Eligibility Criteria – For Faculty

You may participate in grant programs as an applicant, co-applicant, collaborator or participant.

• Applicant: Principal investigator on an application (i.e., university faculty). You must meet the eligibility criteria.
• Co-applicant: Member of a research group applying for a team grant (i.e., university faculty or college faculty). You must meet the eligibility criteria.
• Collaborator: A research scientist or engineer from any sector, e.g., government scientist, academic researcher, company staff member, can be a member of a research team that is applying for a team grant. You will not have access to these grant funds. You must be qualified to undertake research independently and will be expected to contribute to the overall intellectual direction of the research project, or program of research, and bring your own resources to the collaboration.
• Participant: Faculty or professional/technical staff involved with College and Community Innovation Program. You must be qualified to undertake research independently and will be expected to contribute to the overall intellectual direction of the research project, or program of research. You will not have authority over expenses charged to the grant funds. Participants are not required to meet the eligibility criteria described below.

University faculty: To be eligible as an applicant or co-applicant, you must hold or have a firm offer of¹ an academic appointment at an eligible Canadian university at the time of application.² The appointment can be:

• a tenured, tenure-track or lifetime professor emeritus position; or
• a term or contract position of no less than three years.³

Note on Adjunct professors: Adjunct professors must meet NSERC's eligibility criteria. Those whose primary place of employment is at an eligible Canadian university may apply to NSERC grants programs. Those whose primary place of employment is outside the university sector (e.g., government, industry or colleges) are eligible to apply for a Discovery Grant as principal applicant, as well as to other NSERC grants as co-applicants. NSERC will normally award funds to adjunct professors working outside the university sector only for the direct support of students (salaries or stipends and student travel costs); all other costs must be covered through other sources of funding.

College faculty: To be eligible as an applicant or co-applicant, you must hold or have a firm offer of¹ a faculty appointment at an eligible Canadian college at the time of application.² The appointment can be:

• a permanent position; or
• a term or contract position of no less than three years.³

Colleges can participate in various types of grants in the College and Community Innovation Program. In addition, college faculty members that meet the eligibility criteria described herein can participate in a number of other NSERC programs.

Additional Eligibility Requirements (for both university and college faculty)

• The academic or college appointment must be ratified by the person(s) or body responsible for approving appointments or their delegate(s), and must be in accordance with university or college statutes.
• For university faculty, the position must require you to engage in research that is not under the direction of another individual and must authorize you to supervise or co-supervise the research of students registered in an undergraduate or graduate degree program, or postdoctoral fellows (e.g., thesis supervision and not supervision of regular course or laboratory assignments).
• For college faculty, the position must permit you to engage in research-related activities that are not under the direction of another individual.
• You must engage in research in the natural sciences or engineering (relevant exceptions are noted in the program descriptions).
• Your salary must not be paid out of NSERC, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) or the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) grant funds, except for scientific directors of Networks Centres of Excellence (NCE). Compensation through salary support programs is acceptable.
• You must not be currently ineligible to apply for and/or hold funds from NSERC, SSHRC, CIHR or any other research funding organization worldwide for reasons of breach of responsible conduct of research policies, such as ethics, integrity or financial management policies.
• If your primary position is outside of Canada, you must work full-time in an eligible Canadian institution (applies to grant applications submitted as of September 15, 2012 only).
• You must accept and comply with the terms and conditions of your application and the grant or award if one is made, including consenting to the public disclosure of personal information in the case of a serious breach of agency policy. 
• You must have accounts in good standing with NSERC, including having paid or returned all money owing to NSERC. The determination of whether or not an account is in good standing shall be at the sole and absolute discretion of NSERC.

During Tenure of the Award⁴

• You must hold an eligible academic appointment at an eligible Canadian post-secondary institution as stipulated above.
• If your primary position is outside of Canada, you are not eligible unless you work full-time in an eligible Canadian institution (applies to grant applications submitted as of September 15, 2012 only).
• You must not be enrolled in a graduate program in the natural sciences or engineering, and must not hold a postdoctoral fellow position.
• Team members cannot be paid a salary or consulting fee from the grant funds if their status makes them eligible to apply for funding independently (see Use of Grant Funds, Non-Eligible Expenses in the Tri-Agency Financial Administration Guide).
• You must not be ineligible to apply for and/or hold funds from NSERC, SSHRC, CIHR or any other research funding organization world-wide for reasons of breach of responsible conduct of research policies, such as ethics, integrity or financial management policies.

Keep in Mind

You must notify NSERC immediately if your eligibility status changes (see Continuing Eligibility in the Tri-Agency Financial Administration Guide).