Form 187 - Instructions

Grants Programs

Letter of Intent to Apply for a Collaborative Research and Training Experience Program Grant (CREATE)

How to Complete Form 187

For deadlines and other information, consult the CREATE program description in the Program Guide for Professors.

Note: If submitting the form electronically, do not send a paper version to NSERC.

Read and/or print the following documents before you start completing Form 187:

1. The Frequently Asked Questions on how to use the On-Line System.
2. The General Instructions on how to complete Form 187. These instructions are found below.
3. The NSERC Code Tables to help you identify the Research Subject Codes.

Whom should I contact if I need help?

If you have questions regarding:

1. the Collaborative Research and Training Experience Program (CREATE), write to create@nserc-crsng.gc.ca.
2. the On-line System, send an e-mail to webapp@nserc-crsng.gc.ca or call 613-995-4273.

Please include in your message the e-mail address and telephone number where you may be contacted.

Contents

1. Before you begin
2. Completing Form 187
3. How to submit your Form 187

Before you begin

Applicants are encouraged to complete the application on the on-line system and submit it on line. Applicants can also use the traditional paper-based process by printing and completing the PDF version.

Note: Before submitting Form 187, applicants must receive, from their university, the confirmation that their proposal has been selected as part of their university’s CREATE quota.

See the section "How to submit your Form 187" below.

Collection and Use of Personal Information

The information you provide in your application is collected under the authority of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Act.

The information is stored in a series of NSERC data banks described in Info Source. Details on the use of this information are provided in the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act (ATIP).

Completing Form 187
(Letter of Intent to Apply for a Collaborative Research and Training Experience Program Grant)

Applying to the CREATE program involves 2 phases:

Phase 1: Letter of Intent

Phase 2: Application

The CREATE program is highly selective, with pre-screening based on the Letter of Intent. Only applicants successful at the Letter of Intent stage will be invited to submit a full application.

A complete application at the Letter of Intent phase must be submitted by the deadline date, using the following documents:

FORM PROFILE

Some of this information was transferred from the «New Application» screen. You may update the fields as needed.

Target Areas

Indicate if the proposed program falls within a priority area from the list provided below.

• Environmental science and technologies
• Natural resources and energy
• Health and related life sciences and technologies
• Information and communications technologies
• Not a target area

AREA(S) OF RESEARCH

Research Subject Codes

Consult the NSERC Code Tables. All applicants are required to select a “primary” area of application code.

Key Words

Provide a maximum of 10 key words that describe this proposal.

CO-APPLICANTS (minimum one/maximum ten)

List a minimum of one and up to ten co-applicants’ names; personal identification numbers, if known; the time (in hours per month) each will devote to the proposed research/activity, if known; and institution/department. Seventy percent of the co-applicants must be from the natural sciences and engineering (NSE fields), but co-applicants at the interdisciplinary frontier between NSE and the areas covered under the umbrella of the two other federal granting agencies, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR), may be incorporated into proposals.

By submitting this form, the applicant certifies that the individuals listed as co-applicants have been informed of the precise uses and disclosures of their personal information by NSERC (see Use and Disclosure of Personal Information Provided to NSERC) and have authorized the release of the information by the applicant.

COLLABORATORS

If applicable, list each collaborator’s name, NSERC personal identification number (PIN), if known, the time (in hours per month) each will devote to the proposed training program and their organization/department. Describe their role in “The excellence of the proposed team of researchers” module.

The collaborator list should include key participants in your proposed CREATE training initiative and may include, as appropriate, other academics who are not listed as co-applicants but have a supportive role to play; research scientists from other research institutions who will actively participate in the training and/or representatives from other stakeholders including government or industry who are potential employers of the CREATE trained graduates.

At the letter of intent stage, you should have contacted all of the collaborators listed and confirmed their willingness to participate. The roles and responsibilities of the collaborators should be elaborated on in the description of the training program and in letters of support, if you are invited to submit a full application.

By submitting this form, the applicant certifies that the individuals listed as collaborators have been informed of the precise uses and disclosures of their personal information by NSERC (see Use and Disclosure of Personal Information Provided to NSERC) and have authorized the release of the information by the applicant.

