Alliance Society
Review of your application
When NSERC receives an Alliance application, it first undertakes an administrative assessment to ensure the application is complete and complies with all requirements. Once the administrative assessment is satisfactorily completed, NSERC proceeds with the merit assessment of the application, using a variety of tools and taking into account the average annual amount of funding requested.
Merit assessment mechanisms
| Small project | Medium project | Large project |
Annual request of at least $20,000 up to an average annual request of $75,000 for 1 to 5 years |
Average annual request of more than $75,000 up to $300,000 for 1 to 5 years |
Average annual request of more than $300,000 up to a maximum annual request of $1,000,000 for 1 to 5 years |
For Alliance Society grants, the assessment includes two steps. First, your full application will be submitted to a multidisciplinary and multisectoral selection committee that will assess whether it justifies a higher NSERC contribution (see Alliance Society: Research topics). If the committee determines that your application fits the objectives of Alliance Society, it proceeds to the second step for the assessment of its overall merit. External reviewers with expertise directly related to the proposal will provide reviews based on the Alliance Society evaluation criteria. |
For reviewers and selection committees
If you are a reviewer for Alliance grant applications, you will use the following instructions to complete your review:
- Instructions to external reviewers
- Alliance Society public impact value proposition (PIVP) selection committee review instructions
Risk assessment
In the case where your proposal involves one or more partner organizations from the private sector, including when they participate alongside other partner organizations from the public and/or not-for-profit sectors, NSERC will review the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships’ Risk Assessment form that you provided with your application (including the risk mitigation plan, when applicable) following the risk assessment review process. Following this process, when additional expertise is required, NSERC will seek further national security assessment and advice from Canada’s national security departments and agencies.
Funding decision
NSERC’s funding decision will take into consideration the merit evaluation as well as the assessment of potential risks for Canada’s national security, when applicable.
NSERC will use the merit indicator ratings assigned to applications to select proposals for funding on a competitive basis. Where applicable, NSERC will also consider the results of the risk assessment review process to ensure that any identified risks are appropriately mitigated. Following the National Security Guidelines for Research Partnerships, applications where risks cannot be appropriately mitigated will not be funded.
The expected assessment time for Alliance Society grants is 14-24 weeks. If NSERC requires further national security assessment and advice from Canada’s national security departments and agencies to inform the funding decision, this additional assessment will extend the expected assessment time by up to 10 weeks.
NSERC is committed to achieving these service standards for 80% of applications, recognizing that some proposals may require additional time.
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Contact
alliance@nserc-crsng.gc.ca
1-855-275-2861
Application deadline
No deadline
