Discovery Horizons (pilot)

Instructions for completing an application

• General information
• Completing the application
• Submitting your application to NSERC
• Signatures

General information

About the program

Read the program description before completing your application. You may also wish to review the  Peer review guide for the tri-agency interdisciplinary peer review committee for more details on how applications will be evaluated.

Am I eligible to apply?

Consult the Eligibility criteria for faculty page to ensure that you can participate in this grant program as an applicant.

New for the 2024 competition: Applicants or co-applicants for the Discovery Horizons program cannot simultaneously hold a Discovery Grant and a Discovery Horizons grant. Applicants who submitted a Discovery Grant notification of intent (NOI) and a Discovery Horizons letter of intent (LOI) for the current competition must choose which program they wish to pursue before proceeding to the full application stage; a full application may only be submitted to one program.

Whom should I contact for help?

• For program-related information, contact horizons@nserc-crsng.gc.ca.
• For matters related to the Convergence Portal, contact the online services helpdesk by email at webapp@nserc-crsng.gc.ca or by phone at 613-995-4273, or complete an online services support request.

Presentation standards

You must include all requested information in your application, and the submitted application must meet the Research portal presentation and attachment standards. Incomplete applications and applications that do not meet the presentation standards may be rejected, or be at a disadvantage in comparison with those that are complete and respect the presentation standards. Information that is not required, based on the application instructions, will be removed.

Application deadlines

Your application must be received at your institution’s research grants office by its internal deadline date; contact your research grants office for those deadlines.

The application must be submitted to NSERC by 8:00 p.m. (ET) on October 18, 2023. The research administrators are responsible to submit the full applications to NSERC. Once an application has been submitted to NSERC, it cannot be updated or modified, either before or after the deadline.

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 (NSERC) Act,  Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Act, and  Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Act. The collection, use, disclosure, retention and disposal of your personal information are in accordance with the Access to Information Act and the Privacy Act.

Self-identification information (applicant and co-applicants)

You are required to complete the self-identification form in order to apply for NSERC funding; however, you may select Prefer not to answer for any or all questions. NSERC appreciates your participation, which supports the granting agencies in monitoring the equity of their programs and strengthening equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the research enterprise.

The self-identification information is collected as part of your user profile when you register in the  Convergence Portal. It is not part of your application and is neither accessible to nor shared with external reviewers and/or selection committee members.

Discovery Horizons applicants and co-applicants will also be asked to provide consent for NSERC to potentially use their self-identification information to improve equity and diversity in funding decisions. Priority may be given to letters of intent to apply (LOIs) and/or applications from those who self-identify as members of underrepresented groups, amongst similarly ranked LOIs and applications.

Completing the application

You must complete the application according to the instructions, using the  Convergence Portal.

Note: If you have not submitted an LOI for this program or if your LOI was not selected to participate in the subsequent stage, you cannot create or submit an application. Consult the program description for more information.

Create an application

• Sign in to the  Convergence Portal.
  
  Note: If you currently have an account on the Research portal, please use your existing credentials.
• In the Applications tab, select the application that was submitted to NSERC and click Application.

My information (applicant and co-applicants)

CV interruptions

Provide any interruptions in the last six years for formal leaves and personal circumstances, and clearly explain any circumstances that affected your research productivity. To enter interruptions select Add new interruptions, then select the type of interruption from the menu. Follow the instructions and enter the level of activity maintained (%) and start and end dates if requested. If interruptions have already been entered in the Convergence portal, you can associate them to this application using Associate interruption. Information from the CV interruptions section will be shared “as is” with committee members and external reviewers; personal information will not be redacted.

Eligible leaves of absence (e.g., maternity and parental leave, personal illness, leave taken for family-related illness or bereavement, extraordinary administrative duties) are those taken within the last six years. For further guidance on how to describe and consider the impacts of COVID-19 delays, refer to Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on research: NEW guidelines for NSERC’s community.

In recognition of those eligible leaves, the participant is allowed to extend the period of eligible contributions in their CV documents for an equivalent duration.

CV documents

Narrative CV

Limit of five pages

Since winter 2020, individuals from the research community have continued to participate in workshops identifying the needs for a harmonized CV management experience. The Tri-agency Grants Management Solution team has summarized what it has heard from applicants and reviewers in these workshops to develop a harmonized CV. As part of the 2023 Discovery Horizons pilot competition, NSERC explored using a narrative CV as one input to developing a Tri-agency harmonized CV. NSERC is now piloting a Tri-agency harmonized CV as part of the 2024 Discovery Horizons pilot. Applicants will be asked for feedback on the Tri-agency harmonized CV.