Note: Collaborators do not have access to the grant funds and are expected to contribute their own resources (cash or in-kind) to the CREATE training program.

OUTLINE OF TRAINING PROGRAM

State the objectives of the proposed research training program and summarize the approach, the originality and novelty of the proposed research training program, as well as the expected significance of the program. Your proposal must describe how the proposed approach would better prepare students and/or postdoctoral fellows for their future careers in industry, government or, to a lesser extent, in academia. In addition, the proposal should indicate how these stakeholders, as future employers, will be involved in guiding the training program.

Include information on the approximate number of students and postdoctoral fellows that you are planning to have participate in the program on an annual basis in a table, similar to the example below. Briefly indicate how the training of each group of trainees will be handled. Provide an explanation if a particular category of students will not be receiving funding from the program (i.e., if no MSc students supported, explain why).

Note: Applications which focus on support only at the undergraduate level will not be accepted. If the training proposal focuses primarily on one group of trainees, it must be justified.

The outline must not exceed two pages on the printed copy.

EXCELLENCE OF PROPOSED TEAM OF RESEARCHERS

Provide information on the core team involved. Explain the rationale for the team composition and how it has the necessary expertise for the successful execution of the training program. The applicant, co-applicants and collaborators’ roles and responsibilities within the training program and its management must be explained.

The outline must not exceed two pages on the printed copy.

REFEREES

Suggest the name and complete mailing address of a minimum of three, and up to six, individuals who could provide an independent assessment of your full application; if you are invited to apply.

Note: LOIs will not be sent for external review.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

Suggested referees must not:

• be from the same institution as the applicant(s) or any of the co-applicants;
• have been a research supervisor or graduate student of the applicant or any of the co-applicants within the past six years;
• be providing letters of support for the application;
• have collaborated with the applicant or any of the co-applicants within the past six years or have plans to collaborate with them in the immediate future;
• be an employee of a non-academic organization with which the applicant or any of the co-applicants has had collaboration within the past six years;
• be in any other potential conflict of interest (e.g., personal, financial).

Referees should be capable of reviewing your application in the language in which it is written and may be from foreign universities, government or industry, as appropriate. Two referees must be from outside Canada. Referees may be chosen amongst the community familiar with training programs similar to CREATE such as the IGERT programs in the USA, or the DFG Research Training Groups in Germany.

NSERC will make the final selection of external referees and will be seeking reports on full applications only. We ask applicants not to contact suggested referees in advance.

LETTER FROM VICE-PRESIDENT RESEARCH

When submitting the Letter of Intent (Form 187), a letter from your university’s Vice-President Research or his/her representative must be attached. The letter must clearly confirm that your proposal has been selected, as part of your university’s CREATE quota for this competition year, and must describe your university’s support and commitment for this new initiative.

Note: This support can be addressed in either a single letter for all the proposals from that university; or in separate letters for each LOI submitted; if the support is more relevant to one of the specific CREATE proposals.

If you are submitting your Letter of Intent electronically, attach a scanned PDF version of the signed letter on letterhead in the “Letter from VP” module, by following the instructions to attach the document. It is not necessary to also send a paper copy if this is done correctly.

Note: Contact your university research grants office for the internal selection procedures at your university. Please note that your university may have an earlier deadline date than NSERC’s deadline. If your application is not one of those chosen by the university to fill their quota and is submitted directly to NSERC, it will be rejected.

How to submit your Form 187

Applicants are encouraged to complete the application using the on-line system and submit it online. If you opt for the electronic process, make sure that you complete all the required information before validating the form.

Note : Once submitted, your form will no longer be available for revision.

Applicants can also use the traditional paper-based process by printing and completing the PDF version. If you opt for the traditional paper-based process, you must send it to us by mail. Form 187 and attachments must be received at NSERC no later than the submission deadline date. Do not send any other correspondence in this mailing. NSERC does not accept packages sent COD. Your package should be mailed to the following address:

Scholarships and Fellowships Division, CREATE Program
NSERC
350 ALBERT STREET
OTTAWA ON K1A 1H5