allowed a phase-out period to minimize any impact on personnel.
• Applications that could be supported by either agency would continue in the DG peer review process.

The following are other considerations (within the above principles) that Program Officers can use for assessing applications that are at the grey zone between NSERC and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) mandates:

• Research in veterinary medicine is eligible for NSERC support.
• Research seeking to further our understanding of fundamental processes with no immediate application or benefit to human health is eligible for NSERC support.
• Research involving the development of technologies is eligible unless it is at the clinical trial stage or if it is solely the refinement of already existing technology for facilitating clinical therapies or health delivery systems. The guiding principle of Where does the research challenge lie? should be applied to these cases.
• Research involving clinical trials is not eligible for NSERC support.
• Research whose primary purpose is the investigation or development of vaccines, therapeutic agents or treatments for human diseases, injuries or performance is not eligible for NSERC support.