The narrative CV should highlight the applicant’s experiences and outputs over the last six years (unless otherwise specified). Applicants should review the Evaluation Criteria used by the Tri-Agency Interdisciplinary Peer Review Committee when preparing their narrative CVs.

The narrative CV is limited to five pages. There is no limit to the volume of information for each section. You may devote more space to certain sections depending on the nature of your past contributions and experience. Include the following sections (A-F) using the titles as headers. Below you will find examples of what you may (but are not required to) include for each section:

A - Personal information

Include the following information:

• Employment
• Affiliation(s)/community
• Title/role (your current position at your institution/organization)
• Degree(s)/qualifications (you may list multiple degrees and/or qualifications, including their completion date, that you believe to be relevant to your role in the application)

B - Personal statement

Describe why you are well suited for your role(s) in this application. Relevant factors may include:

• Description of the research’s impact on and benefits on society and science
• Description of the progress/productivity to contextualize your research results that support your current application
• Previous work on the specific topic or related topics
• Lived and/or living experience(s)
• Leadership activities and skills
• Collaborations and/or past performance in the field or related fields
• Factors influencing career trajectory/path

Factors that have influenced your research opportunities (leaves, delays and interruptions) should be listed in the Interruptions and personal circumstances module of the My information section on the Convergence Portal. Details about personal life events are not required.

C - Most significant contributions

NSERC values all forms of contributions to natural sciences and engineering (NSE) research. Please consult the section Forms of contribution to research of the Guidelines on assessment of contributions to research, training and mentoring for examples.

Describe up to five contributions and/or relevant experience(s) that you consider most significant as they relate to the topic and objectives of the application. Contributions made more than six years ago that have a current impact (e.g., exploitation of patent, inclusion in a code, etc.) may be described only in this section.

For each contribution, describe its impact, significance, and utility. A contribution does not have to be a single publication or report. For example, a group of publications on a specific subject could be discussed as one contribution.

Some examples of contributions include:

• Creation, curation, sharing, or re-use of datasets
• Developing tools, including software, for researchers or others in the public or private domain
• Intellectual property, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, or trade secrets
• Publications, including articles, communications, pre-prints, monographs, memoirs or special papers, review articles, conference/symposia/workshop proceedings, posters and abstracts, government publications, and reports documenting industrial contributions or contributions to engineering practice
  • Indicate trainees for each publication using an asterisk (*) after the trainee’s name (e.g., Person Doe* or Doe, Person*)
  • If authorship is listed alphabetically rather than lead author first, indicate which author is the lead author by bolding their name

Some examples of contributions to the wider research community and society include:

• Advances to equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility in the research ecosystem
• Co-creation or transfer of products, technology, processes, services or advice useful to specific organizations (in the private, public or non-profit sectors), communities or society
• Communication of research results and knowledge translation to specialist or non-specialist audiences, including the public (e.g., magazine/newspaper articles, media interviews, blogs, social media, or public lectures)
• Community service that leverages expertise, such as membership on scientific or advisory committees, or journal editorships
• Contributions to policies, guidelines, regulations, laws, standards and/or practices
• Creation, direction, facilitation and/or strengthening of partnerships or collaborations in the research community or with other communities, including through research networks, large collaborative projects, or community-engaged research/citizen science
• Creation of companies or organizations that promote research or the use of research results
• Support for traditional knowledge or Indigenous ways of knowing, including cultural practices in the natural sciences and engineering/health/social sciences and humanities context

D - Other contributions to knowledge

Indicate up to five additional contributions to knowledge creation and/or knowledge sharing/translation.

Refer to the list of examples in the instructions for the most significant contributions.

E – Supervisory and mentorship activities

1. Describe how you have helped to mentor and/or train future generations. Mentorship can include formal or informal mentorship activities.



Some examples of contributions to training and mentoring include:

• Contributions supporting Indigenous research training
• Development and delivery of training workshops, outside of research or course requirements
• Establishment of safe, equitable and inclusive research environments, practices and norms
• Formal or informal mentoring of Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP), colleagues (including Early Career Researchers), collaborators, relevant partners, other professionals, or community members
• Outreach to and engagement with students, youth, or members of the general public, including in-person or online targeted activities or capacity building
• Supervision of HQP in the research process. This may include describing how your training and mentoring have enabled research contributions by HQP (e.g., publications, patents, key presentations) and contributed to awards, scholarships and fellowships won by HQP.



Important: Trainee demographic data is not requested or required to assess impacts resulting from consideration of EDI in the research and training environment.

2. Copy the Summary table of Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) below and indicate the following:
   
   
• Number of individuals you currently supervise/co-supervise (at the application deadline)
• Number of individuals you have supervised/co-supervised over the past six years (from the application deadline), excluding students that you are currently supervising or co-supervising
• Total for each line and column

Notes:

• Include only HQP whose research training was under your direct and formal supervision. Do not include students supervised as part of your undergraduate course, a postdoctoral position, a thesis advisory committee, or normal teaching duties, like undergraduate courses and capstone design projects.
• If, for example, you have supervised the same student during their full master’s and doctoral degrees, you may include two supervision entries.

Summary table of Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP)

F – Other relevant information

Provide any additional information you believe to be relevant to support your role/contribution to the proposed application for funding.

Finalize (applicant only)

Applicants must finalize their own My information section; they will not be able to modify it thereafter. For assistance please contact horizons@nserc-crsng.gc.ca. Applicants will need to finalize the co-applicants’ My information in the Participant section of the Shared information.

Shared information (applicant)

Application details

This section will be pre-populated from the LOI but editable.

Application title: Provide a short and descriptive title. It may be used for publication purposes. Limit the use of abbreviated forms (e.g., DNA, NATO, etc.), and avoid company or trade names.

Language of the application: Indicate the language in which the application will be submitted. The main body of your application should be written in either English or French, rather than in a mix of both official languages. The narrative CV must be in the same language as the application. If you intend to change the language of application from the LOI, contact horizons@nserc-crsng.gc.ca.

Research involving Indigenous Peoples and communities: If your project involves Indigenous Peoples or communities, you must answer Yes in this module.

Invitations — co-applicant(s)

This section will be pre-populated from the LOI. You can still invite or remove co-applicants at the full application stage.

Those invited will receive an email, which will include the applicant’s name, email address and the project title, as well as a link to the Convergence Portal. Once they have selected Accept invitation and completed their own eligibility profile, co-applicants’ names will be displayed in the Participants section of your application.

Eligibility criteria for co-applicants is the same as for applicants; consult the Eligibility criteria for faculty to ensure that potential co-applicants can participate in this grant. It is important that potential applicants consult the eligibility criteria now and discuss any concerns with their institution’s research office.

Note: Email addresses are not verified and bounce-backs are not registered. We strongly recommend that you follow up directly with invited co-applicants if an individual has not accepted your invitation in a timely manner.

Participants

This section lists all co-applicants who have successfully joined the application. If an individual has not accepted your invitation, follow up with them to confirm they have received it. If an invited co-applicant is listed as Pending eligibility, they have accepted your invitation but not yet completed their eligibility profile. Before submitting your application, you need to Finalize each of the co-applicants’ sections or remove any invited participant who has not completed their My information section.

Collaborators

This section will be pre-populated from the LOI but editable. Applicants can add and remove collaborators at the full application stage. List the collaborators who will contribute to the execution of research activities but who will not have access to grant funds. Collaborators do not have to provide CV documents.

Any individual whose contributions to the project will be supervised by a member of the research team and/or another collaborator cannot be considered a collaborator.

Field of research

This section will be pre-populated from the LOI but editable. List the fields of research that best describe this specific application according to the  Canadian Research and Development Classification (CRDC) 2020 Version 1.0. You must provide at least one primary field of research, and you may list up to a maximum of five fields of research.

Keywords

This section will be pre-populated from the LOI but editable. List a minimum of five keywords that best describe this specific application. You may list up to a maximum of 10 keywords.

Suggested reviewers and reviewer exclusions

These sections cannot be updated at this stage.

Fit for program

These sections cannot be updated at this stage.

Project summary

A limit of 2,500 characters is allowed in the Project summary. Provide a summary of the proposal in language that the public can understand. Using simple terms, state the objectives of the proposed research program, summarize the research approach and highlight the novelty and expected significance of the work.

This summary may be shared with potential external reviewers and used for promotional purposes outside the research community to inform the government, the media and members of the public.

Proposed budget

Discovery Horizons grants are expected to be valued from $50,000 to $100,000 per year and will be commensurate to the size of the research team. The duration of the grant will be up to five years.

In this module, you need to enter the requested amount for each year of the grant. The total requested amount should not exceed $250,000, $375,000 or $500,000 depending on the team composition. The yearly values must correspond to the amounts calculated in the Proposed expenditures supporting document.

Certification, licences and permits

Certification requirements: Before completing this section, consult the Requirements for certain types of research.

Research involving the use of animals: If you indicate that your research involves animals, you must provide your institution's administration with the certification from the animal care committee at the institution that the experimental procedures proposed have been approved and that the care and treatment of animals is in accordance with the principles outlined in the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) guide.

Research involving biohazards: If you indicate that your research involves biohazards, you must provide your institution’s administration with the certification from the biosafety committee at the institution that the laboratory procedures being used comply with the safety precautions necessary for the level of containment required by the research.

Research involving human subjects: If you indicate that your research involves human subjects, you must provide your institution's administration with the appropriate certification indicating that research involving humans has been reviewed and has received the required approval.

Research involving human pluripotent and/or totipotent stem cells: If you indicate that your research involves human pluripotent and/or totipotent stem cells,, or if the application is found to fall into this category through peer review and is recommended for funding, it will be forwarded, with your consent, to CIHR’s Stem Cell Oversight Committee (SCOC) to ensure compliance with  Chapter 12, Section F of the Tri-council policy statement: Ethical conduct for research involving humans (TCPS 2). The SCOC review is in addition to the normal review by local research ethics boards (REBs). Funding will not be released until approval has been obtained from the SCOC.

Environmental impact: For more information, consult NSERC’s guidelines on impact assessment.

Supporting documents — attachments

All files must adhere to the Research portal presentation and attachment standards, and must be uploaded as PDF documents. Individual PDF documents must not exceed 5 MB each.

Note: Any attachments that do not adhere to these instructions will be removed.

Proposal

Limit of 10 pages

The tri-agency interdisciplinary peer review committee is composed of members who have broad expertise overlapping all disciplines supported by the three agencies and who are knowledgeable about interdisciplinary research and methods. Accordingly, NSERC expects Discovery Horizons proposals to be written so that the proposed research and the importance of the objectives and unresolved issues be understood by all members of the committee. The research proposal must also contain sufficient details so that experts in the disciplines involved can evaluate the proposal adequately.

The primary objective of the Discovery Horizons proposal must be to advance knowledge in the natural sciences or engineering.

• If NSERC determines that the subject matter is outside of its mandate at any time during the review cycle, the application will be rejected. See  Selecting the appropriate federal granting agency for more information.

Addressing the points below, describe the proposed research to be supported. Images and graphics are included in the page limit. Applications are rated according to the following selection criteria. The onus is on applicants to address these explicitly in their application.

Merit of the proposed research

• Quality of the proposal
• clarity, scope and originality of research questions and objectives
• Methods and approaches
• appropriateness of the proposed methods and approaches, including the integration of the interdisciplinary approaches to achieve the project goals
• appropriate incorporation of sex, gender and diversity in the research design, if applicable
• evidence of commitment to the development of active and meaningful partnerships with appropriate individuals and organizations, if applicable
• Feasibility
• appropriateness and justification of the budget in relation to the proposed activities
• appropriateness of the environment (academic institution and/or other organization) to enable the conduct and success of the proposed activities

Anticipated outcomes

• Impact
• potential for the outcomes of the proposed activities to have influence and impact
• Knowledge mobilization and dissemination
• quality and appropriateness of knowledge mobilization plans, including effective dissemination, exchange and engagement with stakeholders within and/or beyond the research community, where applicable
• Training plan
• extent to which the proposed activities incorporate plans for the training and development of HQP
• appropriate considerations of EDI in the training plan

Record of the applicant(s)

• Expertise and experience
• appropriate expertise to undertake the proposed research, including complementary and interdisciplinary knowledge, expertise and experience
• experience and track record of the investigator(s)—importance, originality, quality and impact of past research
• Past contribution to the training of HQP
• quality and extent of past contributions to the training of HQP

Additional considerations when preparing your proposal

Within the 10-page limit of the proposal, applicants should dedicate appropriate space to describing the appropriateness of the research team, including the applicant, co-applicants, collaborators and trainees, to achieve the research objectives. Roles and responsibilities of team members within the research project should be clearly described.

Applicants are expected to increase the inclusion and advancement of underrepresented groups in the NSE, as one means to enhance excellence in research and training. Considering EDI in the research process promotes research excellence by making research outcomes more ethically sound, rigorous, reproducible, and useful. It is important to consider EDI through each stage of the research process (research questions, study design, methodology and data collection, analysis and interpretation, and dissemination of results) and integrate these considerations where relevant. Where applicable, consideration of sex, gender and diversity in the research design should be addressed in the proposal. EDI considerations should be developed into the rationale for the composition of research teams, including trainees. For more information, consult the Equity, diversity and inclusion considerations at each stage of the research process guidance.

NSERC defines Indigenous research as research in any field or discipline related to the natural sciences and engineering that is conducted by, grounded in, or meaningfully engaged with First Nations, Inuit, Métis or other Indigenous Nations, communities, societies or individuals, and their wisdom, cultures, experiences or knowledge systems, as expressed in their dynamic forms, past and present.

NSERC expects, when applicable, the meaningful and respectful engagement of Indigenous Peoples in research activities. Respectful engagement requires that researchers recognize, accommodate and honour the diverse protocols and processes appropriate to conducting research in Indigenous communities and/or with Indigenous rightsholders. Respectful engagement includes the acknowledgement and valorization of unique knowledge carried by rightsholders, as expressed by aspects such as story, oral practices, practices in relationship building and ceremony. As noted in the Tri-council policy statement: Ethical conduct for research involving humans, 2nd edition (TCPS2), “engagement with community is an integral part of ethical research involving Indigenous Peoples.” As a researcher, you are expected to recognize the diversity of Indigenous Peoples and their identities, each with their particular aspirations and occupying distinct cultural, historical, political and socio-economic spaces. You must also understand that Indigenous Peoples have inherent rights and jurisdiction over Indigenous knowledge, including research and information collected by and about their people and on their traditional territories, and you must conduct your research accordingly. Respect is expressed principally by securing the free, informed and ongoing consent of participants. Relationships can change over time, and researchers must maintain regular communications to ensure that research projects begin and end in a good way.

Meaningful engagement means engagement at all stages of the process, “ensuring that various world views are represented in planning and decision-making from the earlier stages of conception and design of projects through to the analysis and dissemination of results” (TCPS2). Engagement is considered meaningful when the research activities are relevant to community needs and priorities. This may involve

• enhancing a community's capacity to maintain culture, language and/or identity
• supporting their full participation in, and contributions to, Canadian society, including contributions toward Indigenous self-determination
• enhancing the skills of community personnel
• exploring opportunities for reciprocal learning and transfer of skills and knowledge between the community and the researcher

For more information, please consult the following resources:

•  Tri-council policy statement 2: Chapter 9: Research involving the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples of Canada
• Article 9.1 provides examples of conditions under which community engagement is required:
  • research conducted on First Nations, Inuit or Métis lands
  • recruitment criteria that include Indigenous identity as a factor for the research
  • research that seeks input from participants regarding a community’s cultural heritage, artefacts, traditional knowledge or unique characteristics
  • research in which Indigenous identity or membership in an Indigenous community is used as a variable for the purpose of analysis of the research data
  • interpretation of research results that will refer to Indigenous communities, peoples, language, history or culture
• CCI guide for research involving Indigenous Peoples and communities
•  SSHRC: Guidelines for the Merit Review of Indigenous Research
•  CIHR: Defining Indigenous Health Research
•  FACETS: Towards reconciliation: 10 Calls to Action to natural scientists working in Canada

The research proposal should reflect that you are aware of and referring to relevant principles and protocols established for this kind of research—such as following the principles of  OCAP® (i.e., ownership, control, access and possession/protection), the  CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance and/or other principles as determined by relevant communities.

References

Limit of two pages

Use this section to provide a list of literature references. Do not refer reviewers to websites for additional information on your proposal or include hyperlinks in your list of references.

Proposed expenditures

A mandatory template is downloadable from the Convergence portal. You must provide a five-year budget. Verify all of your entries carefully. The total amount requested from NSERC is calculated automatically by subtracting the total cash contributions, if any, from the total proposed expenditures.

Use the Budget justification (attachment) section to explain and justify each budget item and any contributions from other sources toward the support of the proposed research activities.

In the case of adjunct professors whose primary position is in industry or government, NSERC will award funds 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.

All project expenditures are subject to the principles and directives governing the appropriate use of grant funds as outlined in the Tri-agency guide on financial administration.

Salaries and benefits

Give the names (if known), categories of employment and proposed salaries (with explicit indication of the non-discretionary benefits) of students, postdoctoral fellows and research staff. Briefly describe the responsibilities for each position and indicate the percentage of time they will be spending on this project over its lifespan. Do not include salaries of faculty in project costs. Refer to the NSERC CCV instructions for information on obtaining consent to name individuals in your proposal.

Equipment or facility

Give a breakdown of the items requested, models, manufacturers, prices and applicable taxes. Justify each item requested.

Note: While the Research Tools and Instruments grants program provides the primary avenue to obtain support for tools and instruments with a net cost between $7,001 and $250,000, equipment of any value can be purchased using a Discovery Horizons grant.

Fees to be paid for the use of equipment or a facility should be described (e.g., hours and rate).

The need for beam time or other special facilities and whether time has been allocated for these should also be reported.

Materials and supplies

Provide details of the budget requested for materials and supplies, and explain major items.

Travel

Explain briefly how each travel activity relates to the proposed research.

Dissemination

Provide details of publication costs, user workshops or other activities.

Other expenses

List all items not covered in previous categories, and provide a brief explanation for major items.

Contributions from other sources (if applicable)

If appropriate, explain any financial contributions from other sources.

Budget justification

Limit of two pages

Provide a detailed explanation and justification for each budget item identified in the Proposed expenditures page. Provide sufficient information to allow reviewers to assess whether the resources requested are appropriate. Applicants must only use this section for the purpose of justifying the proposed budget.

Relationship to other research support

Limit of 10 pages

This section refers only to other research support that will be or may be active during the funding period of the proposed Discovery Horizons grant by the applicant and co-applicant. Do not include information concerning previous applications or grants that ended or will end before the funding period of the proposed Discovery Horizons grant.

Applications must indicate that the funds requested from the Discovery Horizons program will be for expenses that are distinct from those covered by current 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. Failure to meet these requirements may result in the application being rejected.

Other sources of research support include grants and contributions (held or applied for) from federal and provincial funding agencies, non-governmental organizations, private sector companies, universities (e.g., institution start-up funds), primary places of employment (for adjunct professors employed outside of academia) and others.

Finalize and submit

Verify all sections are completed.

After clicking on Submit, your application is sent to your research administrator for approval and submission to NSERC. The status of your application will be changed to Received by administrator. Once your research administrator has approved and forwarded your application to NSERC, the application status will be changed to Received by agency.

To verify the status of your submission, return to the home page.

Signatures

NSERC does not require original signatures on applications or other documents submitted electronically using Convergence. User ID/password-based "signatures" allow applicants, supporting organizations and authorized institutional representatives—such as research grants officers, scholarships liaison officers and business officers—to "sign" and submit online applications and other documents to NSERC. Refer to the frequently asked questions in the program guide for professors for more details.

What do the “signatures” mean?

For applicants

Before you can submit your application to NSERC, you must read and agree to the terms and conditions of applying that appear during the submission process. It is your responsibility to retain a copy of the agreed terms and conditions for your records.

The “signatures” of the institutional authorities certify that

• the institution will abide by the roles and responsibilities set out in the  Agreement on the Administration of Agency Grants and Awards by Research Institutions ("the Agreement") with the three federal granting agencies, including the  Tri-agency framework: Responsible conduct of research, the Tri-agency financial administration guide and the relevant program literature
• as required by the agreement, the applicant meets the eligibility requirements for the relevant funding opportunity
• before submitting the application, the institution has obtained written approval from any other institutions involved in the application process
• you will not use or disclose any information that you obtain or view on the Convergence portal for any purposes other than your participation in the agency's process
• you understand that the agency reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to terminate or restrict your access to the Convergence portal at any time, without notice

The “signatures” of authorized officers of other supporting organizations certify that the organization

• agrees with the content of the application and will provide the committed resources
• agrees to the release of the public summary of the award and to the publication of the organization's name as a supporter of the initiative

If you are both the applicant and a principal of a collaborating organization, another senior official must “sign” on behalf of the organization.

List for a complete application

Use the following list to make sure your application is complete:

• Applicant’s and co-applicants’ (if appropriate) personal information:
  • CV interruptions (Convergence portal)
  • Narrative CV (attachment—five pages)
• Fields of research (Convergence portal)
• Keywords (Convergence portal)
• Collaborators (Convergence portal)
• Summary of proposal for public release (Convergence portal—2,500 characters)
• Proposed budget (Convergence portal)
• Certification, licences and permits (Convergence portal)
• Supporting documents (attachments):
  • proposal (10 pages)
  • references (two pages)
  • proposed expenditures (downloadable template)
  • budget justification (two pages)
  • relationship to other research support (10 pages